En Zed

Blake Thornton / April 01

Aahhhhh New Zealand. Our friends across the Tasman. We have gone to war together, were both discovered by the same explorer and our inhabitants love a good beer. I have only ever been there once before and it was about 6 years ago, and since that time I have always found myself asking why haven’t I gone back sooner? The place is beautiful and a mere three hour flight away which is quicker then flying to Perth. Plus it’s cheap with the strength of our towering Aussie dollar at the moment. Traveling as a professional surfer has always been fun but now that you’re getting a whole lot more for your buck everywhere you go, it’s glorious.

From Auckland airport it was a seven hour drive to our home for the week at Gisborne on the east coast of the north island. Now I’m a huge Lord of the Rings fan and all you fellow fans out there you are going to be jealous as it felt like I pretty much drove through the shire during the drive, crossing the fields of Rohan and on through the beautiful hills of Rivendell. The drive was spectacular and the scenery magnificent, which made a usually torturous length of time in a car an absolute pleasure.

The reason for my visit was for the first event on the O’Neill Coldwater Classic calendar. The event attracted some pretty big names and the waves were pretty good. I have had some good success in the past in these particular meets and after my first heat I felt as if this could be my event. Sure enough those thoughts were soon dashed as I was eliminated in equal 25th by a mere 0.03 which was heartbreaking to say the least. At least another Aussie went on to win, good mate and fellow South Sydney supporter Adam Melling.

The weather was pretty lousy for the whole event which was a bit of a shame, but we soon caught wind of a nearby attraction that enjoyed the rain – a natural rockslide. You may be thinking what’s that? Well, it’s basically a water slide down a flat rock face. We wasted no time and got our hands on a body board ( I don’t condone bodyboarding by the way but for the sake of a bit of fun we jumped on). The result was a good bit of fun mixed with a little carnage including one very bruised ass cheek of mine from clipping a rock, but all in all pretty safe considering… check the vid below, you’ll see as the confidence grew we tried to step it up!

I was pretty active with the Casio camera this trip and have attached a bunch of photos to showcase the place. The waves are pretty good and some secret little setups await, like the photo of the island where you can let your imagination do the work. The beaches are lined with tree parts from the nearby timber mill, which adds a weird beauty to the beaches. The people are lovely and happy to help, the sheep are everywhere so what more could you want, really????