THE DIARY OF A SURF TRIPPER

THE DIARY OF A SURF TRIPPER

The day has finally arrived.  It feels like it has been coming for ever.  So long I wanted this to happen.  Not the perfect trip I planned originally but there are 2 of the best people I have ever met standing next to me and we are about to go off on what I hope is going to be an awesome little adventure.  So This is a surf trip that I had planned in my head from the day I got here.  To get a van and travel up from South to North surfing as I go.  As life changes like it tends to do so have the plans.  So now me and Tom have just 3 weeks to get up to the north to surf Raglan and then back down.  Em was meant to be coming all the way with us too but she got a new job and couldn’t get the time off so she is just coming up as far as Christchurch, her home town for a cheeky couple of days.  

So we set off about mid day from Wanaka.  Managing to get lost before we got to lake Hawea!  Which seeing as combined we have lived there over 4 years was a little unbelievable never the less we got back on track and made good time.  Nothing much but solid driving for a while getting miles under our belt while the passengers would try and source narcotics for the upcoming trip or play with Zerphyr in the back.  We arrived in Christchurch about five and were welcomed into em’s parents house for some phenomenal home cooked Thai food and carrot cake. We got an early night as tomorrow we planned to be up early for the surf.  Em’s parents were off up north for the next 4 days so we had to fend for ourselves.  In the morning the surf turned out to be shitty so I decided to take the opportunity to visit the NZ family.  Sharons house was just 20 mins away so Em and Tom dropped me off there while they went on a mission for the drugs.  I spent the evening at Shorans catching up with her and her awesome daughter Kate.  Then Fran and Christine popped over for dinner and we had a good catch up about this that and the other.  Then Chris dropped me back. Em and Toms drug mission having been successful I sat down to a big joint in the spa pool and relaxed watching O.C with Tom while we ate cake.  

In the morning a slightly earlier rise and we saddled up and got on the road to a lovely beach called Taylors mistake.  We went for a short surf but to not much success at least not for me and Em,  Ems lungs gave out pretty quick and I was just shit.  So awesome to be back in the water though in the waves.  In the salt water.  After I had splashed around like an idiot for long enough I went in and then we decided to drop some acid to make the day a touch more interesting.  We went to get some chippys and waited for the acid to take effect.  it didn’t take long before we started giggling like school girls.  Perched on a beach with beers and mates in a beautiful surrounding.  I couldn’t have asked for much more.  Everything became an adventure.  The seaguls gathering round us that seemed to respond to us playing “The Circle of Life” to them.  Every dog looking strangely familiar.  And people who we could have sworn were reusing a penguin.  Which turned out to be a bird.  But still….  After a while Tom decided to surf.  As the waves seemed to tower meters into the air it did not take long for Emily to persuade me that it would probably end in our watery deaths.  So i stayed on shore and we laughed at everything and nothing.  Finding particular humour in the rash vest tom was wearing over his wetsuit for no reason.  After more time passed Em started expressing that we needed to leave.  I didn’t take much notice because it sounded ridiculous.  Especially as Tom was still in the waves and we were very high on acid.  She persisted more and more as time went by and started to become frantic.  I thought she was joking so I found it hilarious and went along with this desperate need to depart.  Once tom was out of the water she lost the plot and in the most sincere of ways needed us to leave so much so she threatened to start walking.  It took me a while to realise this wasn’t a funny joke and that Em was actually really experiencing the need to leave pronto.  So once I had cottoned on I riled Tom up and we sped away in the van Em clinging on to her seat for dear life shouting at Tom to floor it.  Once we were away and we all settled down on another beach and deciphered what just happened everything was fine again.  This time after much persuasion I decided to slap on my wet suit and give it a go.  once i did it was perfect the water was so calming everything was at one.  Everything felt better.  I felt so relaxed that I was too tired to paddle but when ever i did I always had just enough strength to do what I needed to.  I say that but I only managed to catch a couple waves but when I did Fuck! It felt amazing!  What a feeling!  

Em was watching us from the beach and I saw she had left her spot so worrying slightly as she was alone. i called it early and went to find her.  She was flapping about and about to go off on a walk to a rock cave she thought she new about.  The cold waves were obviously quite sobering but as I came out the highness came rushing back over me and for what must have been some while we clowned around outside the van putting fridge magnets on the van and god knows what else but it mainly involved laughing a lot.  I can tell this because my cheeks still hurt today!  Tom was still in the waves and I was flapping about. When on acid your mind races and takes you all sorts of deep and honest places within your conscious mine seems to be fixated on everyone doing everything for the good of everyone involved.  For example I didn’t want to surf more because all though it is what I wanted emily couldn’t and to be left alone was not fun.  But tom was content on surfing by himself.  And although ideally I would have like to Tom to sacrifice his surf as well so we could all be together I would never dream of asking him to.  So slightly separated we continued to trip and having had such a funny and wonderfully happy day it had of course raced past us and as I began to come down from the high I had been on for nearly 7 hours I began to get very frightened of the horrible come down that waited me.  I felt very strongly that I would like to go home and take some more acid to pro long this happening.  This seemed to be a group mentality so off we went.  Em drove.  And it wasn’t till we pulled up opposite a police car that we realised how very awful what we were doing was!  All 3 of us still clearly off our rockers on acid.  Not to mention Tom was crouched on the floor in the back seated very illegally as weed smoke bellowed out the window.  The remaining acid along with a large quantity of Cannabis were nice and easy to find in the glove box and being so high we had forgotten how many beers we had managed to consume over the day.  If this wasn’t enough we were in a big white camper van covered in rainbow fridge magnets.  We couldn’t have been more suspect if we tried.  Em started trying to sing as i fiddled frantically with the seatbelt.  My mind raced with how I would even deal with the situation and I quickly came to the harsh conclusion that being the state I was in I think I would have laughed before I could have talked our way out of this one.  Evening officer, Drunk?  Why yes but thats not nearly the biggest problem going on here.  Its best for everyone if you leave otherwise there will be so much paper work to fill out on all the regulations we are currently destroying.  Luckily we got home safe sound and not in prison.  We got home and em was off out for a beer with her mate, leaving me and Tom even higher as we took a bit of a top up.  We watched t.v while we waited for it to kick in and quickly i found myself drawn to the painting on the wall right text to the t.v of a beach which seemed to change colour to glisten and move.  On closer inspection it was just a painting but i preferred it my way so sat losing myself in the picture and letting my mind do the inventing.  It quickly got side tracked when some sort of rival began between the 2 dogs.  Zephyr and Gaby, Ems family dog.  The dogs seem to be experiencing sever jealousy depending on where their attention came from.  It became so subtle and observable it was like watching humans react to the slightest of behaviours.  Fun at first quickly turned to worrying as we couldn’t resolve it.  Also it seemed that the thoughts and vibes we were relaying to the dogs were getting picked up so clearly by both dogs.  There reactions to our words and thoughts were so text book and responsive.  We calmed them down and tried to forget about it. Em returned and joined us on our top up and i really began to see some things.  The moon became a very clear cats face. clear as if u were looking straight into a real cats face.  Lights began to shoot all over the place. The dark night sky was a blaze with colours and everything was wonderful.  Tiredness crept up soon enough and after disappointing ourselves with The end of the O.C we headed to bed.  An amazing day in all which felt like it lasted weeks.  

