34: Wairarapa Surfing Goes World Class: On Any Given Sunday

11 November 2007
This past winter has been absolutely appalling for quality surf. Seems like every time we had any legitimate hint of swell, there was always something wrong with it. Usually strong winds would create such a strong surface chop that there was no hope for getting in anything that would remotely be considered a satisfying surf. Well, after countless days, weeks, and months of hit and miss sporadic garbage, the old girl finally turned on the goods with some world class waves and conditions. The following photo show that on any given Sunday, nature can turn on its magic show.

Place your cursor over each photo for the caption.

33: Titahi Bay Walk: A Three-hour Tour

I seem to have a habit of going out for what I think will be a leisurely walk around Titahi Bay, just to get some fresh air and clear my mind. But then the competitive/curious part of my brain takes over and commandeers my leisurely walk, often making me keep hiking "just to see what's around the bend." Today turned out to be another nice day, so I figured I'd take a walk around the bay and hike to the top of the north end of Titahi Bay. I decided to keep walking around the perimeter of Whitireia Park since the usually brisk wind was rather light. Next thing I know, I found myself half-way to Mana on the other side of Aotea Lagoon. By that stage, I was past the point of no return, so decided to just keep on going. In all, my hour-long walk spontaneously converted into a three-hour hike. Great exercise and great photos to show for it.

Place your cursor over each photo for a description. Click on the photo for a larger image.

32: Titahi Bay (part III): Yet Another Glorious Day

I awoke to yet another glorious day of perfect sunshine and perfect temperatures and just couldn't bear the thought of being indoors. I've been working far too hard lately so decided to cool my jets a bit and explore the southern end of Titahi Bay. Turns out there's a little trail down to the beach and from there you can walk along pretty much all the way to Wellington if you felt so inclined. Due to the impeccably clear weather, you can see the South Island situated in the background off in the distance.

31: Titahi Bay (Part II): Uniting the Maple Leaves and Yanks in Perfect Harmony

New Zealand: Uniting Canadians and Americans for Who Knows How Long
My Friday walk just didn't seem to do this place justice. I needed to get out and share it with friends, so a few well-placed phone calls soon found me in the company of my beloved Canadian friend Jessica (go Maple Leaves!) and her two friends Vicky and Chrysa visiting from Montreal, and Scott my fellow American. Given the friendly brother/sister-like rivalry between the Yanks and Maple Leaves, it was a great opportunity to break down the barriers and bring our nations a little closer together (even if the Canadian dollar IS actually stronger than the greenback). Then again, when you're living on a tiny little green rock off the coast of Antarctica, the differences tend to dissolve into nothing.

Rama for Prime Minister
After our sunset walk, we agreed to take a drive and find some eats. Titahi Bay on a Saturday night is pretty quiet, so we took a drive down the road to Johnsonville and stumbled upon Rama's Malaysian/Indian restaurant. Turns out they just opened a week ago and the owner was keen on making a favourable impression on his new guests. He came out and personally greeted us, and even sent a complimentary bowl of chicken curry to our table.

Thanks for the Great Memories
We were so moved by our experience that we felt it simply wouldn't be enough to just pay and leave. We decided to round up the chefs and servers from the kitchen and have them pose for a photo with our now unified team of Maple Leaves and Yanks. In all a great walk and great dinner.

Other photos from the afternoon (click on each photo for a larger image).

30: Titahi Bay Panorama

Greetings all,
Well, I have since moved on to another level of progression here in New Zealand. I was living in town for most of 2007 due to my work and school obligations being on campus. However, with the recent ethics committee approval of my PhD project, the study will now be focused up the road in Porirua. I will be running subjects through the City Fitness health club in Porirua so I decided to move about 5 minutes away to the panoramic beach community of Titahi Bay. Take one look at the photos and it's not hard to see why I made the jump. I am also working out of City Fitness, so it's a two for one. My life is now effectively centralised in one location, which will cut down tremendously on petrol costs. By the way, by comparison, it's still cheap in the US, even at $3.50 a gallon

For information on each photo, simply place your cursor on top of the photo. Click on each photo for a larger size

29: Recent Videos from the Wairarapa Region

The following two videos are from recent trips to the Wairarapa region in the south east region of New Zealand's north island. Positively stunning scenery and pristine beaches with no one in sight!

28: How to get free frequent flyer points

Don't get mad, get even more free frequent flyer miles
I get a ton of spam. If you've had the same email address for a while, chances are a spammer has trolled the internet and scooped it up. I recently got a spam email from Northworst Airlines which landed in my inbox while I was having my male period. I decided to write them one of my patented, consumer complaint letters but not with any real expectation they'd read it, let alone respond (and offer 5500 frequent flyer points). Their response is first, followed by my initial scathing letter. Amusing reading if nothing else.

