[StuckInLA]

Obviously NZ has a lot of coastline, but are there any beaches with waves suitable for surfing near Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington?:confused:

[Trigirl]

we often see people surfing at lyall bay (wellington)

[willowshouse]

Lots of surfing at Piha, KareKare and Muriwai beaches .. all West Auckland, about 40 mins from the city centre but if you lived somewhere like Titirangi you're halfway there already.

[Oregonkiwi]

yes to what Willowshouse said, plus, Raglan (west of Hamilton) is a famous surf beach.

[toesonthenose]

The water is very c-c-c-cold, even compared with LA braddah!

[Patricia]

Our Son lives in Henderson, when I text him yesterdayto tell him we would soon be with him he was out surfing before he went to work :roll so there is obviouosly surfing beaches there . Hendeson is I believe about 10 k from Auckland
Hopethis helps

Patricia

[Cindy]

toesonthenose,

just out of curiosity and sorry to jump the topic of the thread but I was wondering what attracts you to NZ from all places, Hawaii?

[Oregonkiwi]

there's more surfing info here:
http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=7585

[K&CS]

We're in Christchurch and live at Sumner and Sumner and Taylors Mistake are excellent for surfing. OH has just taken it up. In our rental, we could see all the surfers from the window and was amazed that they were out in all weather - even on the one day it snowed!!

[suebeenz]

I think you'll find summer time water toasty enough. If you've been in the springtime water in NorCal (or North), winter will be cake for you. South island winter water temps, might discourage the SoCal and Hawaiian surfers though. :-)

[aberdian]

Bizarre, and nothing to do with NZ but there's a big surfing contingent up here in the N of Scotland. They're all blue. Southern ocean temps should be no problem :)

[StuckInLA]

Thanks everyone. I'm not worried about temps- that's what wetsuits are for. It just seems that every picture I see (especially around Auckland) is of very tranquil water. It's good to know the waves can be ridden. :raebanana

[Oregonkiwi]

Around Auckland, the Waitemata harbour and the east coast beaches are usually pretty calm, and the west coast beaches have surf. Here's a random photo of someone surfing at Muriwai:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10267365@N00/424913764/

[sidabrine]

Most of NZ is surfable. If you live in Auckland, you're double lucky: if there's westerlies, you can drive up North East, if easterlies, drive to the Western beaches. Western beaches are almost always pumping (sometimes too BIG!). Eastern beaches get much cleaner swell (if there's swell tho)

If you live in the West side of town, its about 45 minutes driving to the Western beaches and 1:30hrs or less to the East.

Check these websites:
http://surf2surf.co.nz/
http://surf.co.nz/

They have freely accessible swell maps and forecasts so that you can plan and be in the right place at the right time.

[SteveR]

http://www.citynews.co.nz/webcams/mtbeach/

link to the web cam for Mount Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty.
they are building an artificial reef to improve the surf

[Kim39]

link to the web cam for Mount Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty.
they are building an artificial reef to improve the surf

Think you'll find its been done already. Done a bit of body boarding up there, but not surfing. Remember, also Raglan has the business too.

Kim

[speckythecky]

http://www.citynews.co.nz/webcams/mtbeach/

link to the web cam for Mount Maunganui in the Bay of Plenty.
they are building an artificial reef to improve the surf

You must remind me not to click on web cam in the evening, :laugh It is gloroius sunshine in UK so I was expecting to see something on the web cam but all I could see was a car in a carpark.
Will try again when its morning there.

[thepiesleys]

I had a great day at Omaha (sp) beach this summer, great waves and really clean break. My fav beach alongside Mokau beach in the BOP.

Dan