SURF WAIRARAPA SURFING
Taranaki The New Zealand Surf Capital
New Zealand Surf Introduction
Surf
Wairarapa Surfing
There are lots of unridden waves over the hill from Wellington in
the Wairarapa region. You just need your surfboard, a tent, Excellent
mates and the desire to foot it around this rugged coast to nail
the best waves. The access roads are mainly loose gravel, and the
weather is notoriously changeable, but the rewards are found in
consistently big waves.
The excitement begins at Palliser Bay , Lake Ferry or Ning Nong
Point and Ning Nong Reef (64 kms from Featherston). These spots
have an assortment of reef and beach breaks which produce Excellent
waves on all tides, and are rated by some locals as the best surfing
locations in the Wellington region. Surfers can enjoy big south
swells along this coast to Cape Palliser but be wary of undertows
and consult with locals where you can.
White Rock (48 kms from Martinborough) is widely acclaimed as a
big’ wave location a scaled down New Zealand equivalent of
Hawaii’s Sunset Beach. It has the heaviest surf conditions
on this coast but provides you with a range of left and right-hand
reef and beach breaks on all tides. South of the road end is The
Spit, which works well on an incoming tide producing waves that
can satisfy the most discerning surf junkies.
Tora is up the coast from White Rock and provides Excellent competition
for the big wave title. The main breaks are called Stix, Bombora,
The Point and Shipwreck. These are all reef breaks pouring over
shallow rock shelves and boulder banks and thus warrant a healthy
respect !.
Riversdale (56 kms east of Masterton) offers good fun breaks and
are rated for fun rather than heavy. Castlepoint (69 kms east of
Masterton) offers outstanding beach breaks coming off a series of
sandbanks and is considered by most to be a top class surfing spot.
The Reef, The Gap and Christmas Bay are the three best breaks, all
being powerful and fast in heavy groundswell conditions.