Northwest Airlines' response to my initial email regarding their poor service
De: Northwest Airlines
Para: El Desconocido
Enviado: martes, 12 de junio, 2007 11:31:03
Asunto: Re: ET-nwa.com Comments/Suggestions (KMM11975437V4187L0KM)

Dear Mr. Desconocido,

RE: Case Number 3907620

In your recent email, you alerted us to several problems with our service. Your feedback is important to us and we thank you for taking the time to write. On behalf of Northwest Airlines, we sincerely apologize for letting you down in so many ways. I can understand why you wanted to share your disappointment.

First and foremost, we expect our employees to treat all our customers in a polite, courteous, and professional manner. We will do our utmost to demonstrate by our actions that we are committed to service excellence.

In addition, we want to make travel on Northwest and our SkyTeam partners convenient for our passengers, and we feel our complimentary luggage allowance for both domestic and international travel is adequate. Understandably and due to aircraft weight limitations, we can
only permit a limited amount of luggage to be checked or brought onboard an aircraft. As a result, we have established a maximum luggage allowance per passenger.

We appreciate your feedback, Mr. Desconocido. Many customers, like you, share their observations and suggestions with us. These unsolicited remarks form the basis for many improvements in our service.

Be assured that your comments will be forwarded to the responsible individuals within Northwest.

Please know we value you as a customer, and for that reason we have added 5500 WorldPerks bonus miles to your account 490827864. You may visit our website at www.nwa.com/freqfly/ to verify these miles have been posted. Please allow 3 business days for miles to appear.

We appreciate the opportunity to review your concerns, Mr. Desconocido and look forward to serving your air travel needs in the months and years ahead.

Sincerely,

Ann xxxxxxxxxx
Customer Care
Northwest/KLM Airlines

========
My original response to their spam email

I don't expect you'll actually read this, but I thought I would take this opportunity to offer some suggestions for customer service. NWA and the rest of the collective U.S. airline system is nothing more than a fleet of flying Greyhound buses with wings. The customer pays a fee to merely get to the other side. Most requests for anything that even remotely resembles customer service is met by a snide, snotty attitude by airline personnel. They act as if they're doing you a favor by simply doing their job, which is partly true since they're paid a paltry sum and are continually asked to make concessions for the benefit of the company--and the lack of upper management willing to take a cut of their own pay (considering they're making the unpopular decisions).

If given a choice, I, along with many other people I've spoken to, would prefer to take international carriers for domestic US flights if such a thing existed. You would be wise to study the business models of companies like Air New Zealand, Virgin Air, or even so-called banana
republic airlines like Air Namibia and Air Mauritius which are heads and tails above anything the US airline industry has ever seen.

In short, pay your staff enough to actually care and they might provide better service. Their resentment towards upper management translates into negative attitudes that are so obvious, they're nearly palpable. Stop charging passengers for peanuts and a drink. If I paid you $500
for a ticket, I think that no matter what your company's financial siuation, you can afford to cough up at least this much without breaking the bank. It's frivolous and only leaves a bad impression on passengers.

Regarding your so-called oversized baggage charges, this is a complete joke. Whether I pay you the money or not, my surfboards still fit on the plane just the same. The baggage handlers never see a dime of that money, so why charge it? It's just straight profit to the company for
essentially nothing. You've damaged my boards before and claimed that you "weren't responsible." Well, if I pay you your extortionate fee for transporting my boards, then you'd better believe you ARE responsible for them every step of the way. In essence, you will collect an oversize item charge, stiff the handlers for that amount, keep it in your coffers, damage the goods (usually by the disgruntled baggage handlers you stiffed), and then claim you're not responsible. I think the correct term is that you are IRRESPONSIBLE.

Kind regards,
El Desconocido

27: Wairarapa Surf Trip: The Meek Shall Inherit Stupidity

28 June 2007

For Video of this trip, click here

Early Bird Gets the Worm....Only When There's Surf Involved
Bobby and I planned a stealth sunrise surf trip to the Wairarapa in order to target the remnants of a recent six meter swell. For some reason, I find it particularly difficult to pry my bones out of bed early in the morning when I have to work, yet getting out of bed for a surf trip is effortless. I set my alarm for 5am, but found myself awake at 4am like a restless child on Christmas morning. I wrestled to sleep for the remaining hour, yet only managed to toss and turn.

