Raglan's biggest claim to fame is its fabulous surfing - the longest left hand break in the world can be found here, which sounds impressive even though I know nothing about surfing. It's a beautiful place. I was staying at an Airbnb on the river, which had a fabulous deck out back. I had breakfast out here both mornings I was there.
Once I could sort of function again, I went for a wander. I particularly loved the slide into the river on a neighboring house.
Getting to the beach required crossing a small airfield, on foot. I wasn't trespassing, this is a fairly normal event as there was a big gap in the fence and a sign admonishing to watch out for aircraft (which I did not take pictures of, sadly). Then it was a walk down the bay to the ocean on black sand.
Normally, I'll walk in the surf whenever I'm on a beach. For whatever reason I didn't this time, which is probably a good thing as apparently the rip tides in this area are quite fierce - I'm told that if you go in here, your body will wash up in Sydney. Very purdy, though.
I had a pleasant walk back along the Wainui stream.
Forgive the grainy quality, but along the way I had a sighting of the elusive New Zealand glove fish!
It was spring, and lovely.
That afternoon I went for a drive, out to see some of the surfing beaches (where the riptide is a bit less murderous). This was the first overlook I stopped at.
There were Māori statues at the top of the overlook, one for each of the four directions. West, the sea god Tangaroa:
North, the fire goddess Mahuika:
East, god of wind and storms Tawhiri or sky father Ranginui:
South, mother earth goddess Papatuanuku:
From there, it was on to one of the surf beaches, where I happily sat to watch for a little while.
I drove on for as long as my little rental car was willing to go (until the gravel road got a bit too narrow and bumpy), taking pictures along the way. The area reminded me, in some ways of Big Sur.
That night I went to a fabulous fish and chip shop farther up the bay for dinner.
The next morning, after a lovely drive around the area with my host, I was back on the road, heading toward Kerikeri, which was one of the longest drives of the trip. That didn't stop me from taking a quick detour to Bridal Veil falls, just outside of Raglan on the way back to Hamilton. The path to the falls is lush and dense, one often expects to turn a corner and see a dinosaur.
The view from the top:
It's 180 feet (55 meters) to the bottom, and the pool at the bottom is 16 feet (5 meters) deep. A helpful guide sign warns that there's a large boulder in the center of that pool, should you feel inclined to jump. I love waterfalls, so even with the time crunch I was happy to hike down to the bottom and hang out for a bit. View to the right as I walked down:
And to the left:
As the stream goes on its merry way:
I loved the rock face.
At the base of the falls, a Hobbit vacation home!
One last look before heading back to the car:
Then it was time to head north to Kerikeri.
