타우랑가의 서핑, 카이트서핑, 스쿠버다이빙 업체 정보

Surfing, Kite Surfing, Stand-Up Paddle Boarding (SUP)
If you want to try your hand at surfing, there are few better spots than the surfing mecca of Mount Maunganui – where the waves are a lot kinder than the wild West Coast.  

 

Mount surf spots are mainly beach breaks that offer two to four foot ‘fun surf’ on the average summer day. Apart from the odd week when a tropical cyclone pumps some big groundswell and brings the shortboarders out, it’s ‘mini-mal’ or longboard territory – the longer boards that best suit smaller surf.  Body boarders, or boogie boarders are in their element.

 

Sadly, the artificial reef is more a curiosity than anything else, as it seldom provides the sort of surfable waves its designers hoped for.  Body Boarders use it more than surfers. As with most sports, you’ll get an enormous head start in surfing if you get professional lessons. 

 

New Zealand Surf School:  Run by Jim Hoare and Erica Gilbert is nearly 10 years old and their instructors are NZ Surfing certified.  They charge $70 for 2 hours, or $40 for one hour, and use soft top boards, good for learners. You can also organise private lessons, and they specialise in lessons for disabled and those with special needs. The school is set up under branded marquees Main Beach and at Tay Street with group lessons held at 10am, 12 noon and 2 pm. Tel 021-477 873. Website: www.nzsurfschools.co.nz

 

Rebecca Taylor at Hibiscus Surf School is another professionally-qualified instructor with 7 years  teaching experience. The charge is $80 for 2 hour group lessons (8am, 10am and 2pm), and HSS also offers private lessons. (Free one hour board and wetsuit hire after every lesson). Hibiscus also offers two and five day intensive surf clinics, designed to get your surfing on a fast track. They also lead surf trips as far afield as Bali! The school can be found under a marquee at Main Beach Mount Maunganui, where they also rent all sorts of boards, including stand up paddle boards. Gift vouchers available. Tel 575-3792 or 027-2799 687, www.surfschool.co.nz

 

Mount Surf Shop is the only surf store at the Mount that runs its own surf school with qualified instructors, and its lessons are the cheapest, at $60 for 2 hours. It’s close to the beach at the northern end of the downtown shops. You get a free lesson if you buy a board, and they also offer ‘buy back’ deals to suit backpackers and other travellers, who are going to be using their board for only a few weeks, or months. This well-run shop at 96 Maunganui Road (with a second outlet store in Tuatara Street – and Surf Museum!) will kit you out with everything you need, from long or short boards and stand-up paddle boards, to wax and wetsuits. Tel 575 9133, www.mountsurfshop.co.nz

 

Also close to Main Beach at the Mount is Backdoor (in the old Assault store) at 24 Pacific Ave. They hire surfboards, wetsuits, body boards and wakeboards. They also have demo boards.  Tel 575 7831, www.backdoor.co.nz

 

Kite Surfing (카이트 서핑)
Wind & Sea Kiteboarding Centre: tel 021-212 1152, www.windandsea.co.nz .You want real thrills? The Centre provides lessons for beginners to advanced riders, with fully qualified, AKO (International Kite -rated instructors Jesse Tuck and Jasmin Alder, who have a combined 17 years of riding behind them. The Centre is a mobile van, and the pair provide all equipment and the ‘the best and safest’ instruction to get you up and riding in 4 to 5 hours. Beginner and intermediate courses cost from $400 per person. Tauranga is made for kiteboarding, with lots of safe spots – knee to waist deep water with sandy bottoms. 

 

Assault Kiteboarding Centre: tel 027- 245 7540, www.assault.co.nz is a mobile bus providing specialist school equipment and qualified instructors (IKO rated). AKC is run by Glen and Wendy Bright, local kite surfing pioneers who owned the huge Assault surf shop. AKC charge $100 an hour, equipment included, with a four-session programme that begins on land with a first session focused on safety. The operation includes an inflatable boat to transport clients from to and from sand bar and beach locations to suit wind and tide conditions. The boat is always on hand for support if needed. 

