It does it lots & lots billboard....was living at Whangarei for a while & when ever it said 3 metre swell or bigger would jump into the EH Holden station wagon & get there. That pic is of the first break at Ahipara. Generally speaking the further you drive around the headland the bigger it gets.
Amazing when its all linking up coz your on one section & then there's another...& another...& another...etc
Heaps of sand hills further around...you half expect a camel to come trotting over them.
Quite isolated once you get further around.
The funniest sight I saw there was this dude in a suit carrying a briefcase walking along the beach in the middle of nowhere ??
Yep Billboard its a sweet wave - you almost had me there until I realised that the spelling was incorrect - but its not your fault!! I was always a fan of that part of the wave myself.....we used to camp behind the dunes there in the good old days. It was great as when Raglan got to 8ft you knew it was time to jump in the car and head north as the next day it would be pumping in at Shippies. An old school friend of mine grew up Bluehouse - the old farm house at the end of the peninsular and where the waves first break. Awesome spot.
As Gizzie says it does break pretty often but the sad thing is that its very predictable so half of the country turns up. Supertubes and Pines are also good breaks on their day. It really reminds me of Nossa in reverse - the further you head out around the points the bigger it gets......If Shippies is waist high you know it will be smoking around the corner.....when its overhead at Shippies you need to make sure you have packed yourself a big board as the it will be big with loads of water moving around the corner!!
Here is the trailer for a video a good mate of mine made about 6 yrs ago. Some old footage now but you will see some of the north islands left hand breaks....lots of them!!! Shippies is in there as well. The chick singing is the little sister of one of our other mates. Top voice.
Desert Point is another incredible setup and although I have never been there its been described as the best left in the world. That place in Kiwi looks fun.