The next morning inevitably I was depressed but not as bad as usual.  Em made us all breakfast and after that not much was planned for the day.  It was pretty ok with all of us that we could behave like utter pieces of shit all day.  So we did.  However this was not to last as I discovered Zepher chewing a box and with an irritated sigh picked it up to realise that it was a very tattered and more importantly empty box of rat poison.  I yelled to Em to get out the shower and told tom what was going on.  Frantically reading the tattered packet and on the phone to the poison help line.  We rushed her to the vet and bless her she had to have an injection to make her sick.  In several huge mounds of vomit there was loads of pills.  by the 5th small pile the was not a pill to be seen which was a good sign.  We took a very sorry for herself pup back home.  Relived and rattled back to being pieces of shit!  Until Macker mine and Ems house mate was due to arrive for the night.  She was heading up north too. to pick up her new car.  We went to get her and had a nice catch up about what had been happening back in Wanaka, sat down and ate some food, smoked some weed and watched a movie.  A very relaxed and well needed evening.  

In the morning is was woken up by Macker telling me to come for a ride.  She needed a lift into the city.  So me and Em drove her in at about 7am to her bus stop.  Off she went to go fetch her new car.  The rest of the day we spent prepping to leave, packing all our stuff down and cleaning the house so it was spick and span.  We got Rose and Scott some flowers and chocolates and Em cooked her a big quiche for when they get back.  We ended up leaving around 3 ish.  Zepher had chewed through my camera charger lead so I was on the hunt for one of those.  We left and stopped in town for some supplies.  I went to look for a new charger and was in luck.  I had the lead so went back to the car to charge the camera only to find I had left the battery charger at Em’s.  Tom was not happy.  But we had to go back.  So back we went and on arriving back to Em’s and finding nothing.  I searched the van again and there it was in my bag!  What a twat.  I allowed Tom to slap me across the face for this idiotic error.  it seemed fair.  Off we went again.  Only a few K out of the city and I got a phone call from the Wanaka council saying that the 400 dollars worth of tickets we had managed to rack up were being wavered as we were locals.  Wahoo.  We drove on for quite some time getting higher as we went.  This turned out to be a terrible plan as I managed to back the van into a massive bollard at the petrol station.  This was not great for our back light.  Bummer.  We drove on and got to Kai-Kura at about 6.  We stopped at a campsite to ask about surf and places to stay.  The surf was looking pretty mellow so we drove up and down a few K having been told a couple times that we had a flat tyre seeing as we had pumped it up more than a few times this was a worry.  We found a lovely spot just on the beach to stop and camp.  the night was settling in so we made some food and passed out.  

The morning came and we were woken by the huffs and puffs of near by seals.  After looking out for a while we saw a few seals and four dolphins hanging around.  It was awesome to watch.  So beautiful to see the wildlife so close and so much of it.  After appreciating this for a while it was pretty obvious the tyre needed replacing so we popped out the spare only to find it just as flat.  So we decided to drive to the nearest gas station on the flat and then pump up the spare there.  We hadn’t gone 1 k and Tom thought we needed to pull over and check it out.  This was very lucky as the van was running on the rim!  The rim luckily hadn’t sustained any damage but the tyre was a rag of rubber hanging off the wheel.  I lost a game of rock paper scissors so I had to take the spare and hitch the 15k into town to pump it up and bring it back again.  I didn’t take too long.  I got picked up in about 20 mins by a nice guy called Nigel and his son josh.  He mentioned that the good surf was meant to be coming in tomorrow.  I didn’t take more than a minute to get a ride back once the tyre was pumped up from a nice guy called Richard.  We had a good chat about NZ and how beautiful it was.  Then when I  was back we got the van all ship shape and as the surf was shit we set off for a nice long walk into the bush.  We set off with a few dubeys, some water and some lunch.  After a stunning 2 hours in we got to a river and decided it would be a wise plan to follow the river back out to the sea.  We waded into the extremely cold water being very careful about how far up the water got at first.  We were fully clothed and tom had a bag on and i had my camera.  As the journey progressed we became wetter and wetter.  Getting deeper and deeper as the river demanded.  Nature called and we had to stop for a nature poo.  It had been some while.  We carried on and got to a beautiful spot where a huge tree had fallen over the river and made a massive bridge.  We sat on a rock near by and had our last joint.  The adventure became even more fun as we continued.  Tom mentioned that “its crazy how there is always a way”  Meaning there is always a means to get down the river keeping us relatively dry.  of course minutes later we came to a large waterfall into nothing but vertical rocks surrounding.  We managed to find a sketchy route up the side of the rock using trees that were growing out of the side.  Luckily there were vines to hold onto and we made it to the other side.  Not before noticing there was a rather tempting cliff jump into the lagoon.  We got all our stuff to the other side and climbed back up for a couple of jumps.  it was such a beautiful spot.  The whole mission and the spot reminded me of being in Europe with Alex when we trekked up an Austrain river until we came across a riverside paradise.  It unfortunately ended in a sunburnt genitals and a vomit filled tent but still a perfect time.  We carried on our current river mission.  It became more and more treacherous.  We had now taken to holding the bags above our heads as we waded through the water.  We came to another huge waterfall.  This one fell into a massive lagoon surrounded by flat overhanging rocks.  The climb up and around was mental.  Vines draped down the side of the mountain the only comfort was that if the vines broke or we fell the 10 metre drop led to the water so we probably wouldn’t die.  It was at this point I started to wish i wasn’t incredibly high.  There was no way down once the lagoon ended so we had to continue the sketchy climb.  For some time Tom had be making remarks of turning back and how dangerous this was etc.  As far as I was concerned turning back was not an option.  It never had been.  So many dozens of these sort of missions I had been on mainly with Jon, Matty J and Jem.  And not once did we turn back.  It just wasn’t some thing we did.  Granted we have all been in more than our fair share of sticky situations but every single one worth it!  I guess that is something I should think about changing about myself.  I have more than enough people in my life to attest to the fact that I don’t consider consequence nearly enough and I am perhaps less than adequate at assessing risk.  So Toms remarks of turning back fell on deaf ears.  It was not till he insisted as we were both hanging about 10 meters in the air from vines above a very rocky river that i decided to cave in and back we turned.  It didn’t take too long to get back.  3 hours of so.  Once we got back and consulted the map it turned up that the river came out a touch down south and we would have had probably another hour walk back to the van.  Still I say never turn back.  Its only shit if it goes wrong.  We were pretty nakerd when we got back so we popped back into same spot and passed out for the night.  

