After checking out of our hotel, we had the whole day to spend in New Zealand before our flight left at 11:00pm. We still had to drive all the way back up to Auckland so we decided to take the scenic route and see what there was to see. We had hoped to spend the day in Raglan surfing on Ngarunui Beach, but it was raining (again) and we weren't exactly sure if it would work or not. We took a little side trip to Bridal Veil falls just in case the beach turned out to be a bust. It was an easy walk to the falls, and it was pretty. The cliff face was made from volcanic activity and reminded me a lot of the Giant's Causeway in Ireland if you just tilted the whole thing on its side.
After the waterfall we drove to the beach just to see if it was worth getting in the water or not. It was still pouring rain, but what else were we going to do? We put on our swimming suits and walked down to the beach. It was the perfect beach! It was really long with super smooth sand. People were surfing everywhere, beginners, experts, you name it. After watching them for a few minutes we decided we had to get out there too. There was one surfboard rental place there on the beach. She said she was waiting for the lessons to finish up in about an hour then she'd be packing up. We said we'd do it. Well, I guess she didn't want to bother with the hassle of payment because she just gave the boards to us for free, simply asking us to come at the same time as the lessons so she could pack up. Okay then! Everyone else out there had a wetsuit except Jeremy and I. The water wasn't crazy cold and I was doing ok for awhile, although a wetsuit would have made things more comfortable! We haven't been surfing in five years since we went to Costa Rica. I was definitely out of practice. I kept trying to rush it and kept crashing hard. Meanwhile Jeremy was up and riding almost every wave. After a few friendly tips I finally got up. Getting up and riding on the wave was so satisfying. Crashing...not so much. After an hour I was feeling sufficiently beat up and cold. We followed in the class and returned our boards. I can see this beach on a summer day being absolutely incredible! Since we were headed directly to the airport we had to change there at the beach. I was worried about sand and salt, but luckily the rain washed us up pretty well!
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