Cape Reigna, New Zealand
Sunday, January 16, 2005
A day out and a sand dune too high. That is pretty much what today was for me. It was an all exciting day aboard a bus with a bunch of strangers. People from all over the world come here to do one thing. Sand Dune Surfing. All right, so perhaps that is an exaggeration but in reality it is part of the highlight of the trip up to Cape Reigna. After riding the bus up 90-mile beach, you get excited to do something else with sand other than drive on it. You get to the Sand Dune park and just turn yourself loose with your bus driver leading the way. My bus driver was Phil and he bolted up the sand dune. Upon first looking at the sand dune, there is not much there to be frightened of. The leader takes off and you sort of follow like ants going up the sand dune. One at a time you start to fall of the wagon. People pass you by. The air seems to get thinner. You realize that you are out of shape. You look up to the top of the sand dune and you realize you are only halfway up. As the people behind you are wheezing a little more than you, you figure I can do this
. Ten more steps go by and you look around. A little kid wheezes by you and you think why can't you take up my board. Five steps up equals about one step backwards when you take into consideration how much the sand pulls you down. 15 more meters and you can hit the top of the sand dune. At the top, you wonder if there is actually an oxygen tank for you to take air from. Then, you look down the hill and think I am going to go face first down that.
At some point, you get a bit brave and manage to put down your boogie board. Three, two, one...you whisper in your head as a large scream comes out of your mouth. Stay straight you think trying to steer with your feet while at the same time your feet say who cares this hurts. People scream at the people lying down at the bottom of the hill to get out of the way. You are speeding full stream towards them and there is nothing they can do about it. You manage to brisk past them and hit the little river at the bottom of the hill, closing your eyes and praying that a bus isn't coming through at the moment. The adrenaline finally catches up with you and you want to do it again. Ahh..it is all back to the beginning but the climb up is well worth it.