In the morning I was early to rise.  Nigels promise of good surf the previous day had me amped to get in the water.  A search up and down proved Nigel to be full of shit!  We began driving further and further North past Kai-Kura and up to Bliemen. We stopped off at a little bay and managed to squeeze a few waves out of it.  Nothing more than a few feet.  But still it was fun to get in the water and have a splash about.  3ft waves and I still managed to break a fin. We drove to one final surf spot just at the north of the south island to find it as calm as the rest of the coast had been and decided that we could just try swap our ferry to earlier and get to Wellington a day early.  I figure the faster we get to Raglan the better.  Thats where the waves were.  Thats where I wana be.  We rung up and switched it over no problem.  This meant we had 7 hours to kill in Bleihemen.  Fortunately I knew some one here.  Reece a friend from Queenstown had recently upped sticks and moved here so I gave him a bell and we met up with him at a gorgeous brewery called MOA for a beer.  A nice catch up in the sun and we dropped him and one of his Canadian mates Anna back into town.  Tom did them a favour and gave there bikes a wee tune up before we left.  In exchange I borrowed some power off them to charge my phone as I had managed to leave my charger in Christchurch at Sharons.  Then we set off up to Picton to catch the ferry. It wasn’t far we parked up at a nice spot over looking the dock and the cook straight.  It was beautiful  Tom made some porridge and I caught up with my writing.  

We had a cheeky dube at the look out point and played around with the camera for a bit, getting some shots of the view.  Then got on the ferry and whiled away the 4 hour trip with movies and munch.  When we arrived in Wellington it felt very strange to be in a big city again.  It seemed so foreign to the version of New Zealand I had experienced so far.  it reminded me of big cites in Europe.  The one way system of course was an emotional wrek.  We eventually navigated round and got to Toms friends place.  An old family friend who he had know since birth pretty much.  They stood around and caught up for a while then we went in and fashioned ourselfs a bed out of the van furniture and Sam and Tom yarned into the night.  Tomorrow was an early rise because we were going to try and watch Sam’s game in the morning.  Seeing as it was already 4am I went to sleep.  

We got up the next morning about 11am.  Sam had already gone to his game so after discovering we couldn’t even find where it was in town we decided to pop over to his friends Petes, for a cuppa.  We had a good yarn there and then Sam came over explaining how horrendously hungover he had been and had managed to vomit during his football game.  And to an insult to injury his vomit contained a cigarette butt.  How pleasant.  He said he didn’t remember ingesting a cigarette but he must have at some point.  Then we went out for some brunch with Pete and Sam.  Tom had a good catch up and of course the subject of my resemblance to Macklemore was addressed.  Then we moseyed off all the way up to Toms house in Hawkes bay.  We arrived just in time for some nice steak and salad dinner.  Yum!  The comfort of a double bed to myself was wonderful.  We rose earlyish to go catch the surf on the coast which had promised to be massive and awesome.  We had been looking forward to this surf for a few days now.  When we arrived at the coast the surf looked insane!  We had been anticipating this for a while so we kinda needed to go in.  But the currents looked dangerous.  There was a huge rip heading down the beach towards the reef.  All the ingredients telling you not to get in the water.  The waves were huge out the back.  Crashing over.  It looked like it would be a pretty hard mission to get out but we were timidly adamant we were going to go in.  Just as we were all suited up and pshyking ourselves to get in an old timer rolled up in his car with a big sea kayak strapped to his roof.  He hopped out and immediately he said “shit you have to be mental to go in today that looks dangerous.”  internally i sighed with relief.  I wasn’t keen to get crashed on to rocks or swept out to sea.  We yarned for a while with this guy.  He knew his stuff and we had a good chat about the surf around and where to go.  He took us to a spot a bit further up the beach where the surf was slightly mellower and safer.  the rip was still strong but we decided to strap on a pair and jump in.  The old timer still said it was stupid to go in.  So he was going to have a walk along the beach.  This was reassuring as some one would be able to see us.  I think he was keeping an eye on us more than anything which was kind of him.  We went in and battled the waves for a while after failing to get out the back for some while I conceded and caught a wave in.  I was really far down the beach already and Tom was drifting further.  The dude said that we were drifting down the beach as fast as he was walking.  Not good!  Tom was drifting rapidly closer to the reef but gave up just in time.  `Defeated we got out and had a rest.  We had a nice day in the sun chilling with a few beers and messing around.  We went back in a few times and managed to get a few messy waves but it was good fun.  Certainly good exercise.  But still not what we had hoped.  Hopefully tomorrow might be better.  On the way back we did the rounds of Tom’s home town and dropped in to see his mate Dan for a beer.  Had a good yarn and as the rain started to pour down out of no where we popped over to Sam’s parents house to say hello and drop off some things.  They seemed like a lovely family.  Then over to his Gran Bams to say hello and then home just in time for dinner.  NZ roast lamb and roast veggies.  Yummy!  We had an early night and in the morning a lie in got the better of me and we managed to pack up and head off about 11.  We were headed to Napier to check out the surf.  About an hour or so north. 

We got to the town of Napier and looked up Toms old bike shop that he used to work at.  We saw his old boss Gavin and had a catch up.  He was heading to Canada as well as Tom so they had a lot to tall about.  He also gave us a few tips of where to surf nearby.  We headed off and still sceptical as we had been disappointed so far we arrived at a tiny little village just on the beach.  With speed bumps 2 feet high which felt like they wrecked the van every time we crawled over them.  The waves looked great though.  As we got closer and closer it became apparent how massive they actually where.  So much water moving forward and crashing so close to the sea bed.  however the ones out the back were looking insaney big.  But pretty much perfect.  So out we went.  Getting out was a struggle. The waves were so powerful and I had a few stacks which involved meeting the sea floor with some force quite a few times.  However it was all worth it for the one i managed to get.  Tom got a few beauties as well.  There were 2 local boys that came to sit on the beach and watch the surf.  I popped out for a bit as battling the surf was nakering.  And had a chat with them.  Nice guys.  We kept going in and out of the waves as it was so tiring.  Luckily we had prepared some roast potatoe and lamb sandwiches for this very event.  Eventually we gave in as the surf was destroying us!  We decided about five to get a jump on the drive up to Auckland!  We set off and quickly we were on the one massive road which took us basically straight there.  The scenery was gorgeous. We stopped off at Lake Taupo and Tom got some Burger fuel.  We carried on.  The drive was so long but if flew by as tom watched Alladin on his laptop and we played it through the speakers and annoying disney fanatic that I am I sung my heart out the whole way through.  Next was Team America.  That was a hilarious drive.  Then we were pretty much in the city.  Immediately it was a nightmare.  We had been texting my friend Dylan to meet up for a beer.  And to hook us up with some  weed as we were out.  And my friend Sam to meet up for a beer.  We were also meant to be staying at Sam’s in his drive way.  Sam seemed to be being a bit drunk over text.  We didn’t quite understand some of the things he was saying and it was a bit confusing.  We got into the city centre.  And finally Sam rang us.  But it wasn’t Sam on the end of the line.  It was a girl with an accent telling us to pick her up at Base Hostel.  I assumed it was Sam’s girl friend or friend.  So we carried on trying to get to Base Hostel.  Then we rang the number back and asked to speak to Sam.  It turned out that it was Paz.  Our friend from Wanaka.  She had flown up for a few days to see the city.  So we established it wasn’t Sam we had been texting.  Some how I must have got the numbers confused.  However Dylan was also round the corner from base so we headed there any way.  On route the real Sam called us to let us know he was off to bed for an early night as he had work at 6 am.  But we were welcome to to park in his drive for the night.  We got to Base and met up with Paz.  We stopped round the back.  

