300-foot drop into a CAVE!!!

Yesterday we abseiled (rappelled) off a platform suspended 300 feet off of the floor of a gigantic cave system. WOW. After harnessing up and donning 5 millimeter wetsuits for the 50 degree water, we trekked through the 3rd-wettest spot in New Zealand to the Waitomo caves. The abseil was incredible. We were suspended freely in the chasm - with no wall to push off we simply pulled ropes through our own personall rigging for the 100 meter descent. Once in, we began a 6-hour climb through a massive limestone cave system with huge stalagtites and stalagmites. The whole system was cut through the karst by a freshwater stream which we walked, waded and even had to swim through. We dropped from holes in the rock into the river and even pulled off a 25-foot free jump off an underground waterfall. We paused midway through for hot tea and chocolate and then proceeded to kill our headlamps, at which point we were greated by thousands of glowworms, which made the ceiling appear as if stars were somehow poking through the rock. The glowworms were incredible - really some of the strangest adn most beautiful (at leazt from a distance) creatures you could even behold. They secrete enzymes in their digestion process that glow, and the glow attracts their food, which is primarily small insects that get swept into the cave system. It was unbelievalb e - in the darkness you could see thousands of them suspended like pin-point lights on the cave ceiling! Tomorrow we're off to the Tongariro crossing - an active volcanic landscape used extensively the Lor do f the Rings filming. The weather has been described to us as "All four seasons in 15 minutes" Should be an incteresting 8-hour trek!

Raglan - New Zealand's Surf Mecca

We recently spent two days in Raglan, a tiny surf town on the west coast of the north island. It's home to one of the longest left hand point breaks in the world, which was featured on Bruce Brown's Endless Summer movie way back in the 1960s. The town feels like a 50-year old version of Pacific Beach (San Diego, CA), only with a kiwi twist. The left hander was amazing. We stayed ina killer little beach cottage which was owned by an American couple from CA. Would you believe it - the guy was the 1st surf instructor at the Mission Bay Aquatic Center, where I met Daniela years ago. Yup folks - it' sa small world. So we surfed and hung at our beach house, which overlooked Indicators - a local surf spot. Then we surfed Raglan - wow! That wave is loooooong. I can safely say that I caught the best left hand wave of my life. We were lucky enough to get an 8-foot swell, and the whole afternoon there were overhead bombs coming in through the bay and wrapping around the point. I hooked into a good one and had the ride of my life. The only problem is that your legs tend to give out after 5 minutes of S-turning. On to Waitomo and the caves....

Happy Holidays & Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from New Zealand, where the holidays come one day before the U.S.! We just got off a 3-day sailing excursion through the Bay 0f Islands that was the highlight of our trip so far. We climbed about the 72' Manawanui, which means "great heart" in Maori, and spent the next 3 days sailing, fishing, kayaking, diving and hiking through the fantastically beautiful Bay of Islands! The crew and boat were incredible - we ate like a king and queen and were busy every day helping sail, fish or participate in other great activities. We snorkeled and pulled green-lipped mussels off the rocks, which we grilled for lunch. We trolled for skipjack tuna and had sashimi for dinner, and we ended (or started) each day in a beautiful sheltered cove, with pristine beaches to ourselves! The Bay of Islands are incredible - fed by the warmer waters of the Coral Sea, the place is a boater's and fisher's dream. A litany of uninhabited, forested islands are surrounded by jade green waters that host a diverse assemblage of marine life, including lobster, various fish species, dolphins, coral and sandy bottom and even Orcas! On the way in to port we sailed with a pod of bottlenose dolphins sprinting along our bow wave. The day after we returned to Paihia and went diving on a 300' ship that was sunk in the bay. Sunk in November of this year, the Canterbury was a New Zealand naval vessel that was purchased for $1 and sunk in the bay for recreational diving. We got to dive it only 5 weeks after they sunk the wreck! We approached through the helicopter bay and dove through the interior corridors, ending up the bridge, where Daniela played underwater captain. The dive was fantastic and it was our first real wreck dive. We had a lovely dinner on Christmas eve at the one of the only places actually open for dinner, during which a moonrise came up over the bay. The moon swelled to a fantastic size as it lumbered over the horizon and we celebrated with a cold beer and a good meal. Today we drove north to Watauri Bay for a surf and a lunch picnic. The surf was great, with glassy chest-high surf coming into a shallow sandy bay. Most of the surfing in this area occurs in these sandy bays that are interspersed between rocky capes and green cliffs. The surfing potential is incredible, and there's always only a few other surfers in the water. Tomorrow we head to Raglan, the surf mecca here in New Zealand that was in Bruce Brown's Endless Summer, which features one of the world's longest left-hand point breaks. Much love to you all and we hope your holidays are as much fun as ours!
Love,
Jack & Dani

