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Australia/New Zealand - Oct-Nov
- Thread starter Wannabee
- Start date
It used to be that Oct-Nov was just windy and small on the NZ east coast, but for the last 5 years October has been one of the best months. Pumping S swells.
Put your thinking hat on, go off the beaten track, clean up your mess, and you'll have a great time. NZ means wind and long drives on windy roads, but there are big payoffs.
Best of luck, bro.
Put your thinking hat on, go off the beaten track, clean up your mess, and you'll have a great time. NZ means wind and long drives on windy roads, but there are big payoffs.
Best of luck, bro.
You can have a local copy of a section of google maps... just download the sections (Google allows you to do large spaces) before hand if it's a concern.Wannabee said:
No need for a burner phone at all, just swap sim over if you want data. Boost mobile does good data plans, which is an MVNO that runs on the biggest Australian network's hardware (in other words, good reception at a better cost)
First to answer an earlier question, we're driving down to Melbourne. I know it's typically not good this time of year, I"m hoping to find a few. We're going to be covering a lot of distance.
The thing I'm trying to figure out now is about getting travel insurance. We usually get it through American Express but for some reason, they don't cover AU and NZ. No clue about that.
So question, can you recommend a company to get travel insurance?
The thing I'm trying to figure out now is about getting travel insurance. We usually get it through American Express but for some reason, they don't cover AU and NZ. No clue about that.
So question, can you recommend a company to get travel insurance?
Travel Guard has always been good to me. I'm sure they're not the cheapest, but I've actually filed claims with them and it was hassle free.
I’ve been wanting to give an update on our trip so hopefully it will help others.
To start with, we flew into Sydney for a few days, travelled around, did a bike tour with a company called Boomers Bike Tours. Great way to see the city. Grant was very cool and was happy to answer all of my tourist questions. From there, we took the train out to Katoomba to see the Blue Mountains. Hiked a bunch, came back to Sydney and then flew to Cairns. In Cairns, we took a three day trip out to the barrier reef on a dive boat run by a company called Pro Dive. Excellent trip and as you might guess, the diving was unbelievable. Back in Cairns, we stayed at a killer Airbnb and then flew to Brisbane where we picked up a rental camper van. The van was a Toyota HIAC. Never heard of that before but there sure were a bunch of them over there. Anyway, from Brisbane, we headed north to Noosa. In Noosa I started looking for boards. I quickly found out that no one has heard of Craigslist there and their version of Craigslist is called Gumtree. Didn’t take long to get on it and find a board. I ended up getting one in really good shape for $200 AU. I was really happy with that.
As you guys warned me, I was not going during optimal surfing conditions so I adjusted my expectations accordingly. Since we had been in AU, the winds were onshore and non-stop. I was dying to get out in the water but Noosa wasn’t happening. The great thing about the coast in Australia is that if the winds are wrong, pretty much all you need to do is keep looking and you’ll find a point, cove or different direction break. That day I went out at Sunshine Beach and found better 2-3 foot fun conditions. Not ideal but I got out.
From there, we headed straight south to Burleigh Heads and stayed in a campground directly across from the beach. I have to say almost all of the campgrounds that we did stay in were awesome. This one was really clean, had a communal kitchen, game room, plenty of hot showers, etc. We stayed here for a few days. A lot of restaurants in easy walking distance. Again the surf wasn’t great but really fun 2 footers.
After Burleigh we stopped at Currumbin Alley, then Kirra then Snapper, then Byron Bay. There was nothing happening at any of these. Byron was so flat, there were groups of kayaks floating around the point. Still good to see these spots in person. From there we looked at the North Wall and spent the night in Yamba. The next day we looked at Angourie Point and decided to surf at Spooky Beach which is just around the corner. Later that day, I surfed at Arrawarra. After Arrawarra we went to Coffs Harbour where I got three days in a row in of three footers. From there, we looked at Crescent Head, Forsers, and Tuncurry. Again, wind was making a mess of things so we continued heading south and went straight to Seal Rocks. We climbed up to the lighthouse and on the way up, you get a view of a beach that is pretty remote. After seeing that, I grabbed my board and made my way down and had a great day in small waves at a beautiful beach in crystal clear water.
From there, we looked at McKenzie Beach, Broughlee, and finally stopped again at Potato Point. At Potato Point, there is a protected cove that had a very clean 4’ wave. Had a great morning session there. At Wilson Promontory I went out a place called Squeaky Beach. For whatever reason, the currents were really strong there and my session didn’t last long.
