Surf's up!

One of the added benefits of living in a country that is mainly Christian is that they observe religious holidays with extended time. Easter is not just a weekend here, they also take off Good Friday and "Easter Monday". There's actually a law that forbids shops from being open on Good Friday unless it relates to the sale of "necessary" items or for tourists purposes. You can see how the lines get blurred with that one. All this really meant for me was...four day weekend! So in classic style, I packed up some clothes, threw them in the car, grabbed a coworker, and hit the road. Destination: Raglan. This is a small arts and crafts town on the west coast. It's become quite a tourist spot and retreat for some of New Zealand's more affluent, reflected in the sky-rocketing housing market with properties going from NZ$200,000 up to NZ$1 million. However, it got its origins as a renowned surfer's haven with a world famous left-hand break. Put these two ideals together and you can see how the town has become quite eclectic, with people of all socioeconomic classes co-inhabitating. Given its tourist appeal, it's also become a hotbed for foreign work visas. We met a German, an Irish, and a Japanese student all in the same night. The plethora of foreigners astounded my NZ native coworker, something I didn't think about twice having come from the American melting pot.

While this up and coming resort town resembled so many I've visited in the states, there was just something different about it that I couldn't quite pinpoint. It was made glaringly apparent to me while touring the coast line by kayak on Sunday. There was actually still a coastline. It hadn't been overcome by house upon house, occupying every square inch of beach front. New Zealand is very particular in this way, they like to maintain their landscape. There are often property restrictions on how close homes can be built to the waterfront, ie not within view from the water. It's a beautiful juxtaposition of country landscape with modernization. You see it everywhere you go. Even along the highways and in the towns, farms will abut subdivisions, drawing the eye through flocks of sheep into rows of quaint bungalows. It's the kind of assimilation that makes New Zealand so beautiful to tour and relaxed to live in.