New Zealand - Outer Island

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

This wave was unreal. Extremely hollow sand-sucking takeoff into a playful Lowers wall that wound off over the rivermouth sandbar for 100 yards. Some waves were sucking in so much water on the out going tide during the peak of the swell that the wave broke in almost a standstill at the peak. It was really bizarre to see the ocean swell approach the opposing outgoing river current and stall for just a moment before rifling through and across to the bar where it broke unimpeded by the rivers flow. Not many people out here and it was the peak of their season. Cyclones or tropical depressions near Fiji create most of the swell for this paradise. I camped out here for 4 nights and will definitely be back.

Raglan Lines

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

We had to go back to Raglan. After passing through and not catching any swell on the points we made our way up to Auckland to drop off the camper. We spent a few days around the city hanging out with Dave Decker who was traveling through from Oz with his friend Kevin. Way to many beers over a couple of days... We closed down the last bar we hit every night together while catching up on old times.

It was time to get back on the coast. We organized a van for about NZ$35/day from one of the rent-a-wrecks in town and started thinking about where we wanted to head to. There were some small waves and good winds in the forecast for the east coast but the German couple at our hostel was raving about a swell due to hit Raglan in a few days so I thought we'd do some sight seeing on the Coromandel for a couple of nights and then shoot on over to the west coast and catch that swell at Raglan. It ended up working out perfectly. We drove up to Hot Water Beach which is one of the top ten most beautiful beaches in the world. Not much surf and a little crowded for our liking but stunning scenery on the Coromandel all the same. The landscape is mountainous with lush, sub-tropical forests that drop steeply straight down to the ocean with tiny little secluded bays and white sand beaches. We rambled along in our beat-up little Toyota van that couldn't be any different from the Britz camper we'd had a few days before. We ended up down at a DOC campground in the forest a few miles from Whitiroa where I had two days of really fun head-high beachbreaks to myself.

Arriving in Raglan the first afternoon we rolled up to some fun waves coming into Manu Bay. A little windy but still some of the best surf I'd seen in awhile. Long lines of swell unwinding down the point. Dave and Kevin had just finished risking their lives getting into all kinds of action down in Taupo. White water sledging, abseiling into caves and bungying. All kinds of craziness!!! We met up for a beer to hear all about it that night. This time we stayed at the campground in town. It was really great since thats where most of the local Maori families were set up. The people next to us come down to Raglan every summer with their kids and grandkids for 3-4 weeks. Rivermouths are pretty special places for surfers as well as most indigenous people. For surfers it's the pointbreak that has been created over millenia from the flow of water or the sandbars that open up after a good rainfall. For others around the world a rivermouth is a source of fresh water, food resources and arable land. And its pretty.... Think Malibu, Rincon, Mundaka, Trestles, Talebudgera Creek behind Burleigh along with many, many more. Anyway it was really cool to camp for 4 nights with so many local people. Seeing what they brought in from fishing all day, cooking in the kitchen seeing what they were fixing up and learning a few Maori words. No, I can't remember what they mean now... And the swell came as the Germans predicted. Surfed Manu and Indicators really good. Far from epic but for a summer swell I was really stoked.

Ruapuke - North Island

Originally uploaded by m_hagen

Hedda and I spent our last night in the luxurious Britz camper at Solscape in the hills above Raglan. Pretty cool set up there with their abandoned train cars creating a trippy atmosphere. Beautiful crystal clear, offshore morning but no waves on the points. We took the drive around the points on the gravel road. Pretty slow and winding but with amazing views of the Tasman Sea. I did pull over at one point and spotted a nice looking left point at the bottom of a long steep valley, most likely only accessible by boat.

Just when we thought we'd past the road to the beach we found it. Black, black sand and a small Mako shark in the parking area obviously left by some locals to remind visitors where they are. The surf was offshore, head-high and pretty punchy. A few little barrels were there to be had. Unfortunately for those lonely waves I was surfing this long stretch of beachbreak and only saw 4 others all morning.

