The End of an Era

Hello,

Taylor here with the final update to our blog! We have been in New Zealand for a little over two months now, and our exchange officially ended this past weekend. Since the last update, we cruised through Raglan, Sunset and Bethell’s surf clubs. Each one was rad in their own way, and we had a great time at all of them.

Raglan provided us with a beautiful scenic view as it is perched up on top of the hills above the beach. We would wake up, go to the balcony and check the surf every morning. Unfortunately, the surf was as flat as a lake during our time there. Never down and out, we decided to do some driving around in the IRB’s and had the pleasure of fishing. Fishing was great; you couldn’t even get the hook more than a few feet under before you had a bite! After Raglan, we moved onto Sunset for a few days.

Sunset was one of the more modern clubs we stayed at as they had just finished with some renovations. Ironically, it was one of the farthest away from a supermarket and other things people consider standard. We had the joyous experience of swimming across the Waikato River with some members of the club while we were there. We were told we had to do it at a dead low tide because otherwise we may not be swimming alone. With those words of inspiration, we swam as fast as we could and managed to survive. We were lucky enough that Sunset had just purchased a new TV because the Super Bowl was on the next day! Unfortunately that didn’t go our way as Paul and I are both big 49er fans, but hey at least we were still in New Zealand… glass half-full. After the game ended, we were off back to Auckland before we were to head to Bethell’s the following day.

To our delight, taking us to Bethell’s was none other than senior lifeguard and reality TV superstar, Kylan Dray. For those of you that haven’t seen his feats of heroic greatness, look no further than Piha Rescue on Monday nights. On the way to Bethell’s, we were told that there will be a birthday/welcome party that night, so we had to stop to gather necessary supplies. Kylan was celebrating his birthday, we were celebrating being at Bethell’s and we did it right if you ask me. We spent our time there patrolling, playing in some caves and on some rocks and we got a break from it for a few nights and spent some time at the Dray household. We got to watch some live rugby and we even watched the big boxing match that was on that week that featured New Zealand’s own Sonny Bill Williams.

Since the exchange ended, Paul and I have both been relaxing a bit before we go off to spend our last two weeks in the country. I am planning to head to the Coromandel for a bit and then hopefully take a pit stop back in Raglan for a second stint. Paul is planning to head down to Taranaki to visit some family friends, and then maybe stop back in Raglan as well. Fun fact, I will also include a picture or two from my special haircut I received from a Kiwi... she was a rare talent at cutting hair.

With all of that said, we would both like to send a huge thank you to everyone that helped make this exchange possible. From everyone at the CSLSA, Doug Leach, Rob Pidgeon and everyone that hosted us in New Zealand, THANK YOU. Paul and I both hope to host the Kiwis when they come over during our summer and hopefully give back to this incredible exchange. I will end this the only way I find appropriate, speaking a little Kiwi. I reckon I would be keen to come back to New Zealand very soon and maybe even do some regional guarding, that would be sweet as bro. I just can’t forget my sunnies and jandals, and always remember to slip, slop, slap and wrap.

Cheers,

Taylor