It looked like parking was going to be a nightmare!  i left tom out side in the van for a few minutes to go and meet Paz in reception. It was awesome to see Paz bless her.  She is a petite french girl who I work with back in Wanaka.  We went back out side to see Tom being fooled by a local Mauri tramp.  His story that he had got Tom with was that he had won the Sydney lottery and he was rolling in it.  This was slightly harder to believe as he had a very raggedy coat with no shirt on and a big fluffy beard.  never the less Tom saw it fit to bet 15 dollars against his supposed 500 dollars.  He of course lost and the dude left 15 dollars up on 2 coin tosses.  This was not good as Tom had already been so stressed out by the city.  He hated it.  The traffic the lights.  the one way system.  It really got to him.  So after that we went round trying to park and failing miserably taking off the roof racks to get into a car park which then turned out to be closed!  Everything was going so wrong.  It was now rather late We picked up a large amount of weed from Dylan. He popped down to Base and we had a good catch up.  It was so great to see him.  I hadn’t seen him since graduation november 2011!  I gave him a huge hug from Jessica Lynch and he was off out.  So we drove back to Sam’s house quite eventlessly and parked up for the night.  Tom smoked a big dube to chill himself out, and everything was better. 

The morning came and we got a text from Em asking to pick her up from the airport.  Today was the day!  We had boosted up to auckland so quickly because me and Emily, her brother Ben and Delwyn had tickets to go and see Jurassic 5 tonight!  I was so excited and i had been for so long!  We needed to get Tom a ticket still which was a huge issue.  Especially as our money was running very low.  With great difficulty we got the the airport.  We went over bridges and around one way systems we didn’t need to but eventually arrived.   Very stressed Tom and I had had enough of the traffic but then we saw them.  Del and Emily  accompanied by Ben Ems brother and also Lally!  I was so excited to see them all especially Lally.  I had wanted her to come up so much.  It turned out she had got on the plane using my flight that i brought months ago.  What an awesome surprise.  Any irritation at the city melted away and we were all very happy bunnies.  She wasn’t coming to Jurassic 5 with us she was meeting a mate for some drinks but it was just great to have here here.  We all drove to Ben’s mates house and stocked up on beers and gin.  Had a small bit of munch and started drinking.  Bens mates place, Chris was awesome. it had a beautiful balcony overlooking the street. Perfect for people watching.  Ben and Del left after a while to go to their hotel.  We continued to drink and keep an eye on trade me for some tickets for Tom.  They were looking pricey and increasing in price fast.  We had our eye on one and then as it got to the lsat few minutes the price rocketed.  I had said I would half the price of our tickets to make it fair.  Coz i just really wanted him to come.  I was a little drunk now and I was lose on the computer.  I kept clicking!  Off it went.  We ended up getting it for 245!  A shit lot of money.  But fuck it its only money!  This was going to be an awesome night!  We continued to drink and I made myself rather drunk.  Oops.  So drunk that at some point i decided it would be a wise idea to let Ben grate my arm.  When he failed to do it good enough I showed him how and drew quite  bit of blood!  What an idiot.  The time came and we went off.  I was a bit intoxicated as was everyone else.  Ticket in hand after a bit of a kuffufal downloading it and getting it sent over.  In we went nice and early got ourselves a beer and a spot right at the front!  The gig was amazing.  Every song was perfect!  They messed around and they were having so much fun you could tell.  We were so close and it was amazing.  I had snuck in a hip flask of gin so we passed that around and sung our hearts out and bopped along.  The end of the gig and we hadn’t moved for a few hours other than dancing and the band jumped down into the crowd and started signing stuff.  I was wearing my J5 t-shirt so I whipped it off and chucked it at them.  I got it signed by Doc and by Cut chemist. I was stoked!  Not to mention I got a great snap of Em with 2na and she got her arm signed.  Later to become a tattoo!  And I got a snap with the 2na aswell! Awesome!!!  What a night.  It had been perfect.  Then we wasted about and hour in taxis not to mention 60 bucks trying to go out on the town which ended us up in burger king chatting and eating.  Lally and Dan came and met up with us and we got a taxi back to Chris’  we had a joint.  Well I had stopped smoking weed for the moment!  So Dan went home Em and Tom hopped into the van and me and Lally headed off to base as I had popped in earlier and booked a room for free being a base employee myself.  This was also because i had managed to say something quite untackful to Lally which hit a nerve to say the least.  She spoke about Dan coming down to Qt for her birthday and wanting to remind her of how no one was there for her birthday when in actual fact i knew I was brining home Laura and Reece her 2 best friends for her birthday as a surprise I said you have fun with you and Dan.  This was not clever.  Bless her it didn’t go down well. So off to Base we went as i tried to talk my way out of the massively dickish thing I just said but without blowing the surprise!  We snuck into a dorm room and fooled around with an audience until we both passed out. In the morning Lally and em had to be at the airport pretty early so Tom and Em picked me and Lally up from base about 8 and we took them to the airpot.  Reminiscing about the night before and nursing a serious hangover!  We arrived and said by to the girls. It wasn’t long before they came back out as the airport was being evacuated due to a fire!  We left them on the side of the road unsure about wether they would even be able to fly out.  It was so good to see them and the night had been perfect.  

We stopped to fill up on gas and try and put the roof racks back on the van.  We spent a while messing around with it at the petrol station and eventually with the help from a shoe lace we got them back on. As we were fiddling around a car pulled up and 2 Canadians hopped out asking if we smoked weed.  We of course said yes and they then gave us a bong as they said they were flying out and couldn’t take it on the plane.  Bloody friendly Canadians WHAT AWESOM PEOPLE THEY AREI had been talking to Paz and she was keen to join me and Tom on our mission to Raglan.  So we went and picked her up and then popped to the hotel to drop the rest of Dels stuff off and then we were on our way! It wasn’t a long way to Raglan but with my hang over in full swing it was a tough drive!  Tom had a bong of what hash the Canadians had left in the bong and it made him incredibly high!  So the driving was all on me!  Paz was in the back the whole way so there were a few occasions that I yelled at her to get down as we drove past the police but we got to Raglan event free! It was beautiful.  I fell in love with it straight away!  It reminded me of a little surf town back home called Bude.  I loved it.  We stocked up on food and a few beers and tried to find us a camping spot.  We got down to the beach and the waves were perfect!  Coming in at the perfect angle.  We suited up and got in.  The walk in was tricky and the waves were big and it was clearly a place where locals ruled! But after waiting more than a few turns I got a beautiful wave.  It felt amazing.  just what we had all been waiting for.  It was tiring work and when we got out we were all nakered.  So much fun tho and so perfect.  It was really busy in the water and there were some very good surfers!  Myself not included!  We drove off in search of a good camping spot and after failing for a while we met a nice woman who said we could park on her lawn.  So we popped to town, got some beers and chilled on the beach watching the sunset drinking and chatting.  Rolled a large joint and went for a walk along the beach watching the perfect sun dip beneath the waves. Then we parked up on the drive way and put a film on.  10 mins in and I was out like a light.  After a good well needed sleep we rose early and straight to the beach.  Cooked up some porridge as we watched the waves coming in perfect as ever and then suited up and in we went!

