Greg and I arrived in Raglan last Wed, a place that can properly be described as a cozy little surf town with a really relaxed vibe to it. Walking around town you see many surfer dudes and chicks with their long hair, board shorts, and flip flops. The hostel we stayed at was great--hammocks everywhere, a jacuzzi, a small sauna, free kayaks, and free bikes. The people at the hostel were pretty sweet too. The jacuzzi stopped working for a couple of days when we were there, but that didn't stop our fellow backpackers from enjoying it. They just started filling up big pots of boiling water from the kitchen and dumping it in the jacuzzi to warm up the water haha. Love it. We stayed there for 5 nights, mostly just chilled out around the hostel and cooked some really tasty meals. In the course of our stay there, Greg officially accomplished the impossible: he taught me how to cook! I know....believe me, I am just as shocked as you are. =) Turns out that cooking is not as difficult as I always made it out to be---it just involves entirely too many dishes haha. But when you are a backpacker, you have the time to make a nice meal, enjoy, and clean up afterward without having to worry about being rushed or anything. So, it is well worth the effort.
For those of you who know me well, you will remember that I have avoided eating most red meat for about 9 years now. Well, the first night I met back up with Greg in Auckland, he brought steaks with him to cook us for dinner. Of course, I wasn't about to be like "Umm....yeah, I'm not eating that." So, I was a trooper and put my red meat issues aside. Greg prepared the steaks for us with some potatoes & it was DELICIOUS! Since then, I have eaten A LOT of steak...and will continue to do so haha. In NZ, you can get a package of 2 good steaks for $4.00 in the supermarket,then add a couple of fresh onions and peppers (or capsicums as they are called in NZ) and potatoes for a couple more dollars. By the end of it, you can have a nice home-cooked steak meal for two at the low cost of about $7.00 total. Not too shabby, eh? A guy staying at our hostel in Raglan told Greg & I one evening that our dinner was the best meal he had seen cooked in that kitchen all night. Never thought I would hear something like that even remotely directed at me! Haha.
We did have a couple non-lazy days in Raglan as well. One afternoon, we rented out a double-kayak and went kayaking in the Tasman Sea for a few hours. It was really great! Before then, I had only ever been kayaking in springs that had no waves & that you mainly just moved forward with the current. The Tasman Sea was a bit different---small constant waves and a strong current that we had to paddle against at times. Awesome workout though! I may be skinny, but I don't think my legs, arms, and shoulders have ever been so strong =). We first kayaked to an area not far from our hostel where there were rock formations called "Pancake Rocks." As the name describes, they kind of looked like tons of small pancake-shaped rocks stacked all on top of each other. So, we kayaked all around and imbetween the rocks and took some pictures. It was sweet. The water was a really gorgeous turquoise too.
Then, we headed on to one of the many green hills in front of us so we could have a picnic. After some hardcore paddling, we got to our (Greg's) chosen hill and docked the kayak onto some rocks. I have mentioned before that Greg is like a monkey when it comes to exploring spots in NZ...well, our kayaking day was no different. He wanted to go to the top of the hill, so we climbed our way through long, thick grass up a steep incline, having to take our shoes off along the way because it had recently rained and the grass was too slippery for our inappropriate footwear. Finally, after a long trek, we reached the top of the hill, barefoot and red-faced. The wind was soo strong and cold, but the view was wonderful. After taking a few pictures, we walked back down about 30 feet and found a spot away from the wind between some rocks & had our picnic. No weird food this time---just sandwiches =) After our picnic, we hiked our way back down to the kayak & set back off on the Tasman toward the hostel. It was another great day in NZ.
The next day, we decided to walk down to one of the Raglan beaches to go watch the surfers. I know I said that Raglan was small (and it is), but like most cities in NZ, it is just big enough that it is so much better to have a car to properly explore it. We started our walk following a sign to the beach that said "Whale Bay - 8 km." So, after almost an hour and a half of walking & with absolutely no more signs pointing the way to the beach, we came across this park that had a bunch of different walking trails in it, including one that said "Manui Reserve (Beach)." Naturally, we took the beach trail in hopes of finally reaching our destination. We followed the trail for about 15 minutes, then all of a sudden, we came to a pasture with some huge creepy cows & saw this really small wooden posting in the shape of a makeshift arrow that said "Manui Reserve." The tricky part is that the arrow pointed in the direction of a hilly pasture that was surrounded with a small electric fence directly next to the cow pasture that had about 15 massive cows in it intensely staring us down.
Plus, because the pasture we were apparently supposed to go through was hilly, you couldn't see much of the pasture to see if there was anything in it...you know, like a raging mad bull! Adding to my concern, Greg was wearing red haha. Anyway, Greg convinced me it was fine and not to worry. We climbed over the electric fence & headed across the pasture, being watched by the neighboring cows the whole time. We went over the last hill in the pasture, and to my amazement, we could actually see the beach! Only in NZ would there be a trail like that! We climbed back over the electric fence and headed down the hill to the beach to watch the surfers. Sadly, after all that, the beach we reached was only for beginners. So, we sat down and watched about 30-40 newbies sit (not surf) in the water with their boards haha. Oh well; it was a pretty walk all the same. We only stayed for about 20 minutes, then repated our long trek back to the hostel. I really liked Raglan though...definitely somewhere I wouldn't mind visiting again.
Cheers,
Ash
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