Surfing Waves

Heya guys ! looking for a bit of advice.

I am looking for your opinions on which i board i should go for . My situation is alittle over complicated tho!

Im 6"2 , 190lbs roughly . I have surfed on and off for the past couples of years mainly being 3 years ago i did the east coast of south africa and then spent 3months in Jbay . I did that trip with a 7"1 spider(first board i ever used) then while in jbay played around with a 7"4 NSP and i also had a fair few shots of my mates 6"0 Duchie just for the fun of it. I found the 6"0 far easier to control once on my feet but with the size of the board it was of course harder for me to actually catch the waves to get to my feet on.

I havent been on a surfboard for about a year now but i snowboard roughly 1-2 a week / go abroad etc so my balance is fairly decent and i also swim so my paddling is at an ok level.

Without aiming to sound cocky or anything, i progress fairly quickly at most sports and found it to be the same with surfing but as i havent been on a surfboard for a while i dont know what my best option would be?

I leave the uk in 2weeks time to go and travel - Bali ,Oz ,NZ and then back down to south afirca so my budget is alittle tight but i would love to pick up a board at one of those stops . My aim would be to progress to riding a shortboard .

As money would be tighter for my trip im looking to try and buy a board that is maybe a little bit above my level but i would be able to keep for longer and therefore be able to save money for other things like accomodation/food on the trip?

Would i be best going for a "big" shortboard maybe around the 6"8/10 size and if getting back at it is slightly tough just stick at it and "grow into it" Also buying a slighter shorter board would probs be easier for carrying around with me.

I know thats alot of information and rabble to take in but was trying not to miss out any details and then you guys could give me the best opinion??

Very big thanks for any opinions!
Crawf

Right, dont go getting a shortboard that you'll "grow into" because you wont. If you persevere with a shortboard you can make it eventually, but you're travelling so you'll want to make the most of each spot and be able to surf them straight away, not eventually.

Also, if you're in Bali etc, you'll be competing for waves with some top level surfers - the only way you'll get your share is to get in there early (I mean the wave, not the time of day) and for this you need to be able to paddle your board in there super quick, and for that you need volume.

So forget about going properly short for now, and get the board that is right for where you are, not for where you want to be. At your height/weight, you'll need a fair amount of volume - normally at this point, I'd recommend a mini-mal but thats clearly not what you want, so go for a hybrid-type funboard around 7' x 21 x 2 3/4.
Loads of volume, easy to paddle, but will still surf like a shortboard with someone your size on it (up to a point, but that point is way beyond your level right now).

Hope that helps.

thanks a lot for the reply and great advice so ill go with that and those dimensions give me something to go for !!

Big thanks