I'm currently in the USA but might be taking a job working at the geothermal power plants in Taupo/Wairakei. Are there any riders around the Lake? Decent place to live otherwise, city, nightlife, cost of living, girls etc.? I currently have an '04 SXR and an '02 Ultra 150 (bitch ski). Mostly been doing flat water "freestyle" riding if you can call subs and nosestabs that with the occasional surf ride. I'll probably sell my skis before leaving and pick something up in NZ, probably an SJ or aftermarket hull. How hard is it to find a decent pole ski for sale?
Welcome bro, from my experiences in Taupo the night life go's off-its a small tourist adventure town like Queenstown and everyone is on holiday and having a good time. as for people to ride with down there, i dont know of any but thats not to say there aint none. there is a yamaha shop (Trev terry Marine) that stock super jet's. Here is a taupo river clip that i made from a ride that was organised by some of the dalusion users. https://vimeo.com/40326885 If you do make it down here look out for that Maori tribe because they still eat people!
Yeah there is plenty of nice lakes / rivers/ rapids in that area (old rapids vid: http://youtu.be/XrcSR-tDAJM ), unfortunately you are about as far from the coast as you will get in NZ…but still thats only a couple hour drive :lol: There is a number Yamaha dealers around that sell new superjets, otherwise www.trademe.co.nz is the main online selling site in NZ for used stuff (like ebay), and there is the for sale/ wanted on this forum. There is not that many aftermarket hulls around…but you can get em out of Aussie, or Locally Chris Hale (hale customs) is building hulls.
Cool, I've been to Queenstown (did trip around the south island a few years ago), if it's like that I'm sure I'll have fun though I liked Wanaka a bit more, less commercial. Hopefully there are some other riders there, I usually try and go out about twice a week here. Depends on what my relocation package looks like, if they pay for a shipping container or something I may try and bring my skis. That river riding video was sick. I'm guessing that was the river on the west side of town? Done a bit of river riding, ended up sinking a 550 after hitting a rock. I had an idea a few years ago to have some hulls made out of rotary molded plastic like kayaks but the mold cost was really high.
Leaving the States on the 30th, I should be shipping a ski with me. Not sure what ski it will be I ordered an aftermarket hull to swap my SXR parts into but the vendor is two weeks behind schedule and hasn't shipped it to me yet, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Watching all the surf videos here, I can't wait, 15 second spacing and overhead waves ... ridiculous. If I ever get overhead waves here its more like 3-4 second spacing and full chop.