Thin-blooded Wuss
I made the trek up to Bob’s place in Titahi Bay, had a quick cup of morning tea, after which we hit the road en route to the Wairarapa. Through the Rimutaka pass, I saw something I haven’t seen in ages. Glancing out at the cars parked along the side of the road, I noticed what I thought was ash. Upon closer inspection, I realized the cars were actually glazed in frost! Bear in mind, my blood’s quite thin after living in southern California for so many years!

Rimutaka Sunrise
The morning sky turned to a blood red sunrise as we rolled down the other side of the Rimutaka. Our “convoy” of slow-moving cars putted carefully down the serpentine road, artfully handling the curves lest we slide off the frosted pavement and down into a 100-meter ravine or, if we’re lucky, into an oncoming truck.

Western Lakes
We turned off at the edge of Featherston and towards the Western Lakes region. We passed through approximately 40 kilometers of verdant sheep-speckled farmland set against a backdrop of snow-covered peaks in the distance. The winding corkscrew road around Wharekauhau offered up the first view of the ocean. Swell lines and pounding shore break gave us a sneak preview of waves to come, and reassured us that the right-hand point break we were about to surf would have waves.

Looks Can Be Deceptive
We pulled up to the break a short time later and, initially, were completely devastated at the overt lack of surf! What kind of cruel joke was the universe playing on us? But within a few minutes, a two-wave set came roaring through, confirming that our hunch paid off. The worst part was having to get out of a heated car, strip off our clothes in 6 degree (42 F) weather, and into a cold wetsuit!



Good Vibes
We surfed for about two hours before the next two signs of life showed up. Two guys paddled out, but were easy-going and willing to share a few waves. By the time they arrived, the cold had since turned my feet to numb stumps in spite of the fact I was wearing booties. The formerly nil wind picked up and started blowing at approximately 15 to 20 kmh. The final call came for me as the wind-chill through my suit like a knife.


Good Samaritans Needed
I was looking forward to nothing more than getting out of my suit and into some warm, dry clothes. Two girls on a dirt bike pulled up and explained that their truck was stuck in the sand farther down the road and asked if we could pull them out. Bobby was still in the water so I told them to sit tight and we’d be down in a bit to help them.

Before I go on, I should explain that the road west beyond the turn off for the surf spot is nothing more than a narrow, sandy track carved into the side of a mountain. One wrong slip to the left and you’re looking at a one-way trip to off a steep cliff.

Boy Racer Goes Off-Road
A few minutes down the road we spotted the truck embedded in the sand with the back left wheel teetering on the edge of the cliff. As we got closer, we realized the sand was growing steadily softer and deeper. Bobby rightfully stopped, opting to park the truck on firm road.

The KKK Called. They Want Their Sheets Back
The vehicle was nothing more than a run-of-the-mill lowered pick-up truck with street tires—bogged out in thick sand! It turns out that the girls’ father was responsible for this fiasco. He was a short, wormy, neurotic, high-energy jackass who really seemed to think nothing of his predicament. The more we spoke to him the more we realized that his problem wasn’t so much that his truck was hanging off the edge of the road, but that his innate idiocy left him completely at the mercy of self-imposed misfortune. We estimated him to be approximately 45 years-old with the intellect of a 13 year-old boy. He had a shaved head with lines carved into his scalp, a few missing teeth amongst the snaggled mess that filled his mouth, and a bone earring on the left side. He looked to be about one bed-sheet short of a red-neck Alabama Ku Klux Klan rally.

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Tread Beyond This Point
We soon learned the purpose of their visit. He was in the process of driving to a drop-off point farther down the road, from which he, his elderly father, and an American tourist were going to hike 8 hours back to Wellington. The girls were going to drive the truck back through this mess and back to the main highway.

We decided the best course of action was to not risk getting any closer, lest we find ourselves equally screwed. We told the guy we’d head back to town and call in a tow truck to pull them out. There was too great a risk of us getting stuck as well. He ranted and raved like a lunatic and swore that, “hey, we don’t need a tow truck! It’s easy, no problem. You won’t get stuck! Just hook up the rope and pull us out. It’s easy.” I mumbled to Bobby, “Yeah, right. THIS guy giving US advice?” It didn’t sit well with us coming from a half-baked simpleton with all the common sense of a postage stamp.

Nice Guys Finish Last
In a fleeting moment of altruism, Bobby decided to pull the truck forward several meters but still couldn’t quite get close enough within range of the length of the tow rope. We finally told the guy, “Hey look, enough’s enough. We’re all going to end up stuck here if we try to pull you out. And if your truck goes off the cliff, which is more likely than not, you’re going to pull us off the cliff with you.” Some remote semblance of understanding appeared to penetrate his thick skull.

