today i went bungy jumping. it was a lot of fun. a unique experience. im going to stay in queentown a few more days and then head up the west coast. uhh...i guess thats all.

not much has happened in the last few days, i guess im just writing because im bored. today i drove down the coast, a plesant little five hour skeedaddle to a town called dunedin. i really like it a lot more than christchurch, much better atmosphere. the surf is supposed to be kinda fun tomorrow so ill get in the water. i think the day after im going to make my way over to queenstown. it looks like the west coast will have a bit of surf when i get back over there. so i have more beers in the fridge.

i surfed in dunedin today, which is about as far south as i have ever surfed. it was at this little beachie down the street from the hostel. the water was crystal clear and the wave was pretty fun. the only thing that was weird was the amount of monster black donut shaped jelly fish that were floating all around the water. i hope they arent poisonous because i plan on going surfing around the area tomorrow as well before i go up to queenstown.

its thanksgiving back home right now. it was weird to call home and talk to everyone that was there. it sounds like thanksgiving was a good time back home. everyone seemed to be in good spirits. it was especially nice to talk to my grandpa because after being in back pain for over a year he has finally recovered from surgery and made it out to the golf course for the first time in a while. it was fun for him as well because while he was hurt the people at his home course renovated all the greens and so he got to play the course in good condition. it was also good talking to my dad because he was interested in where i am. when i told him that i was in kaikoura he started telling me about a place where he lived and surfed for a few weeks when he was in new zealand. it just happened that i surfed that place on the way down to kaikoura. its called hapuku and its a fun little right hand point break. the surf was really fun but what was most shocking was the extreme temperature shift coming down to the south island. i was in a 4/3 and booties in comparison to my 2/2 short arm full that i wore while i was in the north island. i was talking to these irish guys last night and they were saying how i should go down to queenstown and go bungee jumping there. i saw the video and it looks like a lot of fun. i might have to try it out. as for now im just relaxing in kaikoura, ill probably just read a bit for the next few days and then head out to christchurch on sunday.
to all back home, have a happy thanksgiving and i hope to see you soon

holy crap, raglan is heaven. i got solid overhead surf with the offshores blowing all to myself today. the thing that is extra cool about this place is how consistent it is. it seems that there is always surf here. its like jbay but warmer, with no sharks and much more consistent. o and the people in the water are much nicer. there was a little bit of a lump today from the northerly winds that blew the last few days but it should clean up this afternoon. the town is also super cool and hasnt changed much since the last time i was here five years ago. its just a small little town at the mouth of the harbour with a few places to eat, a few to drink and a surf shop. its also incredibly beautiful with plush green rolling hills all the way to the ocean. it definitely has a certain magic to it.

okay, so apparently nobody has a hard time selling cars because no one has written me back. as a consequence i have decided that since i need to get to the ocean i am going to rent a car. so today is my last day in auckland. im just going to go downtown in about a half an hour and rent a car. from there i will come back to where i am staying, pick up all my gear and head straight to raglan. there is supposed to be a bit of surf and if i get there in good time i might be able to squeeze in a surf. i ve been checking and apparently tomorrow is the big day. so im thinking that i will stay for two nights in ragland, then dash over to the east coast for the swell and then go to the south island. that way, when im coming back up i have more time to check out raglan and the northern part of the island/coromandel peninsula. here i go
breene

so today is my birthday, although it doesnt feel like it. birthdays just turn into regular days unless you have your friends and family around. im staying in auckland right now with my cousins kiwi host brother tony. he is a really cool guy and we will probably go out and have a few beers tonight with his sister downtown. so that will be my big birthday party. as for right now, ive been shopping for cars for the last few hours and it looks like im just going to rent a old car. the reason being is that i am traveling alone and i dont know much about cars, so if i buy a car and it breaks down, im in a bit of trouble. the rental wont be a big deal because they are old cars that have been kept in good condition and even in the case of a breakdown ill atleast be able to call them. and i will be legal so if i get pulled over i have insurance and the like. i just want to get out and wander around. it looks like i might head up north, try to surf a bit up there and then come down through the coromandel peninsula, then go to gisborne/mahia, cross the island to raglan, go down through new plymouth and wellington, ferry over and go to kaikoura and christchurch and then wander back up to raglan and head home from there. i feel like the trip is just going to fly by once i get a car. so hopefully today will work and happy birthday to me.

today is my last full day in australia, i leave tomorrow at 6:20 for sydney and then i have a noon flight to new zealand. as it turns out the swell (a big one) has decided to postpone itself for the day that i leave. nevertheless today was really fun, i got to surf duranbah which i hadnt surfed yet. it was still a bit overhead and really hard offshore. it was a lot of fun. its cool to surf in trunks all the time. although with the wind it made me really want a wetsuit jacket. the wind ended up picking up so hard that it was blowing people all over the place. if you left your board in the sand it would blow down the beach. probably not going to surf again unless the swell gets big enough to wrap around and get snapper. it doesnt really matter to me. if the swell stays down ill just continue to keep track of the ucla game and read my tom robbins book.

so, i got to surf snapper again yesterday. i got a wave all the way through greenmount (next point), which considering the size was really long. it was only waist to shoulder high, but damn that wave is fun. it looks like im off to nz in two days. it will be unreal. i think i will have a lot of fun. im glad i brought my fullsuit though, now i can surf the south island no problem. im hoping that i get at least good surf in raglan. after that i dont care where else i get good surf. bracing up for my birthday with brettie's host brother on friday.

ok so i have definitely not gotten skunked. the wind switched around today and blew offshore. on top of that the swell picked up. i surfed snapper rocks for two hours and somehow got a lot of waves. i even got the set of the day. about waist to shoulder high and so much fun. that wave is absolutel amazing fast clean sandbottom point break. i cant even imagine how that wave would work if it was overhead. i definitely want to come back here when there is bigger surf, like july or august. its made the last few days completely worth while.

coolangatta, queensland
left byron bay this morning and headed up the coast about an hour to coolangatta. home of the famous superbank and duranbah beach break. its flat. kinda a bummer consdiring where i am and what the potential is but not much i can do about it. im sure i wont get skunked but i wont get it good either. not a big deal. also tried to get in touch with my dads friends that live here but they changed their numbers and arent listed in the phone book so guess i can rule that out. it would have been cool to have shown up. looks like ill have a place to stay when i get to new zealand though. my cousin brett stayed with a host family in new zealand and the brother has agreed to pick me up at the airport. from the sounds of it i have pretty big shoes to fill. he's used to the partying of brett and bry and im not sure im up to the task. this trip, with exception of the last couple of days, has not really revolved around drinking but surfing. which has been super fun for me. ill probably spend my birthday in auckland and then figure it out how to get around after.

im in byron bay right now, which is just south of queensland. its a beautiful spot. the surf has been pretty good. its this crystal clear beach break that wedges up under a cliff and fires. its not too dissimilar to el morro beach breaks, but more consistant and more makeable. ive been pretty tired because it took me 13 hours by bus to get here and then i immediately went out and surfed for three hours. i surfed again this morning and it was good. probably go out for a bit of an evenings sesh. im starting to get my surfing back little by little. australia is much more expensive than i thought it would be. even though the dollar does well against the aussie dollar the conversion still is rough. looks like im going up to coolangatta in a few days to check out the superbank and burleigh but it doesnt seem to be very big up there so i might just end up surfing duranbah. then i fly to sydney on the 17th.