Okay, so Dunedin doesn't really have a West Coast, but if it did it would be Big Bay. I've contemplated a mission into this part of the West Coast for more than 20 years. I say mission because it's a two-day hike in and there isn't much there apart from stunning wilderness, sandflies and crayfish.
My luck changed last week when we were invited by Heli Tours in Queenstown to take the chopper in for a day of surf. So the mission I intended turned out to be as simple as any surf trip: three hours to Queenstown by car and then half an hour over the Southern Alps and we were standing on a rocky beach watching a wave called Orchards peel off in front of us. We were in the water by 7am!
Showing us around the place were a bunch of top Kiwi surfers including Jason Searle, Tim Searing, Reon Morland and John Klevstul along with Aussie surfers Paul Roach and Dallas Hewett. Our day in the bay was perfect – even the small swell produced great waves (and we heard all about the other waves in the area on a good swell), but it was the beauty of the area that blew us away. The perfectly still, blue sky day saw us surf two different spots, catch crayfish for dinner, kina for lunch and we got to surf with bottlenose dolphins and saw Hector's dolphins in the shallows.
The half hour flight back across the Southern Alps was spectacular and our pilot, Paul Mitchell, kept us informed as to each and every snow-capped peak, glacier and lake en route.
Returning to Dunedin late last week we were greeted by another great swell and warm, summery conditions at all of our familiar breaks. We may have fallen in love with Big Bay, but the Dunedin breaks continue to serve up the quality – maybe now it's just a matter of keeping one eye on our very own West Coast. I know I will be back there ...
Only two more weeks before the Xmas break now, so skive off and hit the beach. See you there ...
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