Bobby backed up and, true to form, as predicted—STUCK! The truck completely bogged out, sunk down to the hubcaps. The sand was a bit moist and quickly plugged any bit of tread left on his tires. No traction whatsoever! So now we were seven people stuck about 40 kilometers from civilization.

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
The more I thought about the entire situation, the more pissed off I grew. The mere sight of the guy nearly made me want to throw him off the cliff. First, his complete disregard for the safety and well-being of those in his party nearly landed them all at the bottom of a cliff. Second, his unwillingness to accept the seriousness of the circumstances only eroded the morale and frustrated everyone there, including his daughters who affectionately referred to him as “psycho.” And third, his complete lack of concern for our situation is what left us bogged down to the hubcaps and stuck in the same pointless predicament. Angry? Yeah, just a little.

Misery Loves Company
We attempted to purge our truck from its sandy treadmill for the next hour. We crammed rocks under the tires to gain traction, but to no avail. To inflame our tempers even more, their pit-bull dog jumped into the truck with its filthy paws and attempted to steal our food supply for the day! Idiot boy rode the dirt bike back to the surf spot and was able to rally two other surfers in a truck to help tow us out. We got back to firm sand but were still facing the wrong direction. Bobby had to do a delicate 10-point turn in order to turn around on the narrow track. That was enough fun for one day. We decided to get out of there while we were still ahead! We thanked the two surfers for helping us out and then decided to get out of there before we got roped into another rescue attempt and became a couple of accidental death statistics. We warned them to be careful—and that this guy was about 5 beers short of a six-pack.

What Ifs
The entire trip back, we just shook our heads in disbelief and marveled that someone like this actually survived past the age of 40 with all the intellect of a brick. We played the what-ifs over and over. What if we’d have gotten pulled over the cliff? What if we’d have had to call for an extortionately priced tow truck all the way from Featherston? What if he’d have cracked the rear diff mount? What if it had started raining while stuck in soft sand? Fortunately, none of the what-ifs came to fruition.

It's Not the Experience, It's the Story Telling After the Fact
We don’t regret helping someone in need. That’s the kind of thing people do for each other in New Zealand. But this guy was obviously a hazard to himself and all around him. Bobby and I joked that had we known in advance the type of idiot and situation we were dealing with, we wouldn’t even have attempted a rescue. We would have spared ourselves the hassle, gone straight back to Featherston, and called them a tow truck. But hey, at least it makes for interesting story telling

26: The Island: Island Bay, Wellington, New Zealand

Sunday, 24 June 2007: Woke up this morning to a beautiful, warm, sunny day (after a week of cold wind and rain) and a rising south swell off of the roaring 40th parallel. Took a drive along the coast, running the usual circuit. Came upon "The Island" just off of Island Bay with only a few guys out and the odd right-hander screaming down the line. Somewhat inconsistent, strong offshores, and exposed rocks on the inside, but still worth the long paddle across the channel. It was rather frigid with the wind whipping across our backs (and my head without a cap). The following photos capture the essence of the day. Fun surf, few people in the water, idyllic scenery. NZ: when it's on, it's really on!

Island Bay peeler screaming down the line. Taken just before I paddled out.


Scenery off my right shoulder. View of the South Island with snow-covered peaks.


Island Bay community. Houses nestled up in the hills overlooking the break.


Island Bay community backdrop. Idyllic setting with boats moored in a calm bay, people walking their dogs, cyclists riding by, runners coming by just having run a marathon in town this morning.

25:Annihilation Point, Mahia Peninsula, NZ (May 07)

The following photos were taken while I was at Annihilation point on the Mahia Peninsula near Gisborne in late April/early May. The day started off a bit cold, gray, and rainy with strong cross/offshore winds which created a series of steps on the wave face. But after an hour in the water, the winds magically dropped off, the rain cleared out, and so did the crowd. Next thing I knew, I was surfing perfect right handers with just a few guys in the water. A purely magical New Zealand surf experience!!


Me on a perfectly groomed right hander. Waves and spectacular scenery!

Me setting up for a backside tube. I came in after this wave and a guy on the beach said I completely disappeared from sight only to reemerge further down the line. He said it brought hoots from the crew watching, although I couldn't hear a thing. Nevertheless, nice to have a moment of acknowledgement.

Lee Monroe, Hawaiian living in Sydney. Saw the weather maps predicting solid swell for New Zealand so jumped on a cross-Tasman flight and wound up scoring all-time Annihilation Point!

Another perfect wave peeling down the point--unridden. Not enough guys out to catch everything!

Annihilation Point backdrop from further down the road. Note the few heads in the line-up and a guy riding a perfectly peeling righthander!