Cobden - West Coast - South Island

Originally uploaded by m_hagen

I didn't have much luck on the West Coast this trip. The winds are really tough on this side with the typical SW flow obviously creating stiff onshores for most spots. Looked at some amazing coastline along the road north and can imagine that with the right conditions there'd be many waves going off. I'd love to surf one of the rivermouths below the Glaciers and the sub-tropical rainforest that covers this section of the island. Next time....

I did end up surfing Cobden near Greymouth. The north side of the river has some brown water and some decent peaks somewhat like a Newport jetty wave. On the positive side, it was protected from the wind and the water was about 10 degrees warmer than the East Coast. Had a fun surf with a guy from Wales, (he seemed to think it was great), and a couple other locals recovering from their Christmas fun.

Big Bay Hut

Originally uploaded by m_hagen

Woke up early to bluebird skies and a light offshore breeze. I ran out through the flax down to the beach for my first clear view of the bay. It's absolutely huge. The beach is literally over 3 miles long between the two rivermouths. The south side of the bay stretches about 8 miles out from the beach and the north about 6. I quickly made up my porridge breakfast and coffee, packed up my gear for the day and headed through the forest to the swing bridge to cross the river. The path through was a muddy bog after the past two days of rain. I was shin deep in mud 20 feet up from the river! Another barely marked deer trail to get back to the beach where I had to cross a waist deep river anyways. It took me about an hour to go 2 km's. I still had about 5-6 km's to go....

I kept up a steady pace jumping from rock to rock, but soon saw the wind starting to come up from the west making my chances for a surf slim. I made it to Crayfish Rock and had a good look at the best wave in the bay. A great looking right point breaking mechanically over large boulders. Unfortunately, the wind had kicked in and was blowing out the head-high waves. Pretty difficult to be on it here when the wind can change direction 4 times in 20 minutes and the hut is a 2 1/2 hour walk from the break. Should've brought a tent.... I decided to have a little lunch and go fishing. It was a beautiful sunny day and somebody must have felt sorry about the waves being blown out so I actually caught not just one but two fish. I'm calling em blue cod but truth be told I'm not really sure what they were. I had to throw them back anyways cause they were definitely on the small side.

After another 1 1/2 hours tramping back along the north side of the bay I reached the rivermouth. The mouth itself was looking mighty ferocious so I walked up the river for a bit and found what looked to be a good spot to cross. I put my camera in my waterproof bag, stripped down to my speedos and started wading across. The glacial runoff was pretty chilly but luckily it was only waist deep keeping my backpack out of the water. The river was about 40 yards across at this point so I was able to make it across pretty quickly. I jogged up the beach to warm back up and then thought I'd better change back into some pants before heading back to the hut just in case someone had shown up. It had been 3 days since I'd seen another person. Talk about solitude... Luckily I had changed clothes because Philip from Germany had arrived. Really nice guy, crazy enough to attempt the Pyke River Route on his own. I've heard you sometimes have waist to chest deep river crossings when it's been dry. I can't imagine how Philip will find it on his own. I gave him an extra gas canister for his stove in case he had to wait for the water levels to drop somewhere. It was nice to have a little company that night.

Big Bay Hut

Originally uploaded by m_hagen

Woke up to pouring rain. The rain had been relentless for over 36 hours. The good thing about the rain is that it keeps the sandflies down. Sandflies are nasty, noiseless bloodsuckers who relentlessly attack any tiny bit of bare skin till they've left it covered in welts and have driven their victim halfway to insanity. If you don't normally cuss, spend ten minutes with a handful of sandflies and you will. Little F@#%ers!!!!

OK, back to Big Bay.... I slept in and recovered from the previous days hike in. Around lunchtime the rain stopped so I walked out to the beach and up to the rivermouth. About halfway there a giant circle opened up in the clouds above me showing beautiful blue skies for about 20 minutes. It soon closed up and started to pour rain again. It rained heavily through the afternoon, finally clearing around 9pm. Just in time to show off an incredible sunset.