It seems like forever ago that I last wrote in this but it has only been 48 hours.  A lot has filled this time.  And so wonderfully as well.  We went in the waves and had a play around for some time.  I caught a few but didn’t manage to get up.  You see I had lent Paz my board as it was slightly bigger and I was using Em’s six footer.  However a while back when in Kai-Kura I had managed to snap one of my fins so I had borrowed one from Ems board.  This now meant that Em’s board was one fin down.  And it was quite easy to tell.  The board wobbled quite a lot and didn’t feel stable.  So after a while of splashing around i decided to pop into town to get myself another fin. I got out and left Tom and Paz on the grass as I went on a mish to find another fin.  Apparently there was a surf school just up the road so i thought I would give them a try.  I pootled up there in the van and as I drove around the point a new surf spot dropped into view.  There were cars parking up and people getting ready so I went a checked it out.  It was called Whale Bay and from what I could see it was a very dangerous break.  Smashing straight onto the rocks just feet below.  But the waves were amazing! I found the surf school just up the road but no luck with a fin.  So all the way into town where the first surf shop I went into were quite unhelpful being very particular about size make and model of which I wasn’t really sure of the size or model and also said it would be no less than 90 for a full new set. and if maybe I could get the exact size and model he might be able to find me a single for 40.  This didn’t sound like a bargain so I had a wonder round. There was a cute little surf shop just down an alley so I popped in there where a very friendly Canadian was trying to spark up a bit of banter with some customers, unfortunately he wasn’t having much luck they seemed to be a bit taken a back at his friendliness.  Once they had left we dove straight into a conversation and he turned out to know a friend of mine from Wanaka.  He said he often comes down that way in the winter to ride the hills.  We exchanged a bit more of our own stories and then he was kind enough to grab me a new fin for just 20 bucks.  No size or model was required from this guy but shockingly its fits.  Amazing what people will say when they don’t want to help you.  

I popped across the street to grab some papers as we were running low and on my route back I did the biggest double take.  I glanced at a small blonde girl from across the street unsure who I thought she was and then I dipped my shades to have a proper look and then took them off as she mirrored all of these actions I realised it was a friend from Base in Wanaka who used to work for accommodation there, Fluffy.  We both ran across the road and hugged.  It is always so warming to bump into some one you know when so far away from where you live.  We had a little catch up on the side of the road, it turned out she now lived and worked here which I was slightly jealous of I must say.  Sorry Wanaka.  They were having a few beers on the beach later and invited me down for it. So fin in hand and feeling quite good I went back to Manu bay to find Tom and Paz sitting in the sun.  Tom was still chilling out and Paz was roasting in the sun.  I fixed the new fin on and got ready to go back in.  Tom wasn’t going in again just yet because of his bak so I took his board in for a go.  It was great.  Toms board was a good foot larger than mine so it was much easier to catch the waves.  I got out there and managed a couple which felt incredible and then a huge one came there was no one on it the wave was clear for me.  I went for it and it just took me.  Probably the best wave I have ever got it felt incredible what a sport!  After this I was so stoked and raring for more but the wave had taken me so far in and my arms were nearly falling off from paddling so much.  The rocks out were so much closer than paddling out for another wave.  I couldn’t manage it so headed in.  Scrambled out of the water making an absolute fool of myself as even the most experienced of surfers do getting in and out to this break.  The slippery rocks are only just covered enough by the water for you not to see them so each blind step is often followed by a slip and a fall, quite painfully onto more rocks.  These attempts are also thwarted by the frequent waves coming helping to disguise your potential next step and knock you over.  I got out and needed a big rest after a nakering surf.  Tom was ready to go in again so in he went.  Me and Paz decided to miss this one out and climb out onto the rocks to try and get a good photo of Tom.  This break was perfect for it as the rocks along the bay meant you can climb out level with the waves out the back so can get relatively close to the action.  We waited a while as my camera had to charge.  We gave it 10 mins and then walked up the bay keeping our eyes out for Tom.  There weren’t many people in the water so it was quite easy to see that he wasn’t there. Unsure we walked up and down the break searching and then climbed all the way out onto the rocks and settled on a figure we thought must be him.  Not long after we saw that it wasn’t.  Slightly worried we headed back always scanning the waves for Tom but no sign.  As we got back to the van Tom came into view walking towards us looking very defeated.  We got to each other and Tom explained what had happened.  He was out caught a wave and stacked it even though it wasn’t a big wave some how his leash had come off so panicked he swam like crazy for his board before the next wave took it but just a couple of feet shy it took his board off and as he swam harder and harder the wave was faster and stronger and took his board all the way down to the rocky beach where he eventually arrived and had to look for it.  Scrambling over the treacherous rocks, meanwhile wondering why the hell his 2 friends who were meant to have been watching him closely taking photos weren’t helping in the slightest.  After painfully scrambling for some time he spotted his board propped between some rocks as he climbed towards it a final insult a wave came in a knocked it again against more rocks.  Poor defeated Tom then picked up his damaged board and walked back to the van over the horrible rocks getting thrown around by the wind. he arrived back nakered and spent as any one would. His board had suffered a bit of damage but nothing too serious thankfully.  We packed up and headed into town to get it fixed.  We came across a repair shop not far in so stopped off to be greater by a rather unfriendly guy who really didn’t seem to want to help us and was very dismissive of everything we asked.  We left after being told how foolish it was to be using surf tape to fix it and bottle of sealant in hand.  

A bit peckish we popped into town and I got some beers for later and then we went to get some sushi.  A walk through town reminded us all of how wonderful this place really is and everything about it was just so cool.  The sushi shop was all freshly made to order and had such a cool vibe about it.  We went down to a coffee shop had a drink and ate our sushi, discussing how much we would all love to live here.  Sorry again Wanaka.  Then we popped up to a free wifi spot and filled our big water bottle at a nearby tap while we waited.  Not having much to sort out on Facebook just a bit of owed money and a Ferry ticket to change we didn’t stay long then it was back to the sea.  We went to the actual beach this time to see what the break was like on the sand it didn’t look too bad and Paz was stoked on it as the waves look slightly smaller and maybe more ridable.  We went down and gave them a go.  Down to the beach and I bumped into another old friend from Wanaka.  Flo.  He had stayed at ours for a week or so with Mike and his other pals.  He was staying up here now and learning to surf.  His english had improved so much it was amazing.  we caught up and then we all went for a play in the waves.  I waded out in my shorts to try and get a photo of Paz on a wave and realised before long I had got my phone in my pocket.  Smooth!  So we played in the waves for a while messing around and laughing.  I still managed to get smacked by my board some how, very hard but it seemed I was ok, no swelling or bleeding so keep calm and carry on.  Satisfied with the day we headed back up to the van and had a few beers while we cooked up some dinner on a nice look out point over the beach.  We also got incredibly high which made dinner far more enjoyable.  Tom flipped out when he discovered a cockroach on his finger and for the rest of our time at that spot it was a constant worry for him if it would return and where!  We left and headed back to the sleeping spot.  We tried to watch a bit of harry potter but did not last long.  Out like lights.  

