New Zealand Surfing Adventures: 2016 Autumn Update

Summer has come and gone, and now we are into Autumn in the southern hemisphere.
Summer was characterised by a typical El Nino weather system which produced constant North East and East swells generating epic waves up and down both the North and South island coastline.
Fortunately, the deep lows in the Roaring Forties have also continued to crank and the long left-handers on the West coast of New Zealand (image below). This swell trend is set to continue with both coasts set to produce epic waves during Autumn.

Here is a report from New Zealand Surfing Adventures last trip to the far north:
After picking up the guests from the airport and discussing the swell forecast of a 4 metre SW swell, the call was made to hit Northland and try for the famous long left-handers. Upon arriving there, we found the swell hadn’t kicked so we went searching on the east coast which is a short 30 minute drive.
After a a quick check on several isolated bays, we discovered a nice north swell rolling through. After another half hour of spot-checking, we found a protected little break with 2-3 foot fun offshore peaks, we all jumped out of the truck and surfed for 2 hours with only a couple German tourists swimming in the shallows. That evening the wind swung so we hit the points and the swell had began to show up.
We surfed 2-3 foot 300-500m long left-handers until sunset. After an amazing sunset and several craft beers, we got to bed early in anticipation of the increasing swell.
The next morning we awoke to 4-5 foot pumping waves the low tide produced even longer rides with some being over 1km in length. Tony’s son Geordie commented that he “had the best surf of his life“, getting some screamers all the way down the point.


Best bet for Autumn:
With Autumn fast approaching down under, the South swells produced by large low pressure systems near Antarctica are starting to roll in. With this in mind, the East Coast areas of Gisborne in the North Island and Marlborough in the South Island (pictured below) are the pick of the spots.
Both areas pick up the large South swells as well as the consistent East swells which we have been receiving a lot over the past several months. Although the air and water temperatures drop during the Autumn months leading up to winter the weather is generally very stable with a large number of sunny days.

Many of you may not have heard of New Zealand as a surf destination and having travelled to Mexico, Indonesia and Fiji, New Zealand is a great option.
NZ offers an amazing variety of waves to suit all levels of ability and best of all, you have the opportunity to surf with just you and your mates out.

Exclusive Perfect Wave offer: 20% off on all group bookings (2 or more) in May to November 2016.