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| Secret surf point break in the distance. |
The surfers here are very tight lipped about their surf spots.
Everything is a local secret. If you ask a New Zealander, there are no surf
spots on this side of the island. You may wonder why they’re so tan and why
they have a surf rack in their garage with 10 different boards of a million and
one different sizes and colors. They’ll tell you they work in the vineyards and
the boards are just artwork. Valid.
It is only after some nice goat cheese and fine wine that these
sunburned, exhausted, and vicious protectors of the local surf will even begin
to let on that there may be a break or two in the area. Add a few more glasses of
wine and they may even describe the waves they were riding: left hand point
break, each wave exactly the same as the next, rolling for kilometers, barrels
as far as the eye can see (“I counted twenty six continuous waves once!”). But
no amount of wine or goat cheese will persuade them to tell you where these
perfect waves are, especially if you’re a tourist. But if you’re a WWOOFer…
Well, that’s a different story.
Being a WWOOFer is like being in citizenship purgatory. You are no
longer a traveler, but you aren’t exactly a local. However, this gray area is a
traveler’s heaven. While living in the gray area you become familiar enough
with the area that you know what is “good”. You know the bars, you know the people,
you know the coffee shops, and you know the routines. Suddenly, you have an
insight into the local culture that allows you to effectively navigate an area
for maximum exploration.
This is how I stumbled upon a vast array of secret places. There are
public secret places, like Clive’s The Box,
an espresso bar in a box that creates some of the most gulpable espresso drinks that I have ever had. We show up there
every single morning with our orders ready to go. We sit and chat with the
other people who are also there at the same time every day. We laugh with the
baristas who know everyone’s order and everyone’s name. And then we depart,
happy and espressoed.
Then there are private secret places like the local surf spots or the
Tsunami Bar. I’m not really sure what that Tsunami Bar is. It appears to be a
conglomeration of items that people have pulled onto the beach and made into a
place for secret meetings or secret parties. Iron coils come up from totem pole
woods in the ground. Strings and corded phones and dials and ropes and buttons
hang from the totem poles and blow in the inevitable wind. These blowing things
are unprecedentedly colorful, which makes the ocean wind appear fluid and
tonal. The ocean is always aquamarine and you can stare out at it from the top
of the bench and then look to your right to find a stove and beer bottle caps,
pushed into the pit of the wood.
The only thing you know, when you find it, is that you have to add to
it. Just like the explorers before you, kiwi or traveler, you contribute to the
secret places of the world.
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| Tsunami Bar on the beach of Clive. All explorers must contribute. |