The next day the weather seemed iffy we headed to whale bay to take a look at the spot we hadn’t yet surfed.  We walked along watching the waves coming in so fast and big.  But so dangerous.  On arrival I stumbled out the car with my eyes barely open as if i was a new born puppy and was asked by a random if i had had a big night on the biccys last night.  Not wanting to admit i obviously looked this awful in the morning for no apparent reason I agreed and said it was a good one.  This remark reminded me of how lacking in capability I probably was to handle these waves.  So after closer inspection we headed off.  Given that a remark was made about how ampul I must been looking I though a coffeee would not be a bad idea.  On our way out we stopped at cafe which looked lovely.  All olden and rustic.  We went in and ordered. I ended up with a lemon and ginger tea which did the trick wonderfully.  We chatted a bit with the staff about the surf today and she mentioned how good the beach was meant to be today so we thought we would go check it out. When we got there we thought if the surf was not on today then perhaps it would be a good day to take the rest of the acid.  We marched all of our stuff down to a great spot on the beach and looked at the waves for a bit and decided almost immediately that we should do all of the acid.  

Tom ran back up to cut the acid up and then we sat down and ate it.  it was Paz’s first time so we gave her a little less just incase.  We sat and waited.  Tom popped off for a bong to speed up the process while me and Paz sat on the beach and chatted about love and relationships.  It had been some while and I could feel the acid taking effect.  Paz i don’t think could or perhaps didn’t know she could but as the conversation was becoming ever deeper I knew that the acid was helping me in that direction.  Paz then asked me about my love life and as I was about to bare my soul about my previous experiences of the heart Tom returned clearly off his rocker. By this time I was also feeling rather fucked and not wanting to make Paz feel left out I was playing it down quite a lot.  But already the sky was alive with the light of all off the colours of the spectrum the clouds were rolling and everything glistened beautifully.  Long gone was the sigh that indicated I was fucked.  When I was only about 16-17 me and my friends from home would spend a lot of our days in the summer and weekends taking mushrooms.  A very happy time in my life indeed but it was during this time that it was decided amongst everyone that once you heard me let out a deep sigh it meant the mushrooms were about to kick in.  This would happen on every occasion without me realising it.  I would let out a huge sigh and then I would feel off my tree horse and like wise once everyone had heard this sigh they knew it was about time for the drugs to kick in.  So as we would have consumed them at the same time and perhaps a bit of placebo the other too would start to feel fucked from the sigh.  This has stayed with me for those 9 years and every time i do a hallucinogenic I am aware of it.  I will sigh with out warning or intent and then inwardly to myself I will know.  Shit is about to kick off.  Its a great feeling that triggers a very fond memory.  Any way so we were on the beach.  Now at this point my mind draws a blank as I am meant to tell you what we did during the day but for the first probably 5 hours I will have to say nothing!  Nothing on acid though is quite different from nothing when sober.  We talked and laughed so much mainly about when we were going into the waves. I’m struggling to remember what sort of chatter filled these hours but they raced by and we had nothing but some rollys and 6 beers to get us by but they more than managed.  

One thing that was very apparent was the surf.  The waves were insane.  It looked like nothing I had ever seen before the 3 of us were adamant that it was not the acid making the waves look like this.  It was a crazy day.  one after the other you could see waves far out to sea crashing. Paz counted 26 levels of waves at one point.  The sight was breath taking.  The surf was so mental.  We watched learners splash about in the shallows to know avail and then way out the back 6 or 7 waves deep pros were catching the odd wave but getting killed in between.  And once they did get a wave they would get off it so early. Tom sat there wondering why no one was killing it.  He was dying to get in and show everyone how it was done but was just to gone.  The acid was in full swing and making a rolly was a difficult task let alone surfing.  You will have to excuse my writing as I am trying to piece the day together of what happened when.  Paz through out this time was incredibly entertained by the staff of the life guard tower.  Although large in numbers, if they weren’t dangerously skinny and teenagers then they were very over weight and too old!  They honestly did not look as if they could save anything.  This entertained Paz regularly.  A draw back I find myself having every time I’m on acid is that I’m consumed by the worry of how other people are feeling.  It takes up my every waking thought that I must accommodate everyone else in the trip and alter my behaviour and what I say always taking into account exactly how it will affect and come across to everyone else.  So I never want to do anything unless I’m sure it will be beneficial to the rest of the group. This can be quite disabling I’m sure you can imagine as I am constantly reading other people working out what they’re feeling and what they might want to do.  For example earlier in the day Paz had mentioned she felt nothing so having given her less acid I was worried she wasn’t going to be feeling it as much so not wanting her to feel left out for some time I played down how fucked I really was.  We had been sat just above the beach on the dunes and rather close to the life guard base hut.  In retrospect it might have been better to find a more secluded spot.  However there we sat and had all of the adventure and all of the fun and happiness and beauty from one spot.  Absolutely covered in sand and too fucked to worry about it.  

A constant theme of the day was that we had to go in for a surf.  We just had to!  It was Raglan.  The sun was beaming and the waves looked like nothing I had ever seen before.  We just had to.  It seemed it was said dozens of times that we will just finish this ciggy and this beer and then we will go in.  Each time it became more and more funny.  Eventually determination go the better of me and I stood up.  The most any of us had done in a long while.  This motivation was rapidly stamped out because little to our knowledge as we had been people watching and wave watching and surfer watching and judging the same had obviously been happening to us from just behind in the life guard hut.  As i stood up the thoughts accumulated in my brain in an instant.  3 people just below their look out cabin rolling around covered in sand drinking beers and laughing their heads off it wasn’t exactly hard to guess what we had been up to.  And on my standing up I noticed and heard the murmur and glance in my direction of some thing alone the lines of “agh here we go!”  It then occurred to me what we must look like to them under qualified or not 3 people that have been out of control for nearly 5 hours and judging surfers and beach dwellers were thinking about tackling the waves and this was cleary going to be the show of the day.  I sat back down sheepishly and got back into my comfy spot of watching and appreciating.  Tom’s increasing need to urinate meant he was the next to move from our safe spot.  He returned much later looking rather humble.  Mean while me and Paz had been watching the beach as a group of about 40 people marched onto the beach clutching clipboards wearing rain coats and wearing shoes.  they couldn’t have looked more out of place.  It seemed crazy to us.  The slightest thing to happen would spark such larger and far deeper conversation than ever would happen on a normal day.  Its such a wonderful expressive and deeply pure drug. I wanted to hear about Toms toilet experience so I could understand why he looked so effected.  He explained what had hoppened and before entering the toilet he had walked past a group of surfer dudes who he had obviously heard judge him in some way which we had been doing unforgivingly to the entire beach population for 5 hours straight.  And followed by the entrance into a dark dank stinky toilet consisting of a shit covered long drop was obviously a slightly depressing vibe to be put onto you.  After some further laughing and talking we decided that going in was the only thing we could do.  We had been analysing the waves for hours sure that they were huge but having such poor perception of persecutive and depth and its almost impossible to actually tell.  So we came to the conclusion that we mist give it a try for ourselves.  

