So on Thursday 8th July we jumped in the van up to Hunstanton for my first competition. Somehow we ended rocking up hunny at about 4am due to the insane amount of detours we had to do because of roads being closed! Thankful for a few hours shut-eye, we woke to a gorgeous friday morning on the beach.
The weather turned out to be a bit TOO hot and sunny on the friday, meaning none of the pro classes could be run due to distinct lack of breeze. It was good to spend the day catching up with everyone, seeing what they got up to over winter when I was gone.

After a day of trying out some demo SUPs and generally mucking about in the water, everyone was a bit sunned out and hit the sack quite early, ready for some Saturday action.

We woke to a slight breeze – significantly more than the day before but no where near enough to get out, riding upwind. However the classes had to be run and unfortunately the Amateur Ladies were the ones sent out straight after the juniors! My biggest tool was my 12.5 ion3 and after going out before my heat I knew I would be struggling to leave the floor, let alone trick! I was slightly unlucky as ther other 3 girls doing the Amateurs were between 13-16, half my height therefore a considerable amount lighter! We were all underpowered, I just needed that bit more than the other 3 in order to get some tricks down. However, I wanted experience in competition – that’s what I got! You have to learn to deal with any conditions you get for your heat – I definately wasn’t prepared for a super light wind one.

Sunday was when the wind decided to kick in, and they managed to run all the rest of the classes supposed to happen on the Friday and Saturday. Not needing to stick around for a heat, I got my hands on a 9m hadlow and went out to play. I was a bit wary of it  to begin with being a full on c kite when I was so used to bows, remembering my fear of my 2007 naish torch when i was learning to kitesurf! However  I loved how it handled and was amazed how much power for size the hadlows have. The feedback is so much more consistent than on my ions – with bows they always do what you tell them to, however don’t often tell you what theyre doing in return!

We had a long drive back down South so decided to disappear about 4pm on the Sunday.
All in all it was a fantastic weekend enjoyed by all! Well done to everyone who got involved with competing, see y’all at Barrow :)

It was that time of year again to pile in the van and head  down to Brittany for the Flexifoil meet with Mellow distribution. Dave and I jumped into the back of Will Mckean’s van and took the overnight ferry over to St Malo from Portsmouth. That was a harsh night! We were no way paying for cabins though.

After a rather long noisy night we arrived into St Malo which is about 2 hours drive from Quiberon ( if you don’t take a MASSIVE detour … ). We arrived to sunshine and a couple of guys already out riding. In no time at all everyone was out enjoying the lagoon lapping against our tent door at the campsite.

I hadn’t flown my 12.5 ion in 6 months so I was not overly keen to take the big monster out, however I forgot how much fun it is fully powered up!

A few days later and the Flexi RVs had turned up with a bunch of the Belgian and Dutch lot.

After that day we were slightly unlucky with the wind and weather .. the rain settled in and we had a few days chilling out, eating far too much amazing french food! It was great to catch up with everyone seeing what they’d been up to since the last meet in 2009. We got a sneaky peak at what new stuff would be coming out in the next few months to come, however didn’t manage to get out on the new ions on the water which was a shame!

Quiberon is always such a good trip as everyone is there to take a break and relax, the spot offers something for everyone. The campsite is on a peninsula sticking out into a butter flat lagoon, the campsite has heaps of open space for the buggiers to play on and the beach is only 5 mins away for some waves!

A big thank you to Pete at Mellow Distribution for sorting out another great week down in Brittany.

- no worries, the time is always Fiji time in the pacific.

Who needs to know the time over there? Fijians have much better things to do than worry about what the time is.

I reckon once you experience the pacific way of life, you never want to return to the madness of England – I certainly didn’t! Their way of life is so much simpler, happier and generally better!

I arrived into Nadi airport and thought I’d ask the tourist desk if they knew anything about the Safari Lodge. The bubbly Fijian with hibiscus flowers in her hair had a great response: ” Warren Francis? Oh he’s such a great guy! He’s very well known. You heading over there to kitesurf? You’ll have a fantastic time. Wind every day!” – enough to put a smile on anyone’s face.

We spent a couple of days chilling at Smugglers Cove hotel, enjoying the sunshine after a rather wet few weeks in south NZ.

