Blog / Winter Escape

Our new Balance & Training category has just gone live, check out the range here!

With the addition of the Gibbon Slackline range last year, and most recently the Vew-Do balance boards, we've had an amazing response and demand for the gear both in store and online. So we've dedicated a section of the online store to balance and training gear and hope to add even more great options for balance recreation and cross training in the future!  Watch this space!

Vew-Do Balance Boards

Vew-Do Balance Boards are an awesome balance training aid developed and fully produced in the US. Originally created to assist with snowboard instruction and training the boards have been hugely popular among those with a passion for boardsports, whether it be surfing or kiting, skate, sup, snow or anything else. Vew-Do boards will provide hours upon hours of entertainment, all while being excellent balance/board training and practice.

Their gear has also been instrumental in certain avenues of physiotherapy and rehabilitation therapy, can be utilised in other fitness and training areas such as yoga and pilates, and has even been intergrated into offices all around the world, used in conjunction with standing desks to keep people physically active and moving throughout the work day!

Gibbon Slacklines

Gibbon Slacklines are another awesome balance training tool that can provide plenty of fun when you can't get out on the water, though maybe a little less approachable than balance boards!  Originally a bit of a niche sport done mostly by rock climbers in bad weather, Gibbon have brought slacklining to the rest of the world with a simple and easy to use setup making the sport a lot more approachable.  Compact and easy to use, but difficult to master, they're a great bit of fun for any sports enthusiast.  A few sessions and you'll be pulling off moves like this.. maybe:

We had 10 days away recently, working on an early summer tan in Fiji, staying at The Beachouse Fiji on the Coral Coast. The boys were left home holding the fort while Rachel joined us for the first 7 days, enjoying her first Fiji experience, despite the near drowning at Sigatoka and the reef bite :)

Beachouse Fiji was a new spot for us and we were not really sure how it would all turn out. A few locals joined in for the adventure and we were all stoked with the experience. The Beachouse offered plenty of alternative activities for the non-kiting family members and provided us all with plenty of waves and some great wind for kiting.

For the first 7 days we explored a variety of surf options including a boat trip to Serua. With so many activities on offer including Island trips, day tours to the markets, bush walking and even horse riding, everyone had something to keep them busy. We enjoyed some great SUP sessions on the inside break while the short boarders took advantage of some hollow reef breaks.

The second half of the trip offered up some good quality wind of around 18-25knots and we even managed to do a downwinder to the Warwick Resort over some nice clean reef breaks. 

Plans are already underway for the 2017 trip, so if you are keen to be kept up to date, then let us know. We will likely spend 3-4 days on Malolo Island before heading to the Beachouse again. The Malolo Island stop over will provide us with a few days exploring Namotu, Swimming Pools and Cloud break but still provide conditions to suit our intermediate paddlers and kiters at Beachouse. 

Check out the photos on Facebook

Can't rate this trip highly enough, seriously. We have traveled to Maui, Fiji, Vietnam, Bali and quite a few areas within Australia to kite and have never had such a consistently windy trip as we did in Cape Bedford with Ant and Paulie. 

When they told us it blew 24/7 they were not exaggerating. It really does. We arrived midday on the first day to 18 knot winds which continued to build all day. The small kites came straight out and we kited for over 4 hours until exhaustion finally kicked in.

Day 2 provided a full pond of shallow water right out the front of the camp and perfect 20 plus knots. This location is flat water heaven and provided just the right conditions for our crew to progress their kiting.

Day 3 was absolutely cranking and we broke out every small kite we had with us including Fiona's 4mtr Dice. It was time for everyone to try out a smaller kite and the biggest we had on the water all day was an 8mtr Dice. Some of the crew took a morning break until the wind settled down in the afternoon, offering hours of kiting in the shallow lagoon as the tide came in. 

Day 4 offered up sunshine, wind and just the right water level in the lagoon to get jumping. We were all up early to make the most of the last morning on the water. Everyone was 100% kited out by the time we loaded our tired bodies into the vehicles for the scenic trip home through the Daintree. Not sure how we stayed awake for the trip, but Ant was great company and had some really funny stories to share. 

The meals were great, with special diets catered for as required. The location was remote and we had it all to ourselves. Ant and Paulie have made the kite camp really comfortable with bungalows made out of rainwater tanks and loads of shady areas to relax in. There was plenty of hot water, hospitality and no croc's; 'not a one'. The location has been really well selected to offer shallow flat water and Ant is super conscious of safety, which we really appreciated.

We are already planning next years trip and would have no hesitation in recommending you check out this pristine spot. Check out the photos here, amazing place. Plus a little video here.

Well after over 4000 kilometres in our own trusty ute & camper trailer, plus another few thousand with Australian Kite Surfari we can say we have trekked quite a lot of the Queensland Coastline over the last three weeks or so. 

In this update, we will focus on the great progression of some of our locals as they joined us in Yorkeys Knob, Green Island and Cape Flattery to maximise their time on the water over winter. From all reports so far, everyone was really happy with the accommodation, locations on offer and the conditions.

Yorkeys wasn't cranking by any means, but that didn't stop everyone from getting out on the water. They learnt pack down, self rescue, light wind riding techniques and even Lisa had a go on the 15mtr Juice. Our big kites got a lot of testing in Cairns/Yorkeys but everyone was back on their own gear for our Green Island Day Trip and the last day in Yorkeys before heading North. 

Green Island was a gem of a day. With conditions similar to our Fiji Trips, just right there only 45minutes out of Cairns Harbour. Everyone was raving about the day. We all kited ourselves into exhaustion and have a great collection of photos to show for it.

You will find a snap shot of a few photos of Cairns and Green Island on our Flickr Album.

Cape Flattery delivered some serious wind and deserves a full article which will be published shortly. 

Thanks to everyone for joining us and making the trip enjoyable. For info on some of the locations we visited along the coast call in to the shop and say hi. We will be running a couple of updates on the road trip over the next month. See you on the water.

Well the locals tell us it isn't as warm as usual, but we aren't complaining. The temp only dropped to about 18 last night which was a very pleasant change from our camping trip up the coast.

The accommodation has been sorted and everyone has settled in. They hardly had their feet on the ground before hitting the water yesterday. 

We are staying just across the road from the rigging area at Yorkey's Knob in some very nice apartments. The wind forecast has been updated and looking good over the next few days. The crew are just going through their safety briefing and learning how to pack down and self rescue while we wait for the wind this morning, which has just started blowing the trees overhead.