...kinda made me miss my life back in St. Augustine. As I looked out the window this morning, it was still mostly cloudy and the waves looked about the same. I thought about all the other choices I could have made. But, no regrets ... as they say. I now have knowledge that had been beyond my grasp.
You'd think I was training for a marathon today. Walking, paddling, biking, more walking, surfing, then more walking! I decided to go to Makorori Point early, since the wind was at least SW offshore. It would be more offshore there, Wayne said, better there than Wainui. I looked out the big glass windows, up and down the bay there were waves, but not exactly the variety you traipse halfway across the world to ride. It looked like it was still big. He said it was four to five feet. The paper is saying 3 meters, and to me that equates to nine feet.
I pulled on the full suit, and started the walk up the mountain. It's getting cooler by the day. My toes were freezing, in sandals, walking through the wet grass. The log trucks keep flying by, so many of them. It makes me sad, as load after load passes me all day as I journey back and forth from the surf breaks, and into town, the smell of pine in the air after they fly by. There must be millions of trees being cut down. The width of the trunks must be five feet across. I make a mental note to ask Wayne about this. One truck whizzes by and a stone flies up and stings my arm. Owww!
I get all the way there, and see it is glassier and there are some blue-green peelers that look head high, at least. I make my way down through the soft, pale green sea oats, slipping down the steep incline to the cool, pale brown sand. There is no one even checking it. It's like I am the only person alive. It's the path less traveled, I suppose. Sometimes the path less traveled is less traveled for a reason, I think to myself.
When I get down to the shoreline, I realize it is dropping tide. The rock reef is becoming more exposed by the minute. I look out at the waves, and realize that I will have about half a football field worth of rocks to make my way through, and sigh. It just isn't worth that. I turn around and walk the long trek back to Wainui.
It looks bigger on this side, and it looks pretty glassy. I decide to just paddle out. I head for the spot that looks the biggest. That turned out to be a mistake. There was some sort of freak rip tide going on there, that's the only thing that could explain what happened next. I paddled and paddled, and felt like I wasn't getting anywhere. I could see the swirling currents that told me I had blown it. Of all places to paddle out, of course! I watched as one after another wall sucked up over the shallow sandbar, dredging up brown sand into the glossy blue faces that remained beyond my grasp. I yelled to the heavens, come on! I was determined not to let it beat me. I paddled for a solid half hour, I had looked at my watch before I entered the water. Finally, I had to give in, and realize it was not to be. Humiliated, I turned my board to shore.
I was not giving up, and walked down the beach to a spot that looked less swirly and menacing. But, it was as if the rip followed me. The same thing happened again. All time worst session of my entire life. I was full of despair. How could this be possible? It jolted me back to the nightmares I had last night... Andy was calling me to jump into his new boat he had just bought, we were going surfing. We rode to the pier (!) and we jumped out. The waves were small and gutless. The tide got too high, and I tried to climb back into the boat, but when I did it capsized on top of me. Everything got weirder then. I swam to shore and walked to the parking lot. I looked down, and someone had thrown a caseload of beer bottles onto the ground, brown glass chunks were everywhere. I was barefoot. Then I noticed that someone had put huge chunks of glass in a row across the road. I heard a car tire explode, as someone drove over it. The next dream found me hungry, and I was scraping the bottom of a huge tub of ice cream, the big ones that are in ice cream shops. It was as if there were only the scrapings left for me. Then, I saw one that was full, and I stuck a spoon in it and ... it had melted.
So, I went back to the house, and decided to go into town to exchange money so I could pay Wayne in NZ dollars. Traveler's checks have turned out to be a bad thing here. No one wants to hassle with them. Everywhere I go, no one takes them.
So, what happens next? I am not a block from the house, just riding along on the bike, when this elderly couple suddenly backs their car out of the driveway at 40 mph without even looking! There I am, watching it all unfold, thinking; you are not going to do what it looks like you... HEY! I swerve the bike out of the way, just as his back bumper touches my front tire. The guy is oblivious! I slap the back of the car to let him know he nearly took me down, but it is as if he doesn't even see me!
I suddenly feel like this is the day I should not leave the house.
I am hyper-vigilant the rest of the ride into town.
I get stuff to take back, and stop for some veggie quiche at the same little cafe. The skies are looking clearer, so I decide to do some exploring. I check all the surf spots on the way back. I see some guys surfing the first one, that little playground park that I pass every day. There is a cool dog sitting on top of the hill, and this fills me with joy. It comes right up to me, like it knows me, wagging it's tail and nuzzling up to me. I sit down next to it, and look out, wondering if that is her owner out there. I take some pictures of her, and the lineup for Bob.
Soon, someone is coming in and she races down to meet him. He's not her owner, but I ask him if he had any fun. He smiled, shrugged, and said it was just okay. I told him about my crap time this morning, and he said, "I know! The current is brutal!" He seemed like a really capable surfer, so that made me feel better.
Then the other guy came in, and this was her owner. I asked him what her name was, and he smiled, "Ellie." I asked him how he thought the surf was, and he said, "Rubbish!" Good, it was not just my imagination.
At the next stop, there were three guys out, really good surfers, and the waves looked even bigger, the tide coming in. One of them dropped in, and it looked about four feet over his head. I knew it wasn't my imagination. It was sucking out, and a bit intimidating looking - even from shore.
I rode the bike over to Makorori for another look. On the way, I found a bird sanctuary with paths that I could take the bike on. What fun that was! Steep drops and sharp turns in a deep green, lush forest. This was an unexpected gem. But, I was feeling like I wanted to go surfing, so out I came and it was back on the road.
Once at the point, I could see two guys out. They were having trouble catching any, but I could see some good right handers peeling off, and hightailed it back to the house. I grabbed my 2 mil short-sleeved full and the board and took off. My calves were burning from the constant exercise all morning, but I wanted to get into the surf and redeem myself.
The water was green, the wind light. It was just that ... a lot of water was moving around, so it wasn't as ideal as I would have liked. At this point, I will take what I can get.
This session was better, not the best, but I had a lot of rights that jacked up and pitched out, making for some good drops and cutbacks. The cliffs and rock were gorgeous, and the paddle out was easy with the tide all filled in covering the rocks. It did get a bit scary though, as the boils out there were ominous. At one point, one sucked me down, and it felt like something was pulling me under. My heart was pounding, out there all alone. The two guys I had seen before were long gone. The tide started dropping, and the sun began dipping behind the clouds. I looked back at the cliffs and mountains, and I said goodbye.
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