chasing a swell

It is a strange summer. The weather is always shifting, constantly in motion and you can everything in one day. We had drizzle and strong winds in the morning where we rather stay in bed and sunshine, 28° and a perfect session in the afternoon, just until the next morning rain and a storm is wakes you suddenly. The people over here are still friendly and polite. When somebody shows up in a place and you have eye-contact, you greet him. The level of how friendly you are decides mostly about a short talk right afterwards. Nobody is wearing long pants or a sweater if it’s not seriously freezing. Everybody is wearing sunglasses all day and in all occasions. Even on a wedding day. The kiwis are crazy about cars and the bigger they are or the more you pimped them the better. Their attitude always seemed to be positive. They never saw somebody being mad at somebody. Even the grumpiest guy will be confronted with politeness and nobody expect a bad personality. Wherever I have been, how often I stayed in one place, I never had the feeling of being unpleasant. They are still friendly and talk to you, they still want to know where you came from and most of all, how you like new Zealand and where you have been. Their curiosity about foreigners is, especially when I consider the fact that there are so many travelers passing their way every day, still high and honest. Just the younger kiwis have to show a little that they already got some balls, but that’s just part of the game growing up, I guess.

The forecast hasn’t been good for the entire west coast and Isa was feeling better and want to do the Tongariro track at least once. So we left Taranaki after one last session at back beach and went through the jungle of the forgotten world highway. Sleeping at a river where the mosquitoes and sandflies were almost killing us, especially because it was really warm all night long. But we had no choice. We arrived at the national park in cloudy and misty weather and it was raining or at least drizzling all day. The forecast for the next day hasn’t been good either and we didn’t want to stay and wait for a possible weather change. The highway took us further east around Mt. Ruhapehu, which we didn’t see either. We finally arrived in the Hawke’s Bay after a long drive. Suddenly I had a strange feeling. On one hand I know this place pretty well, because I stayed there for 3 months and felt a little home. On the other hand I don’t want to stay here for long, because there is nothing much to do (not even surfing) and so many backpackers make you feel like you are stuck. You have to leave because you might miss something someplace else. We wouldn’t stay for long anyway. The reason to make it to Napier was simple. We were chasing a swell. The west coast went flat and there is supposed to be a 2-3m swell on its way up the east coast of New Zealand. It would turn into Hawke’s Bay and get a little smaller and the 2 point breaks might be pumping. Hopefully. So let the waiting begun. But at first we had to find a place to sleep where we wouldn’t have to move at night. That was really difficult. It looks like some idiot-backpackers ruined it for everybody else and left one time to often a mess at the free campsites. 

 

I went out pretty spontaneous at dinnertime. It looked fun and I took isabell’s board and to catch some long mellow rides. The spot was perfect for cruising in a longboardstyle. The water was warm but dirty, I could even smell it. Specially compared to New Plymouth. So a truth came back to my mind that we, the humans, have no intention to keep our planet green or even try it. The pollution on this particular surfspot is caused by the waste from dairyfarms and heavy industries in the backcountry which load everything in the rivers that stream in the ocean. The waste I see in the morning that is left from some guys at a bonfire last night is just a teardrop but shows the attitude. So now a hammer came and hit my mind even worse. This in New Zealand. What about all those third world countries that don’t even care about recycling at all? I am not talking about the illegal wasting, I am talking about general rubbish and ordinary homemade waste, which is places in the oceans on purpose. What about India and China and their inhabitance which is so enormous that responsible living is just impossible. Even if they try, not that they intent to. It is sad and there is basically nothing that you can do about it besides cleaning up your own rubbish and hope for the rest to follow. Foolish, isn’t it?! But I drifted away, here comes another wave. Just a few paddle strokes and it is mine and will be until the shore ends my ride. Yeah but that was it, the next morning didn’t bring the awaited swell and about 30 locals were paddling in bad conditions for every little anklebreaker. They seemed desperate. So we had some breakfast, changed the ferry to a 2 days earlier ship and enjoyed the rest of the day which suddenly became sunny.

 

We didn’t want to stay in a place that we both felt a little uncomfortable. There was no place to stay at night legally and Napier was really just a place for working, because there is nothing else to do. So we went to Wellington to see some of the places the Lord of the Rings was shot. In the jungle-like forests that surround the capitol of New Zealand a lot of scenes of the famous trilogy were shot and we went for some short hiking. Unfortunately and besides the beauty of the nature we figured out that almost all of the scenes were put together by computers. It is almost impossible to find a place only by watching the movie itself.

Today is ‘Witianga’ a public holiday. The Kiwis are celebrating the day when the contract between the Maoris and the Brits were made and ended struggle. Luckily the shops were open for some ‘sightseeing’. The waterfront in Wellington has been pretty busy. Some bands played and everybody was out for a sunny day off work. The ferry will take us down to the south island at 2 in the morning and we want to be in Kaikoura for a possible morning surf session.

I have only four days left in this beautiful country with all those amazingly relaxed and friendly people. But it’s gotta end sometime. Just yesterday we were listening to a conversation of a few 15 years old teenagers and realized yet again that their social intelligence and overlook seemed to be ahead of ours or at least develop earlier. Especially at the younger ages. It is probably given by family and society to always respect everyone else and reflect your own actions toward others. A teenager, he seemed just went into puberty, was talking about how he treated another guy pretty bad and later on found out that he was a talented guitar player and nice guy too. So he was blaming himself for being ‘such a dick to him’ and wants to apologize about what happens 1-2 years ago and don’t want to prejustice anyone anymore. At the same time he didn’t want to say it just like that, because that would imply he treated him bad because of something the other probably didn’t worry about so far. You never see parents yelling at kids or kids don’t listen to them. There is less authority and the life with each other in a family seemed to be without treating from above. The kids seemed to have more freedom but always seemed to have a stronger bond with their parents as it seemed to be in our society half way around the world in a fast, busy and anonymous world. But I know that this is just an overview and generalization. Sharing time with the loved ones and working for a living and not the other way round is so evident and somehow the kiwis always show me what is the important in life and I felt this nowhere else as much as I do over here.