We walked out down the beach once we had tried to make sense of our sandy pile of crap.  Once we were out there it was clear the waves were vast.  The hugest I had ever seen live.  After the white wash they towered up about you 10-12 feet high and they came crashing down pulling you towards them just before they broke over you, smashing down on to the sea bed which was only 2-3 feet below.  The water was so shallow but the waves huge it was so dangerous but it was so exhilarating. I loved it, I had so much fun.  I was in absolute ecstasy.  Aware of how dangerous it was to catch a wave I tried repeatedly and firstly was picked up straight away by a huge one.  The board dropped in as if into a half pipe and I just made it to my feet however my front foot was far too forward and the nose dived the wave just behind me threw me onto the sea bed with such force.  i must have done several roll pollies underwater after the first impact.  I took it on my right shoulder.  It was the fun kind of pain you get when you are trying something you love.  So i surfaced and paddled straight back up for another.  There were a few just chucking me around but I was having so much fun.  Paz and Tom were been thrown around too and while they didn’t share my crazed excitement for it they both had smiles on their faces.  Tom’s was not enough to keep him in the water though and after a few more minutes he headed in.  Paz stayed with me and kept trying to persuade me to give up.  I couldn’t be swayed And paddled out again.  Another doozey of a wave grew up behind me.  The adrenaline pumping as it towered over me was great.  i paddled furiously and caught it.  I got up and rode it .  It felt incredible.  It was only a a few seconds before it dumped over on me but for the ride I got it was worth it.  It felt amazing.  Having felt this I paddled straight back out for another.  The same happened again accept this time i didn’t even get to my feet.  My front foot as it found the board was too close to the front again and down I went.  The wave dropped me so hard onto the sand head first. when i eventually made it back into the air I couldn’t have been more stoked to get back in.  I was rushing with the acid and adrenaline.  It was such a powerful combination but Paz’s genuine plea for me to come in now and my slow acceptance that it was one of the most dangerous seas to be surfing in got the better of me and in we went.  I could have stayed for more until I was beaten to a pulp but I had had enough fun.  Even if it was only a few seconds of perfection it was unbeatable.  We took our perch back on the sand and spoke about the insanity of the surf.  How dangerous it was and how amazing to watch.  Tom explained how he had been feeling so high and mighty about how perfect the surf was from a far and why people weren’t killing it was puzzling to him.  And now he had been taken down several pegs by seeing how real the water was and how dangerous it was.  Paz found it hilarious how excited I had been at being repeatedly destroyed by the waves.  We went back to our beers and ciggys and a sneaky joint.  We ducked into a little dune and it was perfect.  No wind and very warm.  We wondered why we hadn’t  been there the whole time instead of our area decimated by sand.  We saw Flo our german friend from Wanaka and explained to him how insane the waves were and not to go in and that we were high on acid.  We did this as we were on route to a small cave on the other side of the beach.  Paz had pointed this cave out to me in an attempt to get me out of the waves earlier exclaiming that we should go see the cave and get out of the waves.  I had remembered it hours later and thought a visit to it was due.  So off we trudged along the beach.  I was thinking to myself that the trip was probably nearing its end but I was of course wrong as you always are in these assumptions. 

As we walked towards the cave i looked at the glistening sand and as i stopped and looked the entire stretch became alive with warping intricate patterns tribal and hindu and all kinds of styles.  The patterns were full of colour and covering everything now i could choose anything to look at and it would become a pattern.  It is hard to explain some times it would seem like the pattens were being projected onto things and more often it would be more like everything was actually patterned. I was just too blind to see it the rest of the time.  The kaleidoscope effect this gave to my vision was breath taking.  I stopped on several occasions just to gaze at the beauty of what i was seeing.  The scenery was phenomenal as it was and to have this layer thrown on top was almost too much to handle.  The clouds rolled so fast in rainbow colours and the trees and grass would breathe with you as the sea and sand glistened with the most intricate complex but perfectly symmetrical patterns.  We climbed for a while over barnacle covered rocks which were warping with patterns as i looked at them.  At one point it became very hard to step from rock to rock as the shadows and barnacles would warp and change so much so that it became hard to judge where they were exactly.  But I managed.  A very wonderful thing through out the day was the fact that on a regular basis Paz seemed to voice the feelings and experiences she was having and it would make us realise that we were all going through the exact same stuff.  This did such a marvellous job of bringing us back close together within our trips.  It really made the day even more tremendous than it already was.We were also slightly aware of the tide as it had started to come in again and due to the shape of the bay we could easily get trapped on the rocks and that just sounds like a recipe for a headline if ever I heard one.  3 tourists needed rescuing from rocks after trapping themselves there while under the influence of LSD.  But we carried on.  As we got to the cave it was a bit of an anticlimax it was a small dip in the cliffs and there wasn’t much to explore so we brushed it off and continued on.  We got quite far and onto a small bay where there was a massive log overlooking Manu bay.  Tom pointed out to us where he had lost his board on the rocks yesterday.  It looked rather dangerous and not very fun.  We decided to turn back after that lest we get caught by the tide and end up being a tragedy.  When we got back to our spot it wasn’t much more gazing at the sunset and and the rolling clouds and god knows what else before we started to deal with going back to the van.  It was a draining half hour of shaking towels and awkwardly washing our boards and wetsuits in the shower while people waited and watched.  When on acid being fully aware at all times of how you are behaving and how other people will be judging and analysing you is a constant worry for me. so trying to wash my board and my wet suit and not look like a dick is a tricky and emotionally trying time.  But we managed.  Then up to the van and we tootled off to Manu bay.  We had been talking about heading out there for a while as the waves were still insanely massive and we were hoping we might get to see some awesome riders throwing down. We got there and cooked a quick bit of dinner I cooked masses for us.  Some tasty chicken in a can with pasta.  But after a few mouthfuls i was full.  This was worrying as i had not eaten a thing since dinner the night before.  We had a joint and I managed to chuck it all down with out realising.  This was also because the view was still amazing.  We were all still tripping.  We watched the clouds for ages and listened to Bastille which was so euphoric.  You know when a piece of music or a song reminds you of a time in your life. I knew as we listened to the album that this music would always remind me of this wonderful time in my life.  It was such a happy day.  One of the happiest in my life.  This seems to be a recurring emotion with acid.  I always feel wiser and happier after doing acid.  The feeling lasts and you can keep the things you feel and learn with you for the rest of your life.  We watched the surfers till it became too dark to see the last guy out there.  My eyes were still glassy and it was hard to pick out the last guy out there.  But we all managed to see him catch the last wave in.  We sat around for a bit talking about how much fun we had had during the day and how happy we were.  Then we drove back to our little parking spot.  The drive back was so scary.  Tom was driving but i was in the front seat petrified about the winding roads.  Tom was having the time of his life.  The adrenaline from the drive mixed with the remnants of the acid was again insane so much so that there was a warm glow of joy in the back of my head, which was enjoyable but slightly worrying.  We drove all the way back into town because a strong urge for lollys and chocolate had grasped us.  The expedition to the shop was a sure fire reminder of the fact that we were all still far from sober.  The human interaction with anyone out side the group was intimidating but also funny as we were stoned.  It was made fun by the cashier who asked straight away if we had the munchies.  We confessed and she had a wonderful attitude about it all and made the transaction unusually calm. We then headed to our little spot to consume our horrendously unhealthy amount of junk food and watch Dr Zeus. While we set up the movie I rolled another joint to help us with our food consumption as we had gone over board as usual.  About half a joint in and I managed to drop it down the side of the van door, after about 20 mins of searching it was decided that it was lost forever so I rolled another small one to get us on a way.  Eventually I fell asleep with that last drop of lcd fuelling my overactive imagination as i drifted off.