Josie and I went seperate ways after 2 days, her going off on a tour of the Yasawa Islands and I to Nananu-i-ra. I waited in anticipation as to who was taking me over there and how so. In strolls another grinning Fijian, this time a grandfather from the North of the Island. He leads me to my transport up there, being a battered up van with all the windows popped out. I was thrown into the back with the grandson hitching a ride with gramps up to near where we were headed. I had to keep reminding myself that this was Fiji and who needs a shiny van for customer transport over here?

We reached the dock where I would be taking my next form of transport over to the island ..

A young lad jumped in with me, turned us around and off we went to the island. We passed reefs, sandbars, palm trees and fishing boats. Nevermind the wind, the scenery was breathtaking enough.

As we cruised into the wharf we were met by Paul who was ‘barman’ at the lodge, apparently on a placement during a Tourism Degree. Not bad ey! He led me through trees, up hills down hills round corners until we reached the lodge.

I took this picture from the kite launching area – two steps into the water and you’re riding across a flat water bay. Talk about heaven on your doorstep.

The 10 days merged into a total blur. Every day you wake to the wind blowing through your blinds, scrambling outside to find the turquoise blue water capping already. You stroll down to the verandah where there’s a buffet breakfast all laid out for you, complete with fresh fruit from the trees and other continental breakfast favourites.

Depending on the tide, you kite at the appropriate spot. For mid tide you can ride right from the entrance to the Lodge, until it gets too low when coral becomes a bit of an issue. For real flat water riding we headed out to the sandbar, which is literally in the middle of nowhere! We all piled into the little yellow boat one day and just headed for the horizon. After about 1/2 hour of motoring, you arrive at another reef, fringing a totally flat shallow sandy bit!

captures my mood nicely.

At the quiet time of year being May, there was simply nobody about apart from myself, Mac and Jaz who were instructing at the lodge for the season – heaven! Oh, forgetting the stingrays, reef sharks and giant turtles who regularly come along to spectate.

Knowing I could kite every day made such a difference when I wanted to learn new things, as I could build stuff up every time I went out. I learnt so much more in Fiji within 10 days than in 4 months in Australia, simply because the conditions were there constantly.

mac in the zone

After a full on day kiting, there’s nothing better to do than chillout with a beer looking over the day’s photos, chatting about what the next day will bring for each of us on the water.

I have a massive thank say to Warren and Steph for such a fantastic 10 days, sharing their hidden gem with me in the middle of the pacific. This place has so much potential for trips, events and I would love to organise a trip back there sometime in the next couple of years.

Warren, Steph and their brilliant crew really have something special set up out there, and it is still so undiscovered.

www.safarilodge.fj – take a peek, and drop Warren an email.

I can guarantee a fantastic week of wind, waves, sun, coconuts, Fiji gold beer and fantastic company.

If you want to get from North to South Island New Zealand, take the ferry! The way into Picton South Island is just awesome.

If a bit chillier than what we’re used to .. but hey at least the sun was shining!

It’s $50 each to get across the straits without a car .. and they don’t give you hassle for the amount of luggage you have – good times!

After so many problems with our Jucy car in Australia .. you would think we’d be idiots to go for them again. Yeah, we had one waiting for us in Christchurch. After a few sneaky phone calls to our good Jucy friends in Brisbane ( who we were now on first name terms with), reminding them of just how many problems we had over there .. we had a price slash off the van so we were sold!

To get out of Picton, there’s a train which takes about 5 hours down to Christchurch. That may seem a very dull prospect, but i couldn’t recommend it enough! it was awesome! You can sit outside in an open air carriage, watching the snowy mountains, vineyards, waves, seals and all sorts pass by.

Jucy Brucy round 2 worked out to be a great idea.. as I said before, you can be somewhere with no-one else about for miles and miles.

enjoying the sunset at the foot of Mount Cook at Lake Punkakiki

the view from our van – the best room with a view you can get!

We took Jucy Brucy round Lake Tekapo, Punakiki, before hitting Wanaka – one of the many Ski resorts here in the South. After seeing the snow sitting on the tops of mountains all round here .. temptation to stay for the ski season was crazy! Once we hit Queenstown, having no money to do any exciting activities like skydiving or bungying, we did a mish up to the Remarkables ski resort.

wheres the snow then ey? we wanted to play!

This place is full of so many hidden beauties, people would never know they existed unless they decide to climb up like us …

After a good 3 hours scrambling up the side of the mountain, we got to the top!

