I woke up this morning with no idea of what I was doing or where I was going. I wanted to head North towards Auckland because I miss hanging with the film crew there and I want to continue documenting the independent film behind the scenes. But I wasn’t sure if I was going to fly, drive, or take the scenic train. As I was having breakfast, I decided I wanted to check out the Surf Highway 45 on the West Coast of the North Island – the Taranaki Coastline.
When I first started my drive, I was super excited to find a farmer selling PONY POO for only a dollar a bag!
After I bought as much pony poo as I could carry, I headed for the Taranaki coastline, 105 km of countless classic surf breaks. I was a total Wilbur Kookmeyer as I didn’t have a surfboard or proper wetsuit, but I didn’t feel that guilty as the surf was flat today. I wasn’t fooled by the current conditions though and could totally see the potential in many of the breaks I checked out today along the cool coast.
One of the local kids told me today that a recent storm brought 9 meter waves to the break I was checking out in front of his house. Much of the drive on the West Coast today was remote rural areas, sleepy towns, and farmland with sheeps and cows.
I need to come back here in a camper van with my surfboard as summertime must be absolutely wonderful in this area. Today was pleasant though and the sun was shining the entire day. It was a very long and lovely drive today that brought me all the way up to Waitomo. Tomorrow I am hoping to explore the epic glowworm caves in Waitomo.
THE END
SWEENEY 
What’s that Pony Poo thing useful for??? 😀
What an awesome drive.
We are in Santillana del Mar, near the Altamira Caves in Cantabria, Espana. Staying at a nice old place in the town. Had a great lunch after visiting the new copy of the caves and the museum. Tomorrow we will drive to Potes in the Cantabrian Mountains and spend a night. Then back to Madrid to meet Matt on the 3rd. We’ll spend the night and take the same plane with Matt to Naples on the 4th. He is getting back from a long overnight flight from Dakar via the Canaries to Madrid to connect to Naples in Madrid. So we will be with him until he leaves for Durban on the evening of the 9th. Then after a couple of days we’ll go up to Civitavecchia for the cruise to Greece and Turkey. We get to Jenny’s July 24. When will we see you again? We get back to Los Altos August 15. Come out to Atlanta if you want to see our new place where Jenny will be staying for a while.
Love,
Dad
I usually put PonY poo in a brown paper bag and then light it on fire on someone’s doorstep. If you ring the doorbell and run, the person usually answers the door and stomps out the fire. just joking! It must be used as a cheap source of fertilizer.
I love the picture of the ol’ shack with the mountain in the background. Stunning work Ryan, and a great blog! 🙂
Did u ever surf the 9meter wave?