Nelson, top of south island. Tahunanui beach close to the town centre. No waves but you can get a few extra knots out in the channel and it can really crank in the souths. Not kited there since 03 but guess it's still allowed. Take a wettie. Also, the alpine lakes around queenstown and wanaka are, apparently, riden on infrequently. I've always wanted to get out there for some fresh water fun. This dry-suit territory.
Not sure about north island. Enjoy.
Mount Manganui/Tauranga - Ferguson Park ( shallow and tidal) for flat water or Tay St and Papamoa Beach for waves.
Maketu for flat water and waves.
Orewa Beach north of Auckland.
All good spots. The wind can be fickle in NZ but there are plenty of other places to chose, depending on wind direction.
hi there, mt manunganui is great spot, u can try Raglan and spots around Mt Taranaki at west coast.
but south island is aswell really good, we r living at Blenheim and kiting almost every day at Wairau bar in the river mouth...its nice spot with lot of windy days, flat water or waves at ocean...u can look at kiting photos from last weeks at http://www.kgb.7x.cz/new-zealand-2008-09 pages r in czech language but u dont need to learn it to be able to browse pics :))
ALOHA
Yeah heaps of places & setups on the North Island. I had a few nice session at Mount Maunganui over Christmas, & the Taranaki is epic for its wind & waves. Never sailed around Auckland, but I hear it has its days.
If you want pretty much guaranteed wind you can certainly come down to Wellington. One of the windiest cities in the world & you can get out on average 4 out of 7 days here. Both wave & flat water spots anything from a 10 minute to an hours drive from the city center plus a friendly bunch of kiters. Just pack a small kite ![]()
Taranaki or Raglan (to the north)
Everything else in north island is too light or marginal or sketchy (Wellington) to bother with.
raglan is epic.6knots of current on the outgoing tide.lagoons of glass and big gnarly waves on the bar.friendly kiting locals just dont snake on the points if you surf