You don’t need to spend a fortune to see New Zealand from the top. Just get wrapped up, take some water and climb!

I’m getting a bit sentimental just sat here typing away about the place … you just need to see it for yourself to really appreciate the place! No matter how many times I say it’s amazing, its amazing, it’s amazing.. you gotta be there to experience it!

Driving along the motorway in the UK, the most you’re going to see is a few trees, HEAPS of development and far too many cars on the road. Would you come across somewhere so beautiful as this while driving at home?

This isn’t even an attraction to go see, just some random gorge that doesn’t even have a name on the map. The day I see that colour water in England, with not a piece of rubbish floating down it…!  

Our travels took us through Wanaka and Queenstown, down to Milford Sound. Every person we’d met had emphasised the importance of heading down to the ‘gorgeous amazing wonderful brilliant beautiful Milford Sound.’ We did the drive down there, only to find we couldn’t see a damn thing because it rained so so much!!

It would have been a great trip down … if we could have seen something other than greyness!

The rest of our west coast experience consisted of the same rain, wet, mist, cold .. unable to see a thing! We tried to see the Fox and Franz Joseph glaciers .. it certainly felt like we were near ice .. just couldn’t damn see it!

After a few days of being sat in the van in miserable weather, enough was enough and we drove back to Christchurch.

 Only a few more days and we’ll be ripping up Fiji!! Excitement is an understatement!! I’m missing tropical climate a bit down here.

From New Zealand I say Kia Ora!

Since being on the move, it’s been difficult to get on here to update! So I’m afraid New Zealand is going into 2 giant posts.

On the 4th April I was lucky enough to be heading up to spend a week up in the Northland with family friends.

We had a cottage with this for a front garden! Fantastic.

From this week I have been completely sold on living in New Zealand. To put things into perspective, there are 4 million people living in New Zealand, while 4 million people live in London alone. There is just so much space here! So little development but so many hidden beauties like this natural harbour we found ..

Theres no doubt that New Zealand is for outdoorsy types. That is the beauty of the place! So much to explore that just seems so untouched since the beginning of time. The harbour also provided some good inlets for wakeboarding.

Before the europeans settled here, the indigenous New Zealanders (Maoris) had a set of beliefs about the land. It should not be used for resources, built on, and left in it’s natural state – hence why theres heaps of national parks here! Think England, but a fraction of the people, 10 times more wildlife, and a far more dramatic scenery.

One morning the wind was funnelling into the beach up in Taupo, however after pumping up the 12 it decided to go BANG! What bad timing ey! That was the end of my kiting in New Zealand :( up here was the only place you didnt need a full on wetsuit .. snow was waiting for us down south!

With kiting off the agenda I was keen to explore some more of the Northland, so jumped in a car and headed north. I have never seen such stunning beaches in my life! What’s more, there wasn’t a soul on them!

I was SO gutted I wouldn’t be kiting until Fiji, but hey.. that’s how it goes! The primary reason of travelling was to explore and experience new things, and if kiting wasn’t going to happen then it wasn’t the end of the world.

 After an incredible week up in the Northland, it was time to head South. Having previously decided we were terrible backpackers, having never stayed in a hostel OR taken public transport, we took the Naked Bus over to Rotorua, down to Taupo and Wellington. Naked Bus was the cheapest form of transport to get there, so we weren’t complaining!

Very quickly after a couple of bus runs, this form of transport definately wasn’t for me. They sting you for carrying an extra bag of gear onto the bus, it was so much slower and unreliable! Not to mention the couple of breakdowns on the highway!

rotorua - the geothermal lakeside village. Stank a treat!

Lake Taupo - before heading down to Hot Springs for a bathe

Huka Falls - powering 1/3 of New Zealand's electricity

Time in the North Island gave us an insight into the Maori culture that is integrated into society, which I think is awesome! They would re-tell Maori legends, show off their art, teach tourists their language and generally share their beliefs with us. I am normally so anti – history as it’s so damn boring to know about the past, but these people had me intrigued! English society is  all about who has what money from what source, whether it be new money or old. There is so much more to where you live, what school you went to, what car you drive .. people at home really need to look outside the box of materialism! 

We’re in Wellington now at the bottom of North Island, ready to take the ferry across the Cook Strait to Picton tomorrow morning! Can’t wait to see the South Island, everyone has done nothing but talk in awe about it.

A bit scared of the cold though! We have snow waiting for us!

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