I woke up feeling surprisingly good.  It had been a good comfy sleep but I knew it wouldn’t be long before the depression and over thinking of absolutely everything would kick in.  We drove drove straight to the beach and by the time we arrived I was depressed and deflated.  Expected, but it never makes it easier to deal with.  Paz was feeling low too, she wasn’t sure if she would surf today but we took all our gear down to the sand and sat in the same spot we had spent about 8 hours in the day before.  This exaggerated the difference in emotion everyone was feeling.  But i suited up and we headed in.  Paz decided to stay on the beach and work on her tan.  The surf was relaxing but after a while I had caught no waves.  Well I caught more than a few but fell off every single one and it began to build up and depress me further so I came in for a break.  I had to keep an eye on my phone as Liz a friend from Wanaka was coming up to Raglan to meet us for the day.  She was on her way hitching up from Taupo.  After our first surf we didn’t go back in.  I chatted to Paz about how you feel the day after LSD and its a very comforting thing to converse about the feelings you get and re affirm the fact that you are feeling the same as every one.  After that I fell asleep on the beach and was woken up by a tickle to hear that we were heading up to the van to eat some food and maybe watching a movie.  Although the sea was warm and the sun was out this sounded lovely.  Once we got to the van we ate the remnants of our junk food and decided to head into town to get a bit of internet to catch up with life.  As we were all glued to Facebook catching up with the world, Liz arrived early.  It was wonderful to see her relentlessly happy face.  Always full of wonderful things to say and so happy.  She chatted and filled us in on her journey up.  Which involved a convertible mustang hitch ride.  Not bad.  We grabbed some healthy dinner ingredients and a big box of beer and headed to the look out point over Manu bay that we had eaten dinner at the night before.  While the clouds weren’t moving and were un mistakably cloud like and the waves weren’t quite what they could have been the sunset was perfect and the surfers were still at it so with dinner and beers and 3 wonderful friends it was another beautiful evening.  Liz brought her very terrible jokes which are all so bad that they cross over and become funny again.  We chilled and chatted for a while and then eventually after enough yarns and been spun and enough photos had been taken we headed back to our little camp spot and stuck on a movie and ate more junk food.  4 people in the van this time!  Cosy to say the least.  

I didn’t even make it half an hour in to harry potter and I was out like a light.  We woke up in the morning and headed into town for a nice treat of a breakfast.  French toast and bacon.  Great feed. Then we went over to Manu bay to catch our last waves of the day.  Me and tom hopped in while Liz and Paz chilled and took some snaps.  I managed to get a few but the waves were so close to the rocks they were very dangerous waves.  Tom smashed a few great ones and I managed to come off a wave and smack my feet on the rocks.  The waves died down a bit so we decided to take Liz to the beach for a surf lesson. The waves were perfect and although she really looked the part in my spiderman wet suit she wasn’t very confident but after about an hour se managed to stand.  Paz and Tom killed it for a while while i taught Liz.  I snuck off a few times for a few really perfect waves and then when Liz had had enough fun I went back in and caught a few of my favourite waves of the trip.  The sun was shining the water was warm and it was smiles all round.  It just reminded me of how much I love this place and how much I didn’t want to leave.  But what a wonderful time we had had.  I hope I can come back some time.  We wanted to move off pretty early so we could get back to toms house in Hawks Bay for dinner so about 2 we packed up the van and headed off.  The petrol was super low and so were our funds.  Luckily Paz gave us some money for gas and the acid so we chucked in that and the remainder of our money 70 bucks.  Just before we left we popped in to a fish and chip shop to see liz’s friend sam and he sorted us with some free fish and chips which was amazingly delicious.  Then we got on the road and dropped Liz off in hamilton to continue her travels.  It didn’t take too long to get to Taupo but the gas was already low again.  I had nothing and neither did tom.  So Paz to the rescue she chucked in another 50 which hopefully would get us to toms house where beds and dinner awaited.  It was to be an early start the next day. our ferry left at 9am and it was a 4 hour drive! We made it back to Tom’s slept well after being fed wonderfully and then another early start back to the ferry.  We left Paz before we got on the ferry as she was doing a bit more traveling around.  The ferry was a terrible rush to get on but we made it no worries.  We had only booked 1 person and a van so we managed to sneak on with Tom hidden under surf boards in the back.  We were quite proud of ourselves.  

The drive back down the South island was fast and uneventful.  We got to Christchurch where we went back to Em’s house for a few days.  There we met Dan and Murry and Em.  Also I was meant to be picking up Laura from Christchurch airport to take her back down in time for Lally’s birthday.  The surf while we were there was nothing to speak of so instead we had a night in and Em and her brother had a few friends over and we played ring of fire with everyone and Rose, Em’s Mum joined in.  The next day me and Dan drove to the airport to pick up Laura and after a few hours of driving round and asking at airport information it was discovered that I was a useless idiot and Laura’s flight came in the following day.  That night we chilled out and got some good sleep and on Sunday I managed to pick Laura up successfully.  We headed off back home to Wanaka packed in the van.  It was a ropey drive home and took us a lot longer than we expected.  All of us just wanted to get there now.  it was lovely having Laura there as I hadn’t seen her for 6 weeks so we chatted and caught up about her holiday and what not.  Everyone else slept mainly.  We ran out of gas at one point in a tiny little town with a card operated gas machine which took some persuading to work.  It certainly crossed all of our minds that we were going to be stuck in this town till help arrived in the morning.  We managed after a few panic stricken phone calls to get the gas pump working and we were on our way.  Laura drove the last bit as she wasn’t feeling sleepy because of the time difference that she had just flown from.  We got to Wanaka after what felt like for ever and dropped everyone off then it was just me and Laura honing it over the crown range trying to get back before Lally was too drunk as she had just finished work and it was her birthday on the stroke of midnight.  I haven’t driven the crown range quite that fast very often and we still didn’t get there till 2am.  Laura hid in the back and I drove up and met her.  What met me was a stumbling yelling crying laughing Lally.  Laura jumped out and Lally was hysterical!  She would scream then laugh then burst into tears.  Wasted beyond belief I might add.  Hilarious to watch. That was how the trip ended with a wasted Lally hanging off Laura going through every emotion under the sun.