Raglan: World Famous Surf Beach

Before we traveled to Raglan, we did some hiking around Mt Taranaki. The mountain was just granted personhood. She is very beautiful and important to the Māori . 

 

First we went up to the Egmont Visitor Center in the National Park. We hiked up until we cleared the bush to get views of the mountain. 

The only issue was that the trail must have had more than a thousand steps and for every one up, there had to be one down. My calves were killing me the next day.

Next we drove to Dawson Falls. OMG, more stairs. Yes it was worth it, but we paid a tax with sore legs  

We have spent the last few days with new friends, Jilliene and Phil in Raglan. I don’t exaggerate when I say it has a world famous surf beach. Apparently it is the world’s longest left breaking wave in the world and really good surfers will come from all over the world to surf it. We did not surf it, nor would we have been welcome with our sea kayaks to share the wave. So we had to just admire it and watch the boards in very moderate to mild surf conditions. As they say, “it was not really pumping.”  

Yesterday we took a short paddle in Raglan Harbor. We launched at high tide hoping that there would be enough water to get into Okete Falls. The is a lot of mud flats as the water empties out into the Tasman Sea. As we paddled into the inlet where the falls are located we noticed a sailboat anchored in the very shallow water. “Not to worry,” they said. “We have a flat bottom boat and we are leaving very soon.” We paddled up to the falls. Unfortunately, we did not get any photos, just video on Marty’s GoPro. We will hopefully post some of it after we get home. 

As we turned to paddle out we noticed the sailboat was dead in the water and the male occupant was attempting to pole his way off the mud using his spinnaker pole. Uh oh, he was a long time from the next high tide. They asked Marty and Phil if they could give them a tow. I was quite skeptical that they could generate enough power from their 2 kayaks to pull this boat from the mud. (It was about 25 feet long.) They started paddling and the skipper continued to pole. I suggested that a bit of prop may give some additional power. He had his partner increase the throttle and the boat started to creep forward. Suddenly, the boat was free. I was really nervous that Marty and Phil were about to be dragged. Nope. They were freed from the bow. Marty paddled out ahead and kept testing the depth ahead of the boat. About a meter of depth. Finally, we reached the mouth of the inlet and the sailboat motored off to deeper water. Whew that guy was so lucky. 

We continued our journey across the harbor toward limestone formations. So interesting and in my mind so beautiful.  A final crossing back to the beach and we were done. The wind had come up and the tide was pulling us toward the mouth of the harbor.  Watching the ranges was so impressive. We were really moving. 

Today we climbed a local mountain outside Raglan, Karioi. My watch said we gained over 2100 feet. Not bad for about 3 miles one way. It starts out through a farm pasture and climbs steeply through the bush. You know it is steep when they say “ when you get to the ladders, you’re almost there.” 

The views from the top were fantastic. The return was much faster but, not easier on the quads. 

We can’t thank our friends Jilliene and Phil enough for their wonderful hospitality. They have fed us unbelievably good meals and shown us around their hometown. They love Raglan and it shows. Now, we love it as well. We will never forget our time here.

Tomorrow we are heading to the east side of the north island with a stop to drop off one of the borrowed kayaks. More later.