 

Stand Up Paddle Boarding
Aloha Suping:  The only local operator providing lessons and board hire solely for stand up paddle boarding,  is based at Pilot Bay, tel 022-43 44 584. Olivia Novak has four years of SUP experience and provides the very user-friendly Starboard brand of paddle board, with a range of boards and paddles to cater for all ages and sizes. Boards are $15 a half hour, or $25 an hour, and they also hire by the day. The calm harbour waters are a great place to try the sport and get your balance, without waves coming at you.

If you’re keen to test drive a stand up board, try Quiver Boardshop at 37 Totara Street, tel 575-6070. They are the Western Bay’s only stockist of the superb, Hawaiian-designed C4 brand. The models you can test drive range from sleek, ocean-going 12 and 14 footers, to short wave models (they also serve excellent cheap coffees!).  Mount Surf Shop also have a range of well-known Naish, Surftech NSP and other SUP’s for hire. Demo boards are available for $40 an hour, the same price as a rental board.

If you’re an out of town paddler and fancy a run with very clued-up locals, get in touch with Brent Devcich at SUPTauranga (http://suptauragna.blogspot.com). The ‘Cruising Club’ hold regular harbour and river paddle-fests.  Photo courtesy Cruising Club

 

Diving (스쿠버 다이빙)
The Tauranga area has a huge number of dive sites that some say rival the Poor Knights Islands up north. From offshore islands, to submerged pinnacles that rise from the deep, the Bay of Plenty’s underwater terrain is heaven – drawing scuba divers, free divers, snorkelers and spear fishers from all over the country. Among the more well-known spots are Motiti Island and Mayor Island, but some smaller sites offer awesome visibility and fantastic terrain for aquatic sports people of all levels.

Two long-running dive businesses offer instruction and a range of trips.  

 

Earth2Ocean:  50 Cross Road, Sulphur Point, tel 571-5286, www.earth2ocean.co.nz
One of the biggest, longest-running operators on the local dive scene. Earth2Ocean, the 'diver's choice,' offers SSI (Scuba Schools International) PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors) and NAUI (National Association of Underwater Instructors) diver training, and also offers reliable, friendly dive trips. E2O operates the dive boat Aluminator from the centre, with custom charters seven days a week in summer. The centre is also a full retail store selling all the masks, fins, and other dive bits you'll ever need, and a service centre (including air and Nitrox fills). The centre is minutes from downtown Tauranga, and handily sited 200 metres from one of Tauranga’s biggest boat-launching ramps, just around the corner.

 

Dive HQ Tauranga: 213 Cameron Road, Tauranga, tel 578 4050, www.divehqtauranga.co.nz
This long-running diving store is also a training facility with its own 4.5 metre heated training pool, equipment hire, tank testing and air fills. Dive HQ is an approved training site and PADI Five Star Career Development Centre. Training is carried out at popular spots including Motiti Island, Mercury Islands, Lake Rotoma and Lake Taupo. Dive HQ also runs regular trips to local dive sites, guided by instructors if needed. The HQ is on Cameron Road near the downtown with off street parking for customers. The shop stocks Scubapro and Uwatec equipment.

Kayaking (카약킹)
Adventure Bay of Plenty: 0800-238 267, www.adventurebop.co.nz
ABP specialises in ‘unique outdoor adventure activities for small groups.’ Popular tours include Mount Manganui Marvel – a paddle out through the spectacular harbour entrance around Mauao (the peak) to Main Beach at Mount Maunganui. The $85 trip takes 2-3 hours. The Matakana Extravaganza aims to provide some insight into the lives of the locals who live on the island, a half hour’s paddle across the harbour entrance. Activities include a horse-drawn carriage ride or horse trek, and the 4-5 trip costs $180. 

 

Waimarino Adventure Park: tel 576 4233, www.waimarino.com.  The park is based on the Wairoa River just north of Bethlehem, but their Sea Kayak Tour ($120 per person) takes paddlers to explore the wildlife surrounding the harbour. ‘Paddle past old Maori pa sites above the majestic white cliffs of Motuhoa Island. See the sights of Te Puna as you explore the waterways developed by the old Maori taniwha Te Pura and Poripori.’