Martin's Bay to Big Bay

Originally uploaded by m_hagen

I left Martin's Bay Hut after a breakfast of porridge and coffee. Said my goodbye's to the Kiwi fishermen and started down the track in a light drizzle. The track to Long Reef is good but as soon as you start heading east into Big Bay it changes dramatically. At times there is no path and you have to push through the bush keeping an eye out for tiny orange triangles or buoy's people have tied to trees which mark the route. It got pretty stressful at times. It started to rain pretty heavily and I was climbing into and out of steep ravines, stepping into knee deep mud, all the time trying to keep an eye out for those damn triangles so I wouldn't wander off the route.

After a couple of hours of this I made it down to the beach which felt great. It wasn't a flat sandy beach though. It was a scramble over rocks, reefs,cobblestones and shells. I saw more abalone shells littering the beach than I've ever seen in my life! There was no shelter from the rain so I pushed on to Mackenzie Creek. I tried following the trail to the river crossing on the DOC map which was a mistake. I followed the trail till it disappeared into flax bush behind an estuary when my instinct had told me to stay on the beach. I ended up stumbling along deer trails for an extra half hour which zigzagged all over the place. Sometimes I was knee deep in mud, other times I had to crawl through the bush making sure my board wasn't getting dinged up... I finally thought I saw a clearing and made my way towards it only to find out I was on the edge of a creek with no bank to walk on. I was getting pretty fed up at this point and soaked to the bone by the rain, so I jumped into the waist deep freezing water, held my board on the surface to keep steady and waded about 50 yards downstream to the beach I could've walked right up if I'd listened to my instincts! Mackenzie Creek was nothing after that. I was feeling pretty cold so, now that I was finally on relatively flat ground I picked up the pace as best as I could against the northerly wind for the final 3 miles up the beach to Big Bay Hut.

Noticing a couple of buoy's tied to some sticks back from the beach I followed them over the sand dunes, through a forest of flax and finally found the hut a few hundred yards back from the ocean. It felt really good to make a fire, get dry, and change clothes. Pretty exciting day of tramping. I now know the difference in New Zealand between a track, (a well maintained walking trail) and a route, (general directions with next to zero maintenance, an overgrown deer track). The last time any work was done to clear the route to Big Bay was over five years ago.

Martin's Bay

Originally uploaded by m_hagen

I somehow managed to get a ticket on a backload flight from Te Anau in to Martin's Bay Lodge. Only cost me $125 rather than the $1,000 if I'd chartered it myself!! I kissed Hedda goodbye on the grassy runway, strapped my board down the middle between the six seats and then we took off over Lake Te Anau. The Pilot kept us at a low altitude to try and avoid the worst of the turbulent weather. A mix of dark clouds and blue sky hovered over the mountains. We followed the road to Milford up the Eglington Valley. The pilot pointed out some areas of the river that are being overtaken by Didymo, an invasive algae someone introduced to New Zealand about 4 years ago. It is devastating to be seen from above, Once crystal clear waters are infected with brown colored algae that looks like dirty toilet paper.

We soon crossed the Divide and were on the West Coast side of the mountains, heading up the Hollyford Valley. Stunning snow capped peaks rise straight up on both sides of Lake Mackerrow. The lake is about 15 miles long stretching towards the Tasman sea. Dolphins actually swim up the lake and work together as a team to herd trout for a special feast at the head of the lake. The pilot flew us straight out over the sea at Martin's Bay which was whipped up from strong northerly winds and circled back to the landing strip. I tried to keep my salami and cheese sandwich lunch down. Although the grassy landing strip didn't look very long, he landed smoothly and rolled to a stop using up only about half of its entire length. I later found out that this bush pilot, Shaun, once circled above Martin's Bay on a socked in cloudy day for over half an hour before diving straight down through a hole that opened up in the clouds, rushed his passengers onboard and then shot straight back up before that same hole could close back up.

