New Zealand
You don’t need to leave New Zealand to have an adventure. Explore the backyard with our featured stories on some of New Zealand’s best surf towns and coastlines.
A group of Southern surfers chase a record-breaking swell as it lines up a remote reef break buried deep in the Catlins. What transpires has it all: blood, guts, an inhospitable peak and the rise of a new talent in big-wave surfing. New Zealand Surf Journal takes you inside one......
Surf photographers go to extraordinary lengths to capture our waves and those who surf them. One of New Zealand’s finest even employs SAS-level training and wears a specially made sniper suit to roam the coastline completely undetected. He does it to capture line-ups that you’ll never find. He makes sure......
The February swell that swept into the East Coast and drifted south made a direct hit on Gisborne. The wonky, wobbly swell hit with such intensity that only few breaks could properly handle the volume of water moving around. The unusual easterly swell direction added to the confusion. But if......
A swarm of tropical cyclones swirled through the Pacific in the first half of February. As they dissipated they tracked south east and got trapped off the East Coast by a blocking high over New Zealand. That scenario created the perfect long range and sustained swell engine for the East......
Filmmaker Jono Smit and pro surfer Elliot Paerata-Reid team up for a Catlins strike mission only to have the rug pulled out from under them as the weather bomb flushes up the Tasman at the last minute. In an opportunistic stroke of madness they give chase along the West Coast......
Chasing waves on Enderby Island starts with getting to know the locals. They’re furry and blanket the place like lolling beach bums of the south. A little respect (and a lot of patience) will go a long way in this remote part of the Southern Ocean perched on the western......
Finding new waves on planet earth these days is a pretty tough ask. Sure the odd slab might be unearthed here and there, but the goalposts are well out on any significant discoveries. Especially here in New Zealand. So when I was given the chance to join an expedition voyage......
A classic film that follows the unscripted adventures of Jono Smit as he explores our southern coastline during the winter of 2015. “The idea behind all of this was to document winter through my eyes,” explains Jono Smit. “The road trips, the cold weather, the people.” “There are no pro......
The South Seas Revised Edition features the work of some of the best photographers in New Zealand. These are combined with short pithy stories that offer a glimpse into our favourite beaches, surf history and characters of New Zealand’s surf culture. The South Seas Revised Edition came out of the......
From discussions with artistic souls, cross-stepping wave sliders, neck-tattooed lip-launchers and salty old sea dogs there’s something for everyone in NZ Surf: The Collection Vol.1. Drawing from a range of historical and recent material, and from a variety of contributors, this volume directed by Warren Hawke, is an open-hearted sweep......