New Zealand?

[RyanM]

I'm supposed to be headed to New Zealand with a friend for 2 or 3 weeks. She just wants to travel around tourist style, I naturally want to surf as many days as I can as well. So what do you suggest? For a trip that gets you the most out of the beauty of NZ and as many days in good waves as possible, should we spend more time on the north or south island. Or just forget about one of the islands altogether. Or possibly should I just go to the Maldives instead?

[zzz]

Ryan,

I just got back from NZ. Its an amazingly beautiful place - we spent a couple of days in Christchurch for a wedding and about 8 days driving around the South Island. I took a surfboard along even though it wasn't a surfing expedition. We'd done the Christchurch to Queenstown thing before on snowboarding trips so this time we spent a lot of time on the west coast. The coast is really rugged - big jagged rocks off the beaches, black sand on the beaches, strong rips and good waves - unreal. I think you need at least 10 days to do one Island, and more if you actually want to stay at a few of those places that you like. I'd have liked to have spent 15 days for the small trip we did (west coast of South Island and a bit of time on North and East coast).

The best surf I had was at Tauranga Bay on the west coast just south of Westport. Big Rock Island in the middle of the bay, Seal Colony on the North end of the Bay, and strong escalator rip in the southern corner that gets you out to the break (which is in the Southern corner). Looks like it would hold a good size swell (was about 5-6 ' the day I was there).

There's also a spot near the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki on the West Coast though watch the sweep down the beach.

Another spot that looked good but the swell was a bit small and we were a bit rushed was about 10 minutes north of Kaikoura on the east coast.

One problem on the South Island is that a lot of the coast is farmland and it can actually be hard to get to the beach in places, so you can drive along seeing the sea in the distance but not easily get to it to have a closer look. (If you know where you're going you could always just drive/hike across the paddocks). A lot of the west coast is long straight beaches that don't seem to have many banks off them, but then there are also plenty of spots that look ok for a surf.

I've never been to the North Island apart from a ferry trip over to Wellington from Picton so can't comment.

zzz

[Ben R]

Hey Ryan, I'd say go to the north island for better surfing plus some good scenery and tourist stuff also. Maybe a few days (midweek) at raglan, a trip to waitomo caves (black water rafting, glo-worm caves) then up to the north of the north island, east coast beaches such as Sandy Bay, Rarawa, Hendersons (camping or campervan only for some of those spots), then back across to the west coast points at Ahipara (see endless summer 1). North of the north island is good because west cost and east coast are very close so its always offshore somewhere. Then check out Bay of Islands for no surf but activities to keep the non surfers happy eg day boat trips etc. That trip would take about a week - 10 days. In late summer you may get cyclone swell on the east coast, plus there's generally always waves on the west coast. The best time for surf would be Feb - June in the North Island. Also Gisborne goes off if you have time to make the trek down there.

Or if you want more of the amazing scenery, mountains etc, more tourist options and less surf focus, go south island, there are good breaks at Kaikoura (mid east coast) and also on the west coast but the water is colder and surf is less consistent. You will need heaps of rubber if you go in winter.

[Stuey]

Go to the Maldives and leave the missus at home.

[RyanM]

Thanks for the info guys, that should really help me plan my trip. I'm actually getting pretty stoked about it now! I had a feeling that the better surf was on the North island, and more tourist stuff on the South. Well, I don't have to tell her that do I?

Also, I would imagine that Raglan would be pretty crowded. How about the other beaches you guys have been to? And what is the aggro level like?

[Longboarder]

Raglan just held the world longboard championships if its good enough for them it would be good enough for anyone, go for it.

[Nikko]

Mate I'm with Stuey, leave the girl at home and go the Maldives or Mentawais for sure!!
I have had a look around the south island around winter and mate, no way was I going in there anywhere anytime! Surfers I saw looked like seals, all covered up except the face! Bloody freezing even if the waves are good which they rearly are down there.
Have a look at poor old Bruce's reports from NZ, he has barely been in the water at all.
North Island is meant to be much better for waves.
Watch out for gangs all around the North as well. Be prepared to fight at the drop of a hat if you piss someone off, even accidently. No matter what anybody tells you there still very hard boys and they have an endless supply of brothers and cousins.
Beautiful natural country though.