Winter Surf

First off my wife thinks I'm BAKA for going out in the water.....and after 2 hours in 15c I tend to agree........but it was oh so worth it (ka mau te wehi)
The plan was "hatched" yesterday afternoon and last night we (Kosuke and I ) decided on a push to O'Neill's.
The morning was a usual one which involved trying to "squeeze" every available bit of heat and comfort out of the bed covers before Mana got bored and wanted to be fed and after a hearty Weetbix and toast with Marmite we drew the curtains to welcome the new day...........well it wasn't quite that dramatic but you get the general idea.

Kosuke called to say he was on his way to pick me up when Mana (accidentally) stood on my board putting a ding in it......so it was abit of a frantic patch up job with chemicals,sandpaper and white dust everywhere before he arrived.

Anyway all that aside we turned up at O'Neill's to beautiful sunshine,clear blue skies and a light offshore.
The 15 minute walk over the sandhill was abit of a mission and crossing the stream made us both question ourselves,but soon the view down over O'Neill's was upon us and boy was it well worth it, with a clean 2-3ft swell and only 12 other "hardy souls" out...... there were plenty of waves to go around.
After "Sussing" the wave situation out we braved the cold........Kosuke of course was straight into it and smacked everything on offer including this beauty.
Rule 1. Always surf with someone better than you to keep you keen.....think Ive got that covered. With the sun still shining,the bodies tired and the smiles large (which were kinda goofy) we made the long trek back to the car park over the sandhill thru the stream and past Bethells beach.

On arriving home Keiko had just finished cooking dinner and was serving up this Yakatori,Steaming hot Miso and loads of veggies......Thank you Keiko,thank you Mana...............
Oh yeah.....thanks Kosuke awesome day.