South of the South Island, NZ

[Hang11]

Thought I would share a few pictures of a little roadie to the bottom of the south island of New Zealand. The next significant bit of land is Antarctica. It's bloody cold, even in summer, no crowds, lots of interesting wildlife, and access to a lot of the breaks needs a four wheel drive or a real long walk.

Nice waves though













Heaps of dolphins around. I surfed a real sweet river mouth bar the other day, perfect peeling waves, nobody else around, and I had a pod of these, about 10, hanging around me for most of the day. They just wanted to play in the waves, and it was awesome fun taking off on a wave and having three or four dolphins flying along in the face of the wave right by my head.













Shacked....

[Sillysausage]

nice pics, looks awesome

[libby]

Wow wow wow wow wow. Those are Hector's dolphins, one of the rarest dolphins in the world, only about 4000 of 'em, the north island ones have just been declared a separate sub-species and theres only about 100 of them left :S

Waves look AMAZING. I never made it quite that far south but i'll make sure i do next time im there

[tree4]

I want to kill you and claim your identity. Those 2-3ft peeling waves are currently my idea of perfection for the stage I am at.

[PapaW]

Yes that is wicked indeed thanks for sharing

[RJD]

Mate what a trip , gutted I couldnt make it!

[Heathen]

Great pics man.

The guys in the south must be super hard xxxxx to surf down there in winter.

[b123]

very nice pictures. looks like a lot of fun.

[Hang11]

Wow wow wow wow wow. Those are Hector's dolphins, one of the rarest dolphins in the world, only about 4000 of 'em, the north island ones have just been declared a separate sub-species and theres only about 100 of them left :S

They're cool little dolphins - I know they are endangered and I get worried surfing with them because I don't want to hurt them with a fin or whatever, but they love messing around with surfers and are pretty on to it when it comes to getting out of the way when it all goes wrong. I really like the way they swim on their sides on the surface - presumably to get a good look at you.

[RJD]

Not surprised there endangered if there eyeing you up!

[Hang11]

Not surprised there endangered if there eyeing you up!

lol, I was kind of wishing I had a .22 in the back of the truck for the rare penguins There were a few hippies admiring them, and it would have been kind of amusing to stroll on to the beach and blast one to bits.

[Real Pol]

Very nice. How long were you down there for?

How cold is that then? Cos technically where I surf, if you point in the right direction the next land mass you come to is the Arctic.



(Yeah I know the arctic isn't made up of land!! Bloody smart arses!)

[Brent]

Hi,the water temps at very bottom of the south island vary between 11 degrees in mid winter to 14 or so in mid summer. The water there is actually warmer than further up the east coast of the island as a warm current flows from the tasman wrapping around the bottom of the island through Foveaux Strait. The very coldest water in New Zealand is in the general area between Dunedin northward to Kaikoura.
Ah, fond memories of growing up surfing in Dunedin having to use twigs etc to do jeans zippers up. Shoelaces...forget it. Wetsuits are so much better now ...

[charlieuk]

stuning pics dude very gelous.hopfuly wont be long now to get a bit more nz action all the best
charlie

[Hang11]

Hi,the water temps at very bottom of the south island vary between 11 degrees in mid winter to 14 or so in mid summer. The water there is actually warmer than further up the east coast of the island as a warm current flows from the tasman wrapping around the bottom of the island through Foveaux Strait. The very coldest water in New Zealand is in the general area between Dunedin northward to Kaikoura.
Ah, fond memories of growing up surfing in Dunedin having to use twigs etc to do jeans zippers up. Shoelaces...forget it. Wetsuits are so much better now ...

That's good to know about the water temps - I've been living on the east coast for the last 5 years and it's bloody freezing once the snow melt starts coming down the rivers. Catlins is only a 2.5 hr drive for me now, so hopefully I'll be getting some waves well into autumn.

[Hang11]

stuning pics dude very gelous.hopfuly wont be long now to get a bit more nz action all the best
charlie

Hey Charlie!! How are you?

Were living in queenstown now, plenty of room if you fancy getting some snowboarding in next winter.

[charlieuk]

stuning pics dude very gelous.hopfuly wont be long now to get a bit more nz action all the best
charlie

Hey Charlie!! How are you?

Were living in queenstown now, plenty of room if you fancy getting some snowboarding in next winter.

yea good thanks going to have a bit of the summer here then expect ill head your way again so maywell take you up on that although ive never been before lol.glad you got some time to get to the waves hope alls well with the family