I have been spending my summers in Maui and winters in Baja, Mexico. Thinking of switching from Baja to either Australia or New Zealand for the season November through May. Any thoughts as to the best place to go? I want to kite as much as possible, but still need to be close enough to services and city so that my wife won't leave me. I was thinking of Geraldton, but she thinks that is too isolated, leaving me on east coast. Looking at Windalert, Gold Coast and Byron Bay look promising. The other idea is NZ around Tauranga or Auckland. Baja has been great, but other than kitesurfing and fishing not a lot exists. After 5 years it is time for a change.

Any thoughts and personal knowledge would be appreciated.

Hey Alex,

I'm on the Gold Coast, and hail from NZ. I never really kited in NZ, but from holidays over there, I've found that Mt Maunganui (Tauranga) definately gets the seabreezes more than any of the other areas I've explored on that Eastern coastline - plus, that area has a fair amount of other cool stuff going on, and is a hot destination for tourists/locals alike. As far as consistency - I couldnt tell you, but all I can say is that whenever I was there, I kited. (20kts, 2-3ft swell).

As for the Gold Coast ,yeah its OK, but nothing amazing. We have waves and lagoons/river mouths to kite, we get fairly consistent wind in Summer, 20-30kts, but more so in Spring. IMHO, Brisbane wind was much more reliable and consistent. The GC seems to get the random sea breezes out of no-where, so my only observation is on the Coast, you need to be ready to go, rather than in Brissy, I could rock up to the beach at 4pm and almost gaurantee some kind of a seabreeze, 3-4 times per week. But, no waves, obviously, being in a bay.

All places, GC, NZ, Bris, are great places to live, good facilities, good lifestyle, good people, and have better access to the world. WA is fairly isolated, depending on where you need to travel, but has its good points too. The wind is obviously a lot better over there....

GC climate is probably closer to where you are now - warm in winter, and hot/humid in summer. It's more vibrant than for instance Tauranga NZ, more to do, more clubs/bars, a lot more international events, a lot more tourists, etc, and the women arent bad either.... :)

Let me know if you ever end up on the GC, I'll take you out to Main Beach.

Geraldton is a Great Location,
However the wind is only consistent between October till end of February.
Great place to live and only a mornings drive to Perth .
You can easily drive to Perth and back in one day.

breakzmaker said...

Plummet said..

If you are a wave junky then stick New Plymouth on your radar.

Yup, confirmed. East End beach rocked my socks off a couple years back when we visited!! All I can say is, that wave would smash you if you arent' careful. But has super potential to be way fun. Plus the wind seemed to be punchier - even at the same strength as I'm used to riding in.

Yep. Ee is awesome. There's bigger and badder breaks to be had down the coast if you are brave enough.

If your wife likes shopping, eating fine food, loves arts and fashion, and talking shidt with her mates over a chai latte (skinny) at multiple coffe shops on the cafe strip, then I'm sorry to say she will divorce you if you move to geraldton, however if she likes fishing, catching and choking down crayfish with a coldy down the beach whilst her hair gets blown around then you sir will be in windy wonderland

I lived and windsurfed in Perth many years ago before kiting was heard of. It was - and still is fantastic - for windsurfing and kiting. I moved to Auckland from Sydney about 4 years ago and kite more in NZ than I ever managed to while living in Sydney.

Auckland, north of Auckland, Tauranga/Mt Maunganui have great kiting spots for flat water and wave kiting. There is an awesome variety of beaches and estuaries around the country only a short distance from the cities and towns, with a lot of choice around Auckland itself, whatever the wind direction and time of year. There are very few council restrictions or parking hassles.

In summer the water is warm. It does get a bit chilly in the winter but, after being a warm weather kiter, I've toughened up and now kite through the winter as well.

I've kited in the Middle East and Cyprus as well as Oz. NZ is underestimated as a kiting venue and would top those countries for accessibility, variety and hassle-free kiting. It's also close to the pacific islands if you want really warm conditions.

Wear a thicker wetsuit over winter and once you get on the water you won't even notice that it's cold.

West Oz has the best wind in Australia I think

but if you are into doing downwinders in the surf then then Sunshine Coast in Queensland is unreal

Pump up head downwind for 15 km -30 km or more then land your kite on the beach pack up and jump on the bus back to where you started

September to December is best,but January to April can be good also

Warm,clear water,flatwater rivermouths

Great place to live

Kite size 7m to 17m

Some of the local lads shredding.

breakzmaker said...
Hey Alex,


All places, GC, NZ, Bris, are great places to live, good facilities, good lifestyle, good people, and have better access to the world. WA is fairly isolated, depending on where you need to travel, but has its good points too. The wind is obviously a lot better over there....

If NZ is such a good place to live then why are there so many Kiwis moving over here?

Chicks are uglier in NZ, but their accents are less annoying

I must add nz legalised gay marriage because there not one female left there, only sheep.

Geraldton -it is soooo epic and can be sooo gnarr /big wave riding... but way too remote 4 u though
Perth - some of best summer wind in the world - you can constantly smash yourself trying the same trick in butter flat water with howling wind 10 000 times in a row
no decent waves at all tho - expect to drive a few hours at east for that gnarr waves
East Coast Aussie can be epic but is mostly very average kiting - wind is just not consistent anything like west coast or NZ
Byron Bay although kitable is really a dead loss on the scale of things - there are even totally epic spots I love nearby but actually getting decent wind? - doesn't happen much.
NZ is better for kiting overall, but Aussie smoke NZ for normal surfing I reckon - mind u if you snake a wave that is!

The Byron to (name deleted) is hippie trail green rolling hills pipe smoking (if your into that kind of thing) delicious. Grabs the summer northerlies and the southerly busters

djt91184 said..
When a lil kiwi is born they dont get a birth certificate no sirree, they get given a excavator (dugger) ticket or scaffold ticket+ passport.

Found the kiwi basher....

Sounds like you live in a great place... I guess if I lived in a place like that I would go to a neighbouring country and take their jobs too.

I'm Australian. In NZ for the moment to look after relatives living here. I'm not taking any one's job. You should learn not to judge people before you know their situation.

breakzmaker said...

djt91184 said..
When a lil kiwi is born they dont get a birth certificate no sirree, they get given a excavator (dugger) ticket or scaffold ticket+ passport.

Found the kiwi basher....

Just to clarify bro I have known kiwis since primary school into every job I have ever had white ones moldy ones. I like them good hardworking fun loving crew (the ones I've known), but there has always been a healthy rivalry and plenty of taking the piss banter, in my experience the kiwis can give it as well as they can take it. All good I just love hanging **** on them all in good nature no offence I will go over one day and have plenty of couches I can sleep on from crew I have worked with.