An Escape at Solscape

Solscape, the hostel that I am wwoofing at, just has this awesome chill vibe going on all over the place – as does the whole town of Raglan. It's beautiful, to say the least. The mountains, harbor, ocean, and beaches are just breath taking. But the laidback atmosphere of Solscape and Raglan just make it one of those places where you can find yourself wanting to stick around for longer than you originally planned to. I'm so happy that I decided to stay for longer. And, even though it's a surfing town, I feel like there is still so much to do to be out and active on the water and around the area. Kayaking, biking, walks on the beach...it's everywhere. And this is something that I definitely value in a place where I want to live. Natural beauty, relaxed environment, and not too touristy. Actually, I think that I came to Raglan at the perfect time. Still great weather, but during the change over of the seasons so there are way less people around. Which is totally my style.

I decided to take Andre's kayak out on the harbor again. This time I went the other direction and went straight into the sun. But, that's where the Pancake Rocks were so I wanted to check those out! It was a bit rougher on the water than the other day, but it was still great being out on the water. I really enjoy kayaking – it's so peaceful and calming to me. I biked back up toward Solscape and hit the lookout spot right at sunset. Perfect timing! So, I chilled out and enjoyed the beautiful sky and sea.

Andre invited me and four friends to go wake boarding behind his boat one day! Katie (another Wisconsinite that I met in NZ) and I went tubing first off and just had a blast! I thought my arms were going to fall off...haha. Andre was brutal! But it was so much fun. And neither of us fell off! Woohoo! the boys (Chris and Karl) went next – Lubos played the paparazzi and used his gynormous camera to take photos. So, Katie and I hung out on the beach with the two other CS (couchsurfing) Chillian girls that were staying with Andre.

It was a perfect day outside too. Just slightly cloudy be lots of sun. I went in the boat to take pictures of Lubos wakeboarding. He was great at it! Plus, it was way fun for me to try out his sweet camera :-) The lens on that thing!! So awesome.

I tried wake boarding after the other boys went and was able to get up most of the time, but had a hard time staying up – the footstraps on Lubos' kite board were too big so my feet didn't feel very secure. But, it was way fun nonetheless! Boy, are my arms going to be sore tomorrow.... We all got to watch the sunset before we packed ourselves into the Lubos' van. The sunsets here are just incredible. I don't think I could ever get sick of them.

The weather changed over a bit later that week. I was sleeping in my tent and felt a drop of water on my face. Turns out, my tent isn't exactly rain proof...bummer! So, I spent a half hour locating all the roof leaks (five...) and placing a piece of already partly damp clothing underneath each. Then, I figured it would be a good idea to bring my electronic stuff into the station house, just in case the rain was relentless and soaked my tent. So, I threw on my blue poncho and ducked into the SH. I sprawled out on the SH sofa in my sleeping bag listening to music on my iPod. Needless to say, it was a comfy spot (and DRY!) but with people coming in and out after about 6 am to make breakfast, it wasn't exactly the most quiet spot to be snoozing...

I finally got to try out surfing!! A fellow friend and wwoofer, Karl, agreed to give me a surf lesson so all I had to do was rent a board and a wet suit. Surfing was really fun – although, I was terrible! Haha, but just my first day...things can only go uphill from here right? ;-) I could barely keep my balance on the board to just paddle. But, when Katie showed up at the beach later, she informed me that I probably picked one of the worst days to try out surfing for the first time because the waves were so messy. So, at least it was supposed to be hard and it wasn't all just me!

We played around in the waves for about 2 hours. It was just fun being out in the water and paddle around a bit! I didn't realize how tired I was until the very end. My legs and arms were just like jello! And then we had to make the climb from the beach back up to Solscape...20 minutes uphill. Not exactly something to look forward to after 2 hours of surfing! But, phew, we made it. :-)

One of the evenings at Solscape was filled with loads of people chopping, cutting, and dicing vegetables and whatever else in the kitchen for...drum roll... PIZZA!! And not just any pizza, but clay oven pizza. MmmMM! I was in charge of chopping the garlic, peppers, and whatever else was needed. It was really fun with all the hustle and bustle in the kitchen. There were three different groups who all decided to do pizza night on the same night. So, we just ended up doing one BIG communal pizza night! There were so many pizzas too! Holy wow!! And it was amazing!! Veggies and chewy thin crust. Sooo good. I was stuffed to the brim! And Chris even made a PB and Nutella pizza too for dessert :-9 What a great end to the deliciousness that was...pizza night!

After two full weeks of wwoofing at Solscape, it was time for me to move on. I was invited to join a group of 9 other kiwi women and hike the famous Tongariro Crossing on Saturday, April 24th! This tramp is 19.4 km long and typically takes people 7-8 hours to complete. But it's rated as one of top day hikes in the entire world! Definitely a must-do during my time in New Zealand.