Surfing Waves

Is it possible to surf in NZ in June? And do you have any surf course recommended? I'm a totally beginner. Only been to body surf once. Thx

Mate, where in NZ?

Piha/Gisborne is a little different to Christchurch/Dunedin.

I surf in a 2.5mm wettie(& boots if I can blag them) in Chch until about April/early May at which point sea temps are down to about 10-12 degrees.

oop norf you may be a lot warmer.

IMo just go snowboarding instead..

In Mt Maunganui in June you will need a 3/2, (some people wear a 4/3) and you shouldnt really need boots unless you feel the cold easily. Assault boardshop in Mt Maunganui do lessons as do loads of other people. There are organised surf tours that operate year round too, they provide you with wetsuit, board, tuition so you might want to look into that, just google NZ surf tours and you should find something. if in doubt head to the Mt board shop, its where i got my board over there and they are really helpful.

I'd say if your learning east coast is probably best, the west coast can get fairly hard core, although saying that the beach break at Raglan has miles of white water so is great if your just learning.

Enjoy, i'd love to be back there at the moment

Thx a lot

Just stay north, the further the better.
Whangarei and up around there, waipu cove ...
I had good luck there while in NZ a few years back, in the middle of june.
It wasn't too cold. I had a 4/3 and was plenty warm.

Piha is nuts...just looked big and messy everytime i was there. wasn't about to get familiar with the currents there on days like those.

Shippies, and raglan were good too.
Tried paddling out at a beaches near CHCH and on the peninsula (hickory bay near akaroa) and they get too cold. I think late mid- may was the coldest I could tolerate before I wished I had a hood.

i stayed in christchurch during june, had a lesson of the local legend in sumner Dougie Young and he recommended boots gloves and a thick suit; must have been atleast 4/3 mm. the second time i went out on my own he gave me a suit with a hood which must have been a 5/3. at one point i got too hot and had to take the hood off, max temp was 14-15 degrees the water was ALOT colder

Chirstchurch is in the south island, so you might be better going to the north island where it will be mildly warmer. hope it helps

I've heard that Wellington waters would be around 16-18 degrees in July. I'm not sure if that's true or not...

Island Bri wrote:I've heard that Wellington waters would be around 16-18 degrees in July. I'm not sure if that's true or not...

Doubt it. Christchurch, which isn't that far away, is about 8 degrees in July. Welly would be warmer, but not that much.

Island Bri wrote:I've heard that Wellington waters would be around 16-18 degrees in July. I'm not sure if that's true or not...

LMFAO u wish!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crap...I knew it.....let's just hope those 4/3mm wetsuits work as well as I hope they do or I am going to be one major Bri-cicle!

or you could always just hire a suit the NZ dollar is just under 2 to the $ so they'll be cheap as hell. i paid 15-20 dollars (NZ) to hire a suit (with hood), gloves and boots for a day. STOP WORRYING ABOUT HOW COLD IT WILL BE AND TAKE THE PLUNGE if your really that botherd start taking cold baths/showers you'll soon get used to it. or you could just wear a rash vest underneath and a swimsuit etc.

on a different note when i was nashville i resorted to cold baths showers, simply because it was too hot where i lived and we only had fans, not aircon.

Sorry Brummie, I'm not meaning to sound stressed about it. I'm perfectly content with cannonballing into some frigid water. I'm just a research-aholic so I'm looking up all I can on the subject.

If I can find a good surf shop in Wellington, I'll definitely look at renting a suit. $15 versus $250 sounds a lot better to me!

Cold showers, eh? That'll take some getting used to. I'm a sucker for hot water. Either that or I can just have my buddies push me into Percy Priest lake in February. That'll be interesting.

Yeah, so us Nashvillians are spoiled, what of it?

just thought i would mention that air new zealand have some special deals on flights at the moment, with upto 25% off. i flew with them and i would recommend them

@ Bri why not buy a suit over in new zealand because it will be cheaper than in the US with the currency rate. with regards to the surfing tbh i was expecting it to be warm in NZ compared to our rubbish weather, boy did i get a shock when i went out in my shortie wetsuit it was freeeezing but it was still a good laugh. i would love to go back espcially with the range of activities to do over there, wasnt a day when i wasnt busy be it surfing, kayaking, snowbarding, paragliding and bungy jumping all within a 1-2 hour drive and the people are so laid back just like the americans

brummie wrote:the people are so laid back just like the americans

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

drowningbitbybit wrote:

brummie wrote:the people are so laid back just like the americans

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i think, well hope he was being ironic

Brummie - I saw that, unfortunately I'm not going to NZ until July (dangnabit!). Hopefully they'll have a similar special on then. However, I've heard there's some good student discounts through my school so I'm going to check that out. Thanks for the tip, though!

I was also thinking of that option. Besides, having to pack a wetsuit, boots, and gloves along with the rest of my gear for 6 months in NZ would be a little much. I'll just get my gear in Wellington.

I bet! Whenever I think of surfing I think of tanned, half-clothed guys and gals in some tropical setting, not Englishmen or Kiwis in wetsuits. So yeah, I hear ya!

Island Bri wrote:Whenever I think of surfing I think of tanned, half-clothed guys and gals in some tropical setting, not Englishmen or Kiwis in wetsuits. So yeah, I hear ya!

Must be Scotsmen in the North Sea you're thinking about eh?

I was in for 2 hours yesterday, its been sunny & warm for a while now.

By the end I was a bit cold, but thats in a 4/3 buuts & gloves, without that you'd be freezing. July will be colder.

$15-20 sounds ok but 10-15 surfs and you may as well have bought your own kit, if your not going that much dont bother at all.

When you get to NZ, have a look on www.trademe.co.nz - it's a bit like the NZ Ebay. You could probably pick up a second hand winter suit on there.