moving to Gisborne
Submitted by Jammers on Fri, 2010-04-23 00:41.
Not sure if this is the right forum but here goes: Myself and my girlfriend are moving to Gisborne from Ireland for me to start teaching; I will be out by the end of next week and my girlfriend at the start of July. We are both into kayaking, with my girlfriend especially keen on playboating. If anyone has any info / links on playspots within a reasonable distance of Gisborne that would be great along with any other info that would be much appreciated, such as kayak shops etc. |Cheers,
James Van den Broek
jammersworld.net
Scott...excellent and thanks for the message-We will definately be looking for a local or 2 to go paddle some local rivers-my girlfriend who is a keen paddler also arrives at the end of June. We are both still waiting for our creek boats etc to arrive in Gisborne-we freighted them out a few weeks ago-when they arrive we will be looking for some river paddling, in the meantime the surf is good! Cheers,James
so james your in my neck of te woods now, if I dont run into you in the surf at wainui first get back to me if you want to paddle local rivers, I have been paddling all around gisborne for ever and keen to get out there. Scott
Cheers Guys...just gotta wait for my creek boat to arrive from Ireland. In the meantime as you say the surf seems to be always up! James
yeah i think the slides have been paddled, but not the falls? (might be wrong) - 12m and look good to go with rain. theres quite a few waterfalls around that area so if youve got a topo map and some time its worth a mission to find them.
but, saying that, you still can beat the gizzy surf - some of the best in the country. maz & jay quinn and bobby hansen (top nz and world ranked surfers) are from there
Haha there probably wouldn't be much glory in sliding down there in your boat, when the local kids are surfing down it in roasting dishes.
Great place to go and hang out on a sunny day in summer though.
You have probably found out about the Motu/Mohaka/Waikaretaheke. There are a few good rivers reasonably near Gizzy!
Cheers for the info guys...I have just gotten wheels and a second hand boat so will be able to check some stuff out..As an aside does anyone know if the Rere Falls and Slides I have heard about about 50km from Gisborne are ever paddled?
Cheer, James
if its raining hard, head to te reinga falls inland from wairoa - on the way to the ruakituri, at the end of the falls gorge theres a massive waves that forms and is likely at this stage unridden cause i havent been bothered to go find it when its flowing! should be sweet - theres good playwaves etc on the wairoa when its flooded too...but yeah if youre in gizzy, bring over a surf boat! just dont drop in on anyone or be prepared for some physical consequences haha - staunch localism but all ok if you play by the rules (same with most places in NZ)
You might be out of luck for playspots around gissy. Best bet is the Ruakituri inland of Wairoa when it's high maybe (which doesn't happen often) or the surf which gets pretty good pretty often - watch out for the local surfers though, I imagine they are not super positive towards kayakers as you are in one of the surf meccas of NZ. Or drive to the Kaituna (4 hours). Chur.