Raglan, New Zealand

Well, I'm on the Western coast of NZ, in Raglan, one of NZ's surf spots. As I heard repeatedly on my way here and during the first day, Raglan has the world's longest left hand point break. Sounds cool enough, but I'm still working on the standing up bit. I'm staying at the Karioi Lodge, a very relaxed hostel on the side of the mountain here in town. I'd heard that Raglan often traps people for longer stays than they intended, and that certainly seems to be the case. It's beautiful here, reminds me a bit of Fiji, living close to a jungle and having a beach a stone's throw away. My plan at the moment is to get back up to Auckland for the George Clinton and P-funk Allstars concert, so there's a chance I may end up here till then. If not, I'll push on to Rotorua, which is a town sitting on geothermal waters. I already got a chance to soak in some hot water in Hahei, two days ago, on the way here. Near Hahei is a hot water beach, at low tide if you dig into the sand at one spot you hit hot water, fairly different than any of the other hot water spots I've ever hit, or heard of. The day's here have been gorgeous so far, and I hear there' likely a decent surf this afternoon so I'll be heading back down to the beach for my third go on a surf board. I'm hoping that between my time here and later in Gisborne, on the East coast, I'll get decent enough to buy a board when I get back to Australia. The plan right now is to buy a vehicle there to tour the Western coast and carrying a surfboard would be easy then. Anyway, I'm off to relax and take it very easy. It's not a difficult thing to do here. Oh, it is St. Patrick's Day, oddly enough, and while I don't have any green on me yet, I'll be soon changing into my sarong.