Hello all you New Zealand and East-Coast-OZ swaylockians,
I will be travelling to the north island of NZ and the east coast of Australia in early December of this year (2004). My wife has a brother in Canberra and we haven’t seen him for 10 years, so we are headed down under.
We are looking to hire (or borrow or buy) a couple of surfboards (1 longboard [mal], and 1 funboard [mini-mal, or hybrid]) while on our trip. I don’t want to pay the extra to ship ours, and also don’t want to be doing repairs on our vacation if they get damaged in transport.
We will be in NZ Auckland area December 2-6, and flying to Syndey on the 7th. We will be renting a campervan and travelling to Canberra to visit our brother, then drive up the coast and hopefully make it as far as Noosa.
I’d love to stop in and visit any shapers or board collectors, and would love to have a surf with anybody ready for a go out.
If you have any suggestions on where to acquire a board, OR if you have a board(s) that you would be willing to hire out to us, please let me know. Also, if your up for a surf or would be willing to open your shaping bay or collection for viewing, we love to visit!
If you’re passing through the Gold Coast give me a call. I can show you some of the not so secret spots here. drop me an e-mail at dman@ausfish.com.au. See if you can get to Raglan while you’re in NZ (couple hours south of Auckland. Awesome left point. And stop in at Crescent Head on your way up the Oz East coast (awesome right point). If you are a wine buff, turn left at Newcastle and detour through the Hunter Valley.
hi there billyp, im a kiwi swaylocian who might be of some assistance to ya.
i live at piha ,west coast-north island. we got probably one of the most consistant coastlines in the world for swell. very rarely below 3-4 ft and never more than about a week or 2 between fresh 6-8ft pulses (and sometimes bigger still) anyhow my pal runs a few caravans on his land (3 doors down from me) along with a surf factory, surf store etc…all looking right out onto the waves.he has many boards you could hire, and they are the friendliest most helpful people you could meet. it would be a great place to start your journey. only 1 1/2 hours from auckland int airport. i shape shortboards from his factory and he does mals and fishes under his label.
let me know if this is any use to you, and i can hook you up with some details …later
I don’t know if you’ll have much luck hiring a board to take away on a trip…there are places at Manly that do a day rate but it would end up costing you a fortune. The best bet would be to do a buy and return deal, buy it on the provision that they’ll repay a certain percentage if you return it in the same condition…try Line Up on Dee Why Beach…he’s pretty flexible…if not try Aloha Manly, they have a big turn over…but be warned, traditionally the waves are pretty poor until after Xmas. Try places with protection from NE wind such as Boomerang, near Foster.
Im sure your gona have the greatest time here in Auckland. Exspesially at December.
Good surf around, if you can find it. There are some really good shapers around and you should stop by at there shops and check out there boards. Have a good time in NZ.