If you're looking to get away from the British winter in search of wind and warm water, then Western Australia is a worthwhile consideration - especially if you have plenty of time. I was lucky enough to spend 3 months there in the beginning of the year, followed by a 'stop over' in Dubai on the way home.
This was my fourth trip to W.A., but my first with a quiver of kites. Previous trips involved lugging great bags of windsurfing kit through the airports - god knows how I had the energy to travel with so much stuff - kite boards are so much easier to deal with. Anyway, I was keen to re-visit some of the old windsurfing haunts and tear into some of the famous wave spots of W.A. Big thanks to Exmouth local 'Fix' who picked me up from Perth airport and drove up to Geraldton and Shark bay - I'll not forget the barbequed sausages with tinned peaches for dinner - hmm! That's Belgians for you.
Geraldton is a mecca for windsurfers - hundreds arrive every year between October and March. It's a ridiculously windy place with regular 20-30 knot cross-onshore sea breezes. Small kites are a must - I used my 8m and 10m most of the time, but even the 8 wasn't small enough for the ballistic 40 knot days!
There are two main sailing spots here: Point Moore is great when you get tucked in behind a sand bar to pop some tricks on the inside flat water, while there are a couple of gnarly reefs for wave riding on the outside. Coronation beach, a few km's north of town, has huge kiteboarding potential - flat on the inside and cross-shore wave riding on the reefs out back. It is extremely busy with windsurfers though (some of whom like to chase kiteboarders for a pastime), however, I found plenty of room upwind or downwind of the main crowds. Thanks to my bruv, JB, and Denis for putting up with us in Gerro.
Shark Bay is a massive shallow water inlet. There are plenty of places to kite here in flat, waist deep water - perfect for learners. Nanga and Denham have the most accessible beaches and, in the windy season, are virtually deserted except for the few tourists making their way to see the dolphins at Monkey Mia. As you sail over the clear water - you can see the dark outlines of small ray's and sharks against the sandy bottom - the sharks are only 'ankle snappers' and swim a mile when you get anywhere near them!
Gnaraloo is an extremely remote sheep station situated on the coast some 120kms north of Carnarvon. The last 80kms of the journey are on a dirt/sand track. It's famous for a left-hand point wave, called 'Tombstones', which breaks over shallow coral and, when big, is extremely fast and hollow. Great wave riding if you don't mind sharing with a few windsurfers. There are no launch spots for kites at the break - I had to launch 1km down wind and sail up to the break! Not for the faint hearted, and don't even think about dropping your kite here. Further north is beautiful Gnaraloo Bay - a large flat water blasting area, good fun, but extremely gusty and almost directly offshore where you launch.
Esperance is 700km's S.E. of Perth, and has incredibly stunning coastal scenery, beautiful beaches and crystal clear Southern Ocean water. The wind statistics are not as reliable as some of the west coast spots, but is still well worth a visit, and has some fantastic waves. 'Nine-mile' and 'Fourth' beaches have fast and hollow beach breaks with cross-shore winds. More protected flat water can be found on a few beaches around town, and the beaches of 'Cape le Grand' national park have great potential.
Safety Bay, near Rockingham, is, as the name suggests, one of the safest kite locations around the Perth area. It's a large bay protected from the Indian Ocean by a chain of islands. Upwind of the main launch area, a shallow sandbar provides smooth flat water - perfect for blasting and freestyle tricks and, if you drop your kite, there's plenty of room down-wind before you're blown back to the beach.
Woodmans Point, just South of Fremantle, has super flat water on the downwind side of a long sand spit. It's busy spot with kiteboarders, particularly in the evenings, due to the close proximity to Perth. The wind is offshore on the flat-water side of the spit, and it's a long swim if you drop your kite.
Dubai is not a bad place to break up the journey home from Aus, but it does start to get bloody hot in April. Luckily, the wind was fair for the week that I was there, which cooled things down a bit - I still couldn't resist the Air Con in my room at night though. There is quite a kite scene in Dubai amongst the ex-pats with Jumeirah Beach being the most popular spot - it's fantastic sailing with the famous Burj Al Arab hotel looming in the background. The wind is usually 10 - 15 knots so most of the locals have a quiver of larger kites. Further around the coast, away from the city, is Jebel Ali beach. It's got a fantastic set-up for kiting with small peeling waves and cross-on wind - ideal for boosting jumps. It's a beautiful spot that had flamingos on the beach when I arrived. Oh yeah, and sea-snakes!
Thanks to my buddy, Will, for putting me up for the week, showing me around, and lending me his 16m.
