Hi there,

I am off to Queensland in the beginning of March for a month and will be driving between the Gold Coast and up to as far north as about Noosa. From there I am going to drive around Spain and Portugal for a few months. I am after any spots people are aware of and just any general info (winds, accomodation, cost of living etc) people have who may of been to these spots. Im looking to kite as much as possible.

Thanks for the help.

Firstly I would say buy "The Kite and Windsurfing Guide" it is fantastic I pretty much plan all my holidays by it. Not only does it have locations but annual graphs on the local wind, travel tips and more! (sorry I'm not in NZ right now)

The book has :shock: +40 pages of locations in Spain and 8 location pages on
Portugal so thats a ton of info!

I was in Lagos (Portugal) last year and it rocked, and remember local knowledge is gold! I ended up kiting on the lagoon at "Ria de Alvor" every afternoon like clock work from 15:00 finishing around 20:30. Great having long sun light hours.

Food in Portugal is cheap ie latte cost me $