After unloading my gear and getting ready for the sandflies I hiked the 2 hours to the hut at the mouth of Martin's Bay. No one there so I grabbed a sandwich and headed up the track to Long Reef. There's a seal colony there with a population of a few hundred. It's actually one of New Zealands largest. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon so I spent it lazing on the rocks giving the seals plenty of space. Later on I poked around in some great tide pools. The rivermouth looks to have some potential with a shallow sandbar built up in the mouth. Unfortunately, the waves were pretty small. Back at the hut that night I ended up meeting a couple of local guys who went out on the reef for a few hours and came back with half a dozen Paua (NZ Abalone), more mussels than we could eat and a few fish. Lucky for me they shared their catch that night along with some great stories of life on the South Island.

Catlin's - South Island - New Zealand

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

Woke up to onshores at the little bay we'd camped at. Hedda and I stayed in the tent until the sun nearly had us sweating. Getting up and having a look at the surf I could see that the swell had dropped a bit and the wind was coming straight into the bay from the north. A neighbor of ours camping mentioned there might be a wave around the corner working and would we like to follow him around to see if it was? Kiwi hospitality at it's finest. We drove off down the dirt track, up and over a few hills, through a couple of gates entering a farmer's property, and finally through a couple of sheep fields to find a left firing down a point. Great waves all day!

A Bay somewhere in the Catlin's

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

I heard about this spot from a guy up the coast in Oamaru. In New Zealand the locals are so incredibly cool. You occasionally read in the news about stories of locals beating people up for surfing "their spot" or stink eye's. They've never heard about it in NZ. I guess they've got so many waves and so few people they don't need to worry about crowds. This little bay had great little barrels in an amazing setting. There is no way I would've found the dirt track that leads to it if I hadn't been told about it from that guy. We camped here for a few days on a grassy paddock overlooking a creek that fed the sandbanks.

Best Fush and Chups Ever!!!

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

The lady that filled our gas tank sent us over to this takeaway that had the finest fish and chips in NZ. Award winning with a certificate from Crisco to prove it. Tasty lunch for Hedda and I!

Dunedin - South Island, New Zealand

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

Paddling out for my first surf here, I saw yellow eared penguins walking between their burrows on the hillside and out to the surf. It was pretty cool to see these guys in the wild. In Oamaru, Hedda and I had stood in the rain for almost an hour, looking down a 100 foot cliff with 20 other tourists just trying to catch a glimpse of the same penguins. I was virtually alone with them just a few feet away, watching them waddle into the surf next to me. Here I was, just another silly looking creature dressed in black, flopping around in the surf.

Once outside waiting for the next set, I saw a fur seal come flying down the line on the wave of the afternoon. I was ducking under the lip with him just a few feet away riding the wave. Fun. Kind of... After the wave finished he poked his head out of the water about ten feet away to announce his presence. He stared me down pretty good to let me know who was boss out here. I asked one of the local guys who was out if he was a regular and he told me yeah, the seal name is Jerry. Hi Jerry, nice to meet ya. The wild life here is amazing.

Summer in New Zealand

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

It's summer in the southern hemisphere, but you wouldn't know it in Dunedin. Listed below are a few of the item's I've had to pick up here.

2 pairs of wool socks
Long sleeve flannel shirt
Thermal underwear - bottoms and tops
Mitts
Short sleeve .5mm neoprene shirt to wear under my fullsuit - I'm still freezing out there!

We've been staying in a campground, (hot showers) and playing with penguins and fur seals. Surf has been pretty good on a couple of days.

South Island - New Zealand

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

We picked up a little Subaru station wagon in Methven and hit the coast as soon as we could. Banks peninsula was our first stop. We based ourselves in the little harbor town of Akaroa for a few days eating fish and chips and enjoying the amazing views of the bays that circle the peninsula. The photo here is of one of the 12 bays that circle the peninsula picking up different swell angles and work in different winds. This place seemed to like the combination this day.

