Kiwi Hospitality!

As I was waiting to put my bike on a passenger ferry the other day, I met a bunch of fellow cyclists who were just finishing a training ride.Later, while I was stopped at a pay phone trying to figure out where I would be spending the night (it was still early in the morning as I wanted to pitch my tent somewhere and go to the beach), one of the cyclist stopped and asked me if I was lost... when I told him I was looking for a place to stay, he nicely offered me to stay with him and his partner for the night! Both Warren and Sarah turned out to be very welcoming! They even invited me to come along on a sea kayaking trip exactly to where I had planned to go earlier! Perfect! So we packed up 4 kayaks and headed towards Cathedral Cove (a big tourist attraction on the Coromandel Peninsula). Warren even took us into a cool cave where we could actually land the kayaks on a little beach at the end of the cave! After the cave, we went to the real beach to stop for lunch... I managed to make a total fool of myself trying to surf a wave all the way to the beach! I took a big wave and surfed it for a while, until the tip of the kayak hit the sand and flipped me over, face first in the sand... all that in front of about 30 tourists! Awesome! Anyways, what started to be a lonely day walking to Cathedral Cove by myself turned out to be a wonderful day with great local folks! They even made me dinner back at the house... so spoiled!! And, I had the best night since the beginning of my trip... my own bed in my own room! Luxury!! Anyways, THANKS WARREN AND SARAH!! It was great meeting you!!