From there, we drove to Phillip Island where I went out at Woolamai. At Woolamai, the parking lot is probably 100’ or so above the water so you get a good view of the water. The waves were definitely the biggest that I had seen but for some reason, there weren’t many people out so I decided to paddle out. Long story short, I didn’t last long and I was glad to be back on solid ground.
After Woolamai, the next place I surfed was Portsea. Really nice 3-4’ conditions. Next was Breamlee with nice 3’ conditions and from there, we took a look at Lorne, Apollo Bay and finally Johanna. Unfortunately, the wind was once again making a complete mess of things.
After that, we headed back to Melbourne where I found a shop that purchased used boards. After talking with the owner, I ended up exchanging the board for merchandise. It worked out well for both of us.
This brought us to the end of our five weeks in AU. Only going down the coast like we did, you quickly realize, you’re only seeing a tiny fraction of the country. I would go back again in a heartbeat. I absolutely loved it. The people I met were unbelievably friendly and helpful. Most of the surfing spots weren’t happening and the wind was a problem but again the nice thing is that the coast is absolutely amazing. There’s a crazy number of coves, points and hidden gems. If things don’t look good at one spot, keep going and look at the next spot.
We had the van for about three weeks and the rental was about $2k. Gas was more expensive and we learned quickly that you don’t buy 6 packs of beer in liquor stores. Crazy expensive to what I’m used to. Wine, for whatever reason wasn't expensive and the local wine was good. Restaurants are more expensive but it all depends on how and what you want to eat. We cooked a lot.
Per the suggestions on this site, we ended up getting a SIM card for our phones at the airport. We went with Telstra for $30 for the month which gave us unlimited texts, calls and 20 gbs of data. Because of that, we used Google Maps for the full trip. Worked out great. Also, because of the cost, we didn’t get travel insurance and luckily we didn’t need it. That was quite the dilemma because if you do need it, it would probably be well worth it.
To start with, we flew into Sydney for a few days, travelled around, did a bike tour with a company called Boomers Bike Tours. Great way to see the city. Grant was very cool and was happy to answer all of my tourist questions. From there, we took the train out to Katoomba to see the Blue Mountains. Hiked a bunch, came back to Sydney and then flew to Cairns. In Cairns, we took a three day trip out to the barrier reef on a dive boat run by a company called Pro Dive. Excellent trip and as you might guess, the diving was unbelievable. Back in Cairns, we stayed at a killer Airbnb and then flew to Brisbane where we picked up a rental camper van. The van was a Toyota HIAC. Never heard of that before but there sure were a bunch of them over there. Anyway, from Brisbane, we headed north to Noosa. In Noosa I started looking for boards. I quickly found out that no one has heard of Craigslist there and their version of Craigslist is called Gumtree. Didn’t take long to get on it and find a board. I ended up getting one in really good shape for $200 AU. I was really happy with that.
As you guys warned me, I was not going during optimal surfing conditions so I adjusted my expectations accordingly. Since we had been in AU, the winds were onshore and non-stop. I was dying to get out in the water but Noosa wasn’t happening. The great thing about the coast in Australia is that if the winds are wrong, pretty much all you need to do is keep looking and you’ll find a point, cove or different direction break. That day I went out at Sunshine Beach and found better 2-3 foot fun conditions. Not ideal but I got out.
From there, we headed straight south to Burleigh Heads and stayed in a campground directly across from the beach. I have to say almost all of the campgrounds that we did stay in were awesome. This one was really clean, had a communal kitchen, game room, plenty of hot showers, etc. We stayed here for a few days. A lot of restaurants in easy walking distance. Again the surf wasn’t great but really fun 2 footers.
After Burleigh we stopped at Currumbin Alley, then Kirra then Snapper, then Byron Bay. There was nothing happening at any of these. Byron was so flat, there were groups of kayaks floating around the point. Still good to see these spots in person. From there we looked at the North Wall and spent the night in Yamba. The next day we looked at Angourie Point and decided to surf at Spooky Beach which is just around the corner. Later that day, I surfed at Arrawarra. After Arrawarra we went to Coffs Harbour where I got three days in a row in of three footers. From there, we looked at Crescent Head, Forsers, and Tuncurry. Again, wind was making a mess of things so we continued heading south and went straight to Seal Rocks. We climbed up to the lighthouse and on the way up, you get a view of a beach that is pretty remote. After seeing that, I grabbed my board and made my way down and had a great day in small waves at a beautiful beach in crystal clear water.
From there, we looked at McKenzie Beach, Broughlee, and finally stopped again at Potato Point. At Potato Point, there is a protected cove that had a very clean 4’ wave. Had a great morning session there. At Wilson Promontory I went out a place called Squeaky Beach. For whatever reason, the currents were really strong there and my session didn’t last long.