Summercloud Bay, South Coast, NSW

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

The company Ocean and Earth were kind enough to repair the zippers on my boardbag free of charge which gave me an excuse to roll down the south coast for a couple days of surf. They're warehouses are located at Sussex Inlet just down the road from Wreck Bay. The first day was good with consistent head-high waves peaking and pealing off perfectly across the reef. The nor-east breeze was light and the grommet bodyboarders were getting barrels on every little wave that came through. It was kind of strange for me to surf with only bodyboarders. They were pretty laid back for kids but still it was kinda strange to be the only one standing up. I surfed into the dark and was out by myself for the last hour of light once the kids left to get back for dinner. The sun sets in the southern corner of the bay to the south which means the waves were a beautiful back-lit green for the last hour. On the way in I stepped right onto an urchin at sunset. Plucked out some nice pieces in the van that night with the tweezer's. Camped right there in the Park with just Kangaroo's for company. Incredibly dark as there is nothing around. The next day I had breakfast with the local dog walking crew down at Manyana beach and listened to all the local gossip. Then I headed back for another long session at Black Rock, or is it Summercloud? What about Aussie Pipe? So many names for this spot. The surf was even bigger the second day and the nor-easters were stronger cleaning the swell up even more. It was a little bit more crowded but still plenty of waves for me and my bodyboarding buddies. There were even a couple of guys coming in with surfboards as I was leaving... Great waves for a 24 hour period.

Treachery, Central Coast, NSW

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

Great 2 days surfing this beachbreak. Dave and I had it nearly to ourselves 12 years ago. While it's gotten more popular it's still relatively empty and the waves are great. Wedgy, unpredictable barrels down towards the middle of the beach and a more distinct peak up near the headland. Crystal clear waters, and this peak to myself. Can't really complain...

Lennox Head, North Coast, NSW

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

I wasn't really expecting much surf on the east coast of Oz at this time of the year, but have been really lucky. Leaving Brad and Linda on the Gold Coast, (along with some of the most crowded line-up I've ever seen at D-bah) we stopped first at Lennox. I raced down the grassy headland and got the last couple of hours light with overhead, offshore walls running down the point. It was really cool to surf there again nearly 12 years since traveling through with Rich and Dave. I even lucked into one of those Greenough barrels that comes through across the inside, sticking my arm in the wall of the wave to stall and wait for it. Yep, I also got cut up on both feet and one finger got slashed pretty good. Some things never change and the rocks at Lennox are legendary for scraping bark from ya!

Main Beach, North Stradbroke Island - QLD

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

What a great few days of surf!. Main Beach has to be one of the funnest beachbreaks I've ever surfed. Lines of swell coming in from the north east wrap around a headland and form excellent peaky punchy waves. The surf was really consistent as well keeping the weekend crowd pretty happy. The waves sometimes grow as they reel off down the line almost breaking parallel to the beach. With the consistent swell and nor-east wind blowing offshore all three days we were there, Brad and I didn't dry off the entire weekend, surfing pretty much non-stop.

Broken Head - Northern NSW

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

After leaving Angourie, one of the most beautiful, tranquil beaches I've ever come across, we headed north up to Lennox Head where we had tea and biscuits with Gran and John who live up on the hill overlooking the point. Rich and I had spent a lot of time here years ago, so it was great to catch up on all of the local news. Apparently the weather is going back to how it was 20-30 years ago with with more tropical rain in the afternoon, wild hail storms that drop hail the size of tennis balls and more swell. The point pumped all winter long this year seeing some of the best surf in local recent memory.

We camped out that night in pouring rain at Broken Head. We cooked up a nice meal in the van and got cozy for the night. The van keeping us warm and dry. I woke up quite early and decided to check the surf. The storm had passed but left a ragged ocean in it's wake. Not too much swell out there and the waves that did come in were pretty torn up from the night's winds. I walked around the point and saw this beautiful sunrise coming up out of the Pacific. I've been taking quite a few early morning walks recently and always finding something special. If not surf, then a magical sunrise, or some funny looking native animals running for cover in the bush as the day gets started.

Angourie Back Beach - Northern NSW

, originally uploaded by m_hagen.

How much fun can you have surfing? I think this photos says it all. A few people out sharing a perfect little peak on a sunny offshore afternoon. We spent a few days camping in the National Park at Angourie and had perfect weather and waves. The wind was coming from the north so I only surfed the point one morning when it was calm. The back beach was offshore nearly the entire time and had these perfect 3-4 foot A-frame peaks running down the beach. So much fun on the twinny.