Surf New Zealand

Review: The New Zealand Surfing Guide

Mike Bhana

This book contains detailed descriptions of about 250 surfing locations around New Zealand in an easily carried paperback sized volume of 137 pages. Travelling from North to South, each region is introduced with a general description of the area accompanied by a basic (non-colour) map showing the locations of the breaks. Each location contains a detailed description of how to get there, when the best conditions occur (waves, tide etc.), what to look out for and other useful information such as who to contact for access permission, camp sites etc. The regions covered are:
  1. Northland
  2. Auckland
  3. Waikato
  4. Great Barrier Island
  5. Coromandel Peninsula
  6. Bay of Plenty
  7. Taranaki
  8. Gisborne
  9. Mahia Peninsula
  10. Hawkes Bay
  11. Wairarapa/Wellington
  12. Kaikoura
  13. Westland
  14. Christchurch
  15. Timaru
  16. Dunedin
  17. Invercargill and the Catlins

An example entry is shown below. An index of surf breaks is also included at the back of the book.

 

Whangaparoa

Whangaparoa is a small settlement around the entrance of Whangaparoa Harbour about 17 km north-east of Coromandel township. This little seaside settlement boasts little in the way of amenties but the waves are good.

Whangaparoa Beach faces to the north-east and is best surfed in swell from 0.6 to 1.5m (though the swell forcast needs to be a lot bigger on the open coast for the swell to be 0.6 to 1.5 m here). Due to the sheltered location of the bay, the swell should be from the north or north-east, or a big easterly swell may manage to pass through the Mercury Islands that shelter the eastern approach to the bays in this location....

This book shows a great deal of "local knowlege", enough to get you reliably and safely into any listed surf break.

The book is published by:
Heinemann Reed, a division of Octupus Publishing Group (NZ) Ltd., 39 Rawene Road, Birkenhead, Auckland, New Zealand. ISBN 0 7900 0017 2

Also the author invites feedback, presumably through the above address

 

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This guide is part of the wiNZurf web site - last updated November 27, 1998