Surfing the Rolling Stones

We reached Mahia in the early afternoon yesterday. We had one job to do before meeting my friends for dinner at the local. So we were driving around looking for some surf.

We saw a man with a board appear in a field and walk down the hill to where his van was parked by the railway lines.

That might work, said my brother and turning the car in that direction we found a little road going in.

He grabbed all his gear and we walked through the field up the hill down the other side and found big waves. Too big actually. No-one else was in the water. A dead give away!

This was going to be a wild ride.

My brother is a pretty experienced surfer – his business comes with high expectations of exacting results so surfing is his calm spot. His oasis in a busy day. He has been surfing since he was a young teenager. But these waves were huge. And white.

Later we discovered the bay was called Rolling Stones because the churn and undertow is such that the stones are literally rolled along the sea bed. Many a surfer has come a cropper here and many a board broken on the rocks. My surfy friends at dinner were horrified he had gone out into it alone.

Tim caught two terrifying and most excellent rides and did lose his board at the end. A dangerous exercise with an 11 foot board but there were no injuries.

And a lot of adrenaline.

Before he finally wiped out and dragged his pounded body back up onto the beach.

Gasping for breath and grinning at the same time.

To watch the waves and listen to the sea while I waited on the beach go HERE. To TKG Take Ten. In a few hours. Chill out on the beach for ten minutes.

As a special treat here is the birds eye view. I hope this loads for you as it is a big file. And amazing.

This is the second to last beach we are visiting. Unless Tim stops for another surf on the way up the island. I don’t mind what we do as long as I catch the plane on Friday.

What an adventure I have had tagging along with him for the last few days. Life is full when we let life do the driving!

Yesterday we drove from Morere (just out of Mahia – you will find it on the map) to Rotorua and back to Gisborne for Tim’s work. Inspecting premises for asbestos and mold. Taking samples and sending them off for testing.

There was a lot of driving. At one point there was no key to get into a condemned house and so the construction company who ordered the job told us to break in through a bathroom window and yes! You guessed it. Being the smallest they put me through the window to run through the house and let them in. It is a fun job and you would not believe the places that asbestos hides out.

We have two jobs here (in Gisborne) this morning then we drive up and through the island to Tauranga. And tomorrow I fly back out to Melbourne. Our New Zealand adventure is almost over.🥺

Driving back through the island will be beautiful. We are going through a couple of groves of native bush. Tomorrow’s TKG Take Ten will have a little of that drive for you!

Take care and Talk soon.

Celi