Raglan and Bridal Veil Falls

Raglan was my next stop. Unfortunately, I spent much of my time here with a debilitating headache, so I didn't get to explore too much of the surrounding area. The first night was spent curled up in bed, and the next morning my host finally knocked on the door to make sure that I was still alive.

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.