When we bought our surfboard, we also picked up a great surf guide to New Zealand. It’s got descriptions of surf beaches in all parts of the country, complete with info on the best tides to surf, ideal wind and swell direction, and, of course, the stoke factor meter. We’ve been thumbing through the book looking for beaches that are good for beginners, don’t have rocks, or sharks, or waste pipes draining nearby. When we got to Waiinu Beach we found it to be pretty ideal for us–the waves were perfect for beginners, the beach was beautiful, and there was a free campground right on the beach! Well, not really free–there was a donation box to put in whatever you thought fair.
An older Kiwi that I was talking with one day in the campground asked me, “How much would it cost to camp in a place like this back home?” I kind of laughed at first, because there isn’t really anything like this back home at all–at least not on the east coast. And, there’s not a chance that it would be free. Before coming here, folks told us that Kiwi’s are some of the friendliest folks you’ll meet. We’ve found that to be true so far. Everywhere that we camp we seem to meet incredibly friendly people who are willing to share their company, food, drinks, books, knowledge of the area, etc.
But, friendly people aren’t the only thing that we’ve come to appreciate about New Zealand. There have been lots of little things that seem to make a lot of sense. Like two buttons on toilets–one for a half flush and one for a full flush. And hose fittings are really neat here too–so easy to swap in and out. Buying, registering, and insuring a car was far easier for us to do here than it is back home. Another thing here that we’ve really come to appreciate are the massive chocolate bars that can be had for just a buck or two. And, it’s pretty sweet to open up a 2 liter bottle of beer for the evening. We might as well add Beer Festivals to the list here too. They seem to be a pretty regular occurrence and are loads of fun. We’ll be helping out at another one in Wellington on the 28th–stay tuned for more on that!
Best of all, we’ve found that New Zealand has the greatest playgrounds. It seems that playgrounds here are still built with fun in mind. Playgrounds back home are getting worse and worse–all the risk (fun) has been removed from them. So far, the town of Levin and their Adventure Park has been the best of the best. We spent the better part of a morning swinging around on the playground while the local kids were in school.
