new surf dialogue

I’ve been thinking about our stay with Louia and Scrubbs in Anaura Bay. A little critical reflection on the experience and how it fits into my whole idea of “Re-thinking The Endless Summer”, an idea that I haven’t really expanded on within the posts in this blog. “Re-thinking The Endless Summer” is really an attempt to further the idea of responsible and alternative ways to global surf travel. This idea of traveling the world in search of perfect empty waves was a direct response to Bruce Brown’s 1964 film that followed Mike Hynson and Robert August as they circumvented the globe, following the sun and looking for the perfect wave, which in itself (the movie’s premise) was a direct response by hard-core surfers to stay one cross-step ahead of the post-Gidget surf crazed masses swarming the coast of southern California and to share with the world a more accurate representation of surf lifestyles other than the Hollywood stereotype that had been marketed and goobled up by the status quo.

I thought the WWOOF idea would be a great way to connect directly with my host environment on a level that isn’t really a high profile aspect of the dominant travel modes that one reads about in the monthly offerings of Surfer magazine, or while watching the latest Taylor Steele surf video. In the Endless Summer, Bruce Brown remarks that while travelling to unknown destinations, the chances of scoring epic waves are nearly impossible. Although it is super convenient now to make travel plans for well-known destinations that all but guarantee surfable waves (a topic that will be discussed in my thesis), that usually means there will be a crowd factor which contradicts the whole concept of the ’empty’ in the  ‘perfect empty wave’ pipedream that Endless Summer so successfully promoted. The coastal geography of New Zealands north and south islands lends itself  as a magnetic for oceanic swells coming from the north, east, south and west. Perfect empty waves are to be found here, especially given that the entire country has a population of roughly 4.3 million people, and over 30% of that number found in and around Auckland on the north island (numbers from Ministry of New Zealand website). That was a big factor in our decision to come here for our final hurrah with the UW. Another major reason were the 1000 WWOOF hosts that can be found in every region of both islands. However, the past several weeks has been horrible surf conditions. It happens, even in New Zealand. Brown’s antiquated theory on surf travel to unknown destinations – note: I intentionally stayed away from surf guide books and internet websites that detail New Zealand surf spots before making this trip, wanting to savor the thrill of discovery; that Cape St. Francis moment that Hynson and August had in The Endless Summer – has held true to our experience so far. Instead of going stir crazy on the beach, staring hopelessly out at the horizon, driving up and down the coast wasting petrol in search of a working wave on days that one knows nothing is working, that settling in with a local family and getting dirty in their pumpkin patch would be a pretty awesome alternative. Christine and I are working toward a personal sustainable future, wanting our own patch of land to grow and share foods and ideas with the community that we settle into soon, so WWOOFing in New Zealand serves that purpose too, seeing how folks manage their gardens and their learning about their own inspirations for life and how to live it.

Did the Anaura Bay stay fullfil these expectations? We didn’t really learn anything about organic home agriculture. There was some basil and tomatoes and lettuces growing here and there. They were more or less growing on their own. We know how to put a seed in the ground. When Philippa Jamieson wrote about Scrubbs and Louia in her book, “The Wild Green Yonder”, life for the Blakeney’s was much more active on the self sustainability front. Life happens though. Priorities change, and you deal with what you have. The conversations were worth their weight in gold. The knowledge that Scrubbs and Louia and Honey Lee and Juliette shared with Christine and I about local surf lore, surf culture in general, New Zealand history and local  tidbits on how this place became what it is today were all priceless. That this family opens their door as a means to share and learn is brilliant. In sixteen years they have hosted hundreds of world travellers under their roof. They aren’t slave drivers under any pretenses, which we’ve come to understand is a possibility, especially with the more commercial WWOOF hosts. They simply use the WWOOF program to learn and share. And then there was the morning when Scrubbs took Christine and I for a drive up the hill, to survey the swell movements and discuss the local history, seeing and feeling the wind and swell and having him point us in the perfect direction for a decent surf; well that is awesome. Mission accomplished.