From there, we drove to Phillip Island where I went out at Woolamai. At Woolamai, the parking lot is probably 100’ or so above the water so you get a good view of the water. The waves were definitely the biggest that I had seen but for some reason, there weren’t many people out so I decided to paddle out. Long story short, I didn’t last long and I was glad to be back on solid ground.
After Woolamai, the next place I surfed was Portsea. Really nice 3-4’ conditions. Next was Breamlee with nice 3’ conditions and from there, we took a look at Lorne, Apollo Bay and finally Johanna. Unfortunately, the wind was once again making a complete mess of things.
After that, we headed back to Melbourne where I found a shop that purchased used boards. After talking with the owner, I ended up exchanging the board for merchandise. It worked out well for both of us.
This brought us to the end of our five weeks in AU. Only going down the coast like we did, you quickly realize, you’re only seeing a tiny fraction of the country. I would go back again in a heartbeat. I absolutely loved it. The people I met were unbelievably friendly and helpful. Most of the surfing spots weren’t happening and the wind was a problem but again the nice thing is that the coast is absolutely amazing. There’s a crazy number of coves, points and hidden gems. If things don’t look good at one spot, keep going and look at the next spot.
We had the van for about three weeks and the rental was about $2k. Gas was more expensive and we learned quickly that you don’t buy 6 packs of beer in liquor stores. Crazy expensive to what I’m used to. Wine, for whatever reason wasn't expensive and the local wine was good. Restaurants are more expensive but it all depends on how and what you want to eat. We cooked a lot.
Per the suggestions on this site, we ended up getting a SIM card for our phones at the airport. We went with Telstra for $30 for the month which gave us unlimited texts, calls and 20 gbs of data. Because of that, we used Google Maps for the full trip. Worked out great. Also, because of the cost, we didn’t get travel insurance and luckily we didn’t need it. That was quite the dilemma because if you do need it, it would probably be well worth it.
Just to finish my post, after AU, we flew to NZ for another five weeks. We were hoping to get another camper van but found that prices for the van (from what we saw) were more than double what we paid in AU. We ended up just getting a rental car and staying at various Airbnb’s, and motels. That actually worked out pretty well. My favorite part was just talking to the locals and asking a million questions. They had just as many questions for us. I got a huge kick out of the slang in both AU and NZ. Pretty entertaining to say the least. By the time we got to NZ, my wife was pretty much done watching me surf so we ended up doing a bunch of other adventures. The only place that I surfed in NZ was Whangamata. Small but really clean and fun.
We did a canyoneering trip with a company called Canyonz that was pretty incredible. Kayaked down the Kaituna river in Rotorua, took a 2 day mountain bike trip down the Timberline trail, visited the glaciers on the south island and did the obligatory bungee jump in Queensland. The north island was beautiful and the south island was spectacular. What a country. All I can say is that if you have a chance to go, you need to do it.
We did a canyoneering trip with a company called Canyonz that was pretty incredible. Kayaked down the Kaituna river in Rotorua, took a 2 day mountain bike trip down the Timberline trail, visited the glaciers on the south island and did the obligatory bungee jump in Queensland. The north island was beautiful and the south island was spectacular. What a country. All I can say is that if you have a chance to go, you need to do it.
Glad you got a chance to check out NZ! I lived there from this April to September as I got a short term transfer to Auckland. I personally butchered the pronunciation of the maori town names kept saying Wang-a-mata instead of the proper Fung-a-matt-ah
You're natively from AU though aren't you (Sunny coaster moved to Lennox area if I'm not mistaken?)
You guys that are born here take for granted sometimes what an amazing place it is just to visit.
As a visitor to Austalia and New Zealand a few times, they're both wonderful countries and the people most accommodating and friendly. Would enjoy going back to both places for a visit again. 
Guess I should add, went to Aussie in the mid 1960's. 20 years later, took a job in Rarotonga for a few years in the late 1980's. Boss was from New Zealand. Stayed with his family in Rotarua a few times and got to venture to Aussie again. Australia again in the late 1990's. Heaps of fun with Greg Noll Legends group from California and Hawaii.
Guess I should add, went to Aussie in the mid 1960's. 20 years later, took a job in Rarotonga for a few years in the late 1980's. Boss was from New Zealand. Stayed with his family in Rotarua a few times and got to venture to Aussie again. Australia again in the late 1990's. Heaps of fun with Greg Noll Legends group from California and Hawaii.
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