Breaker Bay / North Island / New Zealand

This is a spot that really makes you work hard. The waves here can be mean and to surf it safely, or even at all, you need to be approaching pro grade. If you aren't up to it, stand and watch from the safety of the shore.

The beach is Wellingtons most easterly, and it's a curving stretch of soft deep sand backed by scrubland. Not many people surf it, so you'll have enough room to pick your own wave. As a general guide, the ocean temperature here averages around 17° C in February and falls back to about 13° C by August.

This spot will work when the wind is coming from the north, north-west, west or south-west and the swell is rolling in from the south-west, south or south-east. It works at mid and high tide, both rising and falling, and the swell will start building at about 1 m and reach a maximum height of around 2.5 m. It is a reef break, only to the right, and the waves might not be the biggest but there certainly powerful as well as hollow. Length is always short, and you aren't going to get more than 50 m out of it.

This spot is only about 15 minutes drive out of the centre of Wellington, and you can park on the cliffs right above the reef. There aren't any facilities on the beach, but it isn't exactly way out in the wilderness if you find you've forgotten something.

The danger here is a rocky reef, and when you combine that with a heavy wave it makes for a spot that demands that you show it respect.