Surfing North Island NZ Peak Season and Campervan Rules Help!

dylza's picture
dylza started the topic in Monday, 1 Jan 2018 at 9:37pm

Hey I would love some input on this from those who have done it - esp in peak season...
Renting a campervan out of Auckland in early Feb. I'm told they are toey with where you park them overnight.

If we plan where we head to at short notice (depending on swell conditions of course) will we have trouble finding a spot - or do we have to make an itenarary now and book in advance - which to me entirely defeats the purpose of having one.

Are they really gonna bang on your door in the middle of the night if you are in the 'wrong' spot?

Thanks!

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Saturday, 13 Jan 2018 at 5:36am

Boiling Pot is that rare? So I should consider myself stupidly fortunate to have surfed it shoulder high with one friendly local, the two of us sharing waves for 1.5hr.

I'm still struggling with your other mystery right point - living on the North Island since 2001, driving all over the place, and being a right point tragic. NZ gets good, but I've never surfed anywhere as good as Lennox or JBay.

eat-your-vegies's picture
eat-your-vegies's picture
eat-your-vegies Saturday, 13 Jan 2018 at 3:23pm

Whangamata is the only right hander in NZ. Good luck getting that un crowded , in fact good luck getting a wave at all . Lol

inzider's picture
inzider's picture
inzider Saturday, 13 Jan 2018 at 4:26pm

Hahahahahawhanagamata
When it's on its really on but can be a long time between drinks.

Sheepdog's picture
Sheepdog's picture
Sheepdog Saturday, 13 Jan 2018 at 10:53pm

Pooman, no...... the novelty right is up Coromandel way.... That's all I'm willing to say. lol

poo-man's picture
poo-man's picture
poo-man Sunday, 14 Jan 2018 at 7:14am

Ok so it's either the inside of the Coro which can get good on a big north swell or it's the point where all the dead people are buried.....I've had that once too and yep world class but about one day every 3 years. Maybe a bit more than that but pretty hard to get it on. Am i right?

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 7:24am

Sheepdog, I've finally gotten my thick head around what place you're talking about. It's been on the list for a long time, but I never knew that it got THAT good. Excellent to hear.

There's a few other waves in the general area that look interesting, and I've got time off in April, so it could be time for a right point roadie.

Sheepdog's picture
Sheepdog's picture
Sheepdog Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 7:47pm

poo man.... I'm pretty sure Stu once posted a vid of the novelty right... Cyclone Pam rings a bell..

Island Bay.... Just check the map.... Any point with a set up like that is bound to get good. Needs a good swell to show its all, though.

Gary G's picture
Gary G's picture
Gary G Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 9:29pm

Gary feels like he's lurked around the novelty right before and vaguely remembers it showing up in a vid posted on these pages. If it's the one he's thinking about, could one get a delicious pizza almost immediately after exiting the water, if that was one's thing?

Gary is very keen to get back to NZ for some faceys.

Sheepdog's picture
Sheepdog's picture
Sheepdog Monday, 15 Jan 2018 at 11:48pm

Well, Gary..... Was the pizza guy named Luke? bahahahaha

Gary G's picture
Gary G's picture
Gary G Tuesday, 16 Jan 2018 at 9:29am

You know it, Sheepy!

Gary G's picture
Gary G's picture
Gary G Tuesday, 16 Jan 2018 at 9:52am

So did Gary correctly guess the novelty spot?

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Tuesday, 16 Jan 2018 at 3:18pm

Are you guys still discussing Vanuatu ?

Sheepdog's picture
Sheepdog's picture
Sheepdog Tuesday, 16 Jan 2018 at 4:38pm

Gary gets the Gold stamp bahahahahahaha.

And Blowin, no..... We're chatting about somewhere that has wifi, bitumen roads, pro surfers and ding repairers.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Tuesday, 16 Jan 2018 at 5:22pm

Well played , Sheepy.

shoredump's picture
shoredump's picture
shoredump Saturday, 15 Dec 2018 at 7:55am

If ever you wanted to do the campervan thing but you prefer not to pay, there is a way to do it that doesn’t involve violence and balaclavas. Campervan companies have offices all over our country and others, but only a set fleet number. Sometimes their bookings balloon in different cities at different times. They need people to drive the vehicles from A to B at a fraction of the cost. Like $5 a day for a normally $400 delux 6 berth near new camper. The only catch is you can be a little limited with days. I’ve done it before from Christchurch to Auckland and it works just as you would hope. They paid for the $600 ferry as well. All you pay is fuel, which isn’t that much more than a car. You could realistically do a lap of Oz linking up a a dozen of them if you were keen. The link below gives you an idea, it’s the company I booked through, but when I handed in the keys the lady said to contact them direct next time, to negotiate more days. Im in talks now with a couple companies. I’m planning a South Oz one in a couple weeks and a NZ South Island one in December. Have a look if you’re interested, it’s the best travel hack ever I reckon.

https://www.imoova.com/

EDIT

Here’s my South Island $5 a day bed I’m currently enjoying

https://imgur.com/gallery/Nx7boVW