Orewa Surf Lessons

Orewa's long, gently shelving beach is one of the kinder places in Auckland to learn to surf, and this operator has been teaching on it for more than two decades. Families can take it two ways. Hire a board, a bodyboard and a wetsuit for a couple of hours and simply go, which suits anyone who already knows roughly what they are doing, or who has an older child content to muck about in the white water. Or book a two-hour group lesson, where instructors start everyone on the sand practising the pop-up before a wave comes into it; children from around six join the group sessions and younger ones are taken privately. Boards, wetsuits and rash vests are all provided. Lessons run year round, with wetsuits thick enough that a winter session is genuinely comfortable rather than something to endure.