Surf Mission 23/08

Sunset at Waiinu Beach

A Perfect Right Hander

Barefoot

One of the things that surprised me most when I arrived here in New Zealand was seeing people going barefoot everywhere. You see them everyday at uni, in the supermarket, walking the dog in the park and even in pubs (like the one in the picture). It's like they don't remember to put their shoes on before they leave the house!

I heard a kiwi the other day saying one of the things he missed when he went overseas was walking barefoot without fearing hurting his feet. The first thing he did when he came back home was taking off his shoes and walking on the grass. I have to say it's a nice feeling, but I still don't dare going anywhere without my shoes on...and I think it has to do more with my made-in-spain mindset (what would my mother say?!) than with fearing I would hurt my feet...

8th Aug. Wharite Peak

View of the Manawatu from Wharite Peak

A visit to the neighbours

Here is an overall view of our recent trip to Australia. In this second visit, we spent 3 days in Melbourne and a whole week touring around Victoria (mainly along the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians NP). The weather wasn't that nice on most of the days, but we had a lovely time nonetheless and we are already looking forward to our next visit!

View August trip to Oz in a larger map

And here you can see some of the pictures of our trip:

Phil surfing Jan Juc, near Bell's Beach, on the Surf Coast.

Surf Museum, Torquay

One of the numerous cuddle-me-please koalas we saw on the way

Our wicked camper!!

Cape Otway Lightstation

The Twelve Apostles

Another astonishing view on the Great Ocean Road

A real Aussie checking us out

Melbourne on a sunny day

Oh! and next time somebody asks me where New Zealand is, I'll be careful not to say "it's that country close to Australia"...Four hours on a plane, that is more than 2,500km, is not what I would call "close", that's longer than a flight from Barcelona to Istanbul!! ;-)