The Bay of Islands (Paihia)

Hola! We've traveled north, up to the far NW corner of the north island to a little town called Paihia (pie-hee-ah), which is (according to our guidebook), the "jewel of the bay of islands." It's absolutely beautiful here, a scenic ocean hamlet surrounded by islands with jade green water. Five minutes after our arrival, Daniela proclaimed the town our new home and proceeded to rip the return airline tickets to shreds. We rolled into town yesterday evening after diving the Poor Knight's Reserve outside of Tutukaka. The dives were incredible. After suiting up into 18 layers of wetsuit(which we thought was a bit unnecessary because the water was only 70 degrees...), we took off into the briny deep where we were greeted by an enormous assemblage of colorful (in New Zealand it's 'colourful') fish, invertebrates, kelp and encrusting sponges. Huge gorgonian fans lept off the seafloor and wrasses darted to and fro between the kelp leaves. A cryptic scorpionfish lay in wait on the bottom for lunch, and was so convinced of his camouflage that we could get inches from him without nary a movement on his part. The dives were the first of many upcoming forays into the New Zealand marine environment. On the drive up to Paihia, we took the scenic route up through small farms and homesteads into Paihia. The farmland was unbelievably gorgeous with bright green fields dotted with cows and of course the obiquitous New Zealand sheep, which out-number the human residents 10-1. We stopped numerous times to snap pictures, marvel at the landscape, and wonder aloud how we could stay here in perpetuity. If we're sure of anything, it's that our border collie Ozzie would be in heaven here, with plenty of room to wolf about and of course thousands of sheep in dire need of herding. We're off tomorrow for a 3-day sailing cruise around the bay of islands, which we're super excited about - we've got a berth aboard a large crusing sailboard and we're looking forward to checking out the uninhabited islands, beaches and coves in this area. The food and the wine have been absolutely incredible, and so have the people. Everyone is completely friendly (despite our bungling tourist status) and we've enjoyed both the scenery and the local culture equally. We promise to post pictures soon - in this rural section of New Zealand, the internet is a commodity. Tutukaka literally consisted of a dock, a restaurant and a dive shop. Paihia, in comparison, is a thriving metropolis, consisting of a few blocks of various restaurants, hotels, B&Bs, and watering holes filled with locals and tourists alike. So we'll post pictures when we can find an internet connection that doesn't have molasses running throught the lines. Rest assured we are having a blast, and we wish all our friends and family a happy holidays and new year. Much love,
Jack & Daniela.

1st Day in New Zealand!

Hola & Aloha mi Familia and Friends,
Well here we are! We made it safely into Auckland yesterday, right over the dateline and into the city of sails. Unbelievably beautiful! We are now certified time-travellers, having skipped a whole day in the process. Perhaps even more shocking, we didn't get into any accidents driving from the airport to the hotel in the center of Auckland last night. I find it absolutely astounding that someone will give me a brand new SUV and turn me loose on a road system where everything is bass ackwards, even the controls inside the car. So New Zealanders beware: if you see someone frantically engaging the windshield wipers, take that as a turn signal because I'm coming over into your lane. We spent the night in Auckland and had a great dinner at a Belgian beer bar (say that 5 times fast after having a few beers!). We had a great dinner and even better beers, and woke up early for our first trip out of the city.
Today we drove up to Whangarei and are headed into Tutukaka, up on the northwest corner of the north island. All the place names are in the Maori (native New Zealanders) language, which has the same Polynesian roots, so at least we're not slaughtering the pronunciation, as our Hawaiian language skills are coming in handy. Tomorrow we're diving in the Poor Knights Marine Reserve, one of the top 10 dive sites in the world.
Much love to you all, and we'll post pictures soon!
Jack & Dani