Raglan

A road trip to Northland in Summer? A surf-addict is driving?...
yes, you guessed right, the first stop on our first kiwi Christmas road trip to Northland was...
Raglan.

For those of you who might not know, Raglan is the number one must-see for New Zeland surfers. If Phil was the one writing this, he would tell you about the famous breaks, the swell, the longest left hand ride in the world and why this spot is so cool... I can only tell you that the beaches we went to (with black sand, by the way) were packed with surfers of all levels who seemed to be having the best time ever!! The landscapes on the coast were beautiful, with lots of Pohutukawa trees in bloom, and the town and people looked very laid back, living in a "peace-and-love" atmosphere that I had not seen before (that's the thing with new Zealand, just when you thought you couldn't find a more relaxing place, you find yourself in towns like this... :-D). It was hard to leave, really.

Oh! and I obviously got overexcited when I saw this bar in the centre of town:

Zaragoza, in Raglan!!
sadly I couldn't find out the why, where, how and so on...I'll try to, next time.

Pohutukawa-New Zealand Christmas tree