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Posts Tagged ‘surfing’

Beach Week and Future Considerations

Monday, August 31st, 2009

During the past ten months we’ve often been asked when we were going to return home to the east coast. It often felt funny when we told people that we had to be back by August 23rd so that we could go on vacation with all of our friends for a week at Plum Island, MA. In many ways, the start of Beach Week marked the end of what we’ve called Tim and Joanie’s Vacation–One Year! We knew that once we left Plum Island the job and housing search would need to begin. But, there was nothing bittersweet about that transition. Ever since we got back to the States we’ve been looking forward to seeing our friends, and what better way to do that than cram them all into a house for one week?

What a week! Two big storms provided the bookends for what was a perfect week of sunny weather. Hurricane Bill passed by when we first arrived and sent some massive surf towards the coast (see the small person standing in front of that wave?). While the authorities kept everyone out of the water for the first day or so, the storm provided a great opportunity for the aspiring surfers to catch some waves. We managed to do a much better job catching waves than we did catching fish. While we weren’t fishing or surfing we filled our time swimming in the incredibly warm water, eating massive amounts of delicious food, playing games on the beach, napping, sipping the occasional beverage, and just enjoying quality time with good friends.

Alas. the week has come to a close (we didn’t win the $333 million lottery so we had to leave) and we’ve returned to the Hipple household to plot out our next moves. In true beach lover form, we watched a surfing movie the night we got back from the beach house and then returned to the coast the next day to get back in the water. From here the job and housing search is ramping up and the vacation is almost over.

Perhaps we’ll get a call from the Amazing Race. Perhaps someone reading this will want to hire two hardworking people who love to travel, take photographs, write and have fun. We’ve had a lot of practice. We’re good at it. Hire us.

Tags: coast, food, friends, surfing
Posted in USA Eastbound | 1 Comment »

Colac Bay

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

As we travel around the country, people often ask us if we miss being in the United States. While I often have a hankering for some Arthur Bryant’s BBQ, All American burgers and fries, Goldenrod ice cream, Granite State chocolate, The Friendly Toast breakfast and anything that Mom cooks up, our response is that what we miss most are our family and friends. Two weeks WWOOFing at The Pavilion restaurant in Colac Bay was just what we needed to feel that sense of being part of a community of friends again. It was also the perfect place to go after backpacking for two weeks and in need of some good calorie rich food.

Colac Bay is a beautiful gem of a place on the south end of the South Island. The surfing is great, the moon rises over the ocean, and the locals are incredibly friendly. Julie, the owner of the restaurant (an an incredibly generous hostess) had asked us to stay through the Easter holiday to help out when things got busy. We didn;t know what we were in for. Easter is a HUGE deal here. The nearby town of Riverton hosts annual horse races over the Easter weekend and things get busy at the Pavilion.

Through our first week at the restaurant we worked on lots of odd jobs–gardening, scrubbing decks, refinishing chairs and tables, and doing lots and lots of dishes in the kitchen. The big project, however, was the renovations to a small room off the side of the restaurant to transform an old storeroom into a new bar. This project was the definition of a community effort. We felt as though we met most of the town as we helped with the renovations and through the restaurant. The restaurant staff was great, and we ate gourmet lunches and dinner every day. A huge thanks to our two chefs Dan and Rina for all the good food. We also owe a huge thanks to Mary, maker of incredible desserts among other things and the most perfect Pavlova in New Zealand. We got to know Mary’s boys Ricky, Nigel, and Bevin as well through the bar project, and we enjoyed a rauckus evening hanging out with them, playing music, and laughing an awful lot.

It was a big push to get the new bar ready for Easter weekend, but everything fell into place and the Foreshore Bar was packed on the weekend (And check out the vintage surfboard hanging from the ceiling courtesy of Don!). People know how to have a good time in Colac Bay. One thing we loved about our nights hanging out with everyone is that there’s lots of singing and music and it doesn’t matter how talented or untalented you are–just sing! Easter in Colac Bay is really a three or four day party and we just happened to be around for it. Woohoo! I spent a good portion of the weekend driving the restaurant “courtesy coach” back and forth to Riverton to bring people to the races, bring people to the bar, drive them home from the bar, etc., while Joanie took a few turns as bartender/waitress when things got really busy. In all it was an awesome two weeks. There’s so much more to tell, but we just don’t have the time.

We did get a chance to go to the Riverton Races on Eater Monday, and Julie generously gave us two “sponsor’s tickets” which meant we had free beer and food all day at the races. We got off to a great start at the track, picking a $50.00 winner on our first bet (We need to thank our Irish friends JP and Sorcha who inspired us to pick Celtic Dreams in that race). From there it was a mixed bag of winners and losers, but we left with more money in our pockets than we came with. We’re ready for Belmont when we get to NY!

Tags: coast, food, friends, racetrack, surfing, WWOOFing
Posted in New Zealand South Island | 2 Comments »

Waiinu

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

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.