March 28th 2023: New Brighton

This past weekend we headed to New Brighton, Christchurch, for The Duke Festival of Surfing. The forecast was pretty dire with a 0.5m swell in the forecast. Coupled with onshore winds the first few days were pretty dismal surf wise. The great redeemer came on Sunday when the swell seemed to jack a fair bit and was groomed by a clean offshore. That was finals day and the waves were really a lot of fun.

New Brighton has kind of grown on me over the years. The gigantic pier that pokes 300m out into the South Pacific Ocean is an incredible bit of engineering and really connects all manner of people with the ocean environment. It sits 7m above the high tide mark and is the perfect jump off point when the swells get huge like they did this time last year. Though the council has banned jumping.

The pier also offers a cool angle for surf photography and you can often find local surf photography master Warren Hawke capturing all the magic from a spot up there. The pier itself also makes a pretty cool subject with flocks of camera-wielding photographers working the angles at sunrise and sunset.

The town itself still bears the scars from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, but new energy and vibrance is starting to sprout. Take The Burger Joint for example – you'd be hard-pressed to find a better fuel after a hard day of surfing. And they sell a bunch of boutique beers that our vey own Richard Emerson would approve of.

The market day is also a pretty cool highlight and worth planing a visit around. The local baristas make very good coffee with the beach carts and Switch being my go to caffeine stops. The pools were closed for maintenance this time around, but they're really worth a lazy bathe (and a coldwater plunge for the brave), but book ahead – getting a slot is tricky.

Offshore winds blow from the west and any swell with southeast to north in it will find its way in. When the conditions align the surf is way better than you could possibly imagine. Besides, where else in New Zealand can you shoot the pier? Good luck!

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS We're excited to announce that we have a new partner here at Box of Light! Dive Otago has come aboard and we couldn't be happier to have them complement our journey. Not only is Dive Otago New Zealand's leading dive education facility (earning Padi's 5-star status), they have also provided the best dive equipment to divers and spearos for more than 20 years from their 2 Wharf Street dive shop address here in Dunedin. If you haven't met the team at Dive Otago yet, then pop in and say hello. They offer traning for all levels and the team is so friendly and welcoming that you will feel like part of the family in no time. As you can imagine, they love the ocean just as much as we do. And that's why we are so excited about this partnership and all the adventures and deep insights of our coastline that are to come ... stay tuned.