Ratter Hakka
For those who haven't been or are planning on going I'd highly recommend it for relatively empty waves and absolutely stunning scenery. After the initial cost of the flight you can pretty much live out there for a pittance as its almost 3 NZ $ to the pound.
So after a gruelling 36 hours travelling with 3 planes being boarded I arrived in Christchurch on the South Island on the 23rd of December. Basically my itinery was to stay with my mate (Pete) and fiancé (Jo) for two weeks before heading on to the north island and the infamous Raglan.
"You should have been here yesterday" were the first words echoed to me by a guy in a surf shop as I hastily had to buy a full summer suit due to the awful summer they were having! 
The water temperature was around 5 degree's colder than it should be and the trusty shorty I'd used out there the at same time, 3 years prior would only keep me warm for about 5 minutes. So I was already spending 100 quid more than I'd expected on a new full summer wetty...
I asked what the surf was doing and basically got told I'd have to drive for an hour and a half before finding any. Knocked it on the head and bought a which ended up being my bible for the whole holiday!
I gotta hand it to the guys who put this book together, it rocks! - it tells you locations, swell direction, wind direction, stoke factor, sharky waters, seals and covers 400+ places to surf. Thing is with the Kiwi's is that they're really spoilt by populations, so there's always relatively empty lineups. A book like this just wouldn't be as detailed anywhere else. Even better was its super small so not as cumbersome as some surf books.
Christmas day consisted of me getting up at 7am and heading to New Brighton beach.
Not much swell around and the only reason I went in was there was a couple of long boarders and a couple of surf rescue guys out. Was a measly 1 foot and from that day on I promised myself that if I went in, all I had to do was catch a minimum of three waves and only then could I get out of the water.
Christmas day was spent in the back garden of my mates uncle's friend's house (who were pretty loaded - being the only cancer specialist in the South Island). Tennis court/swimming pool in the back garden coupled with beer, bubbly, broken cloud and no sun tan lotion ended with Ratter burnt to a crisp on Christmas day!
Due to the ozone layer being so thin, even cloudy weather can result in serious sunburn. I managed to burn my scalp and my nose is still peeling three weeks later! Don't get yourself a number one before going out there, scalp burns bloody hurt!
Boxing Day we headed round to Bank's Peninsula near Akaroa and onto Hickory Bay.
Stunning views and massive scenery! It's really one thing you'll notice about NZ, scenery, scenery and more scenery!Apparently this placed picked up even the smallest whiff of swell.
After a precarious drive through the mist I was blessed with clean 3-4ft glassy surf in perfect blue waters, surrounded by mountains not too dissimilar to Wales. A home from home!
There were only about 10 people and this fella came in to show everyone exactly how it was done. He cruised the inside section and then as he was going back out jumped out of the water around 10 feet in front of me. Scared the sh*t out of me I can tell you.
NZ isn't really known for its sharks, there are few sightings now and again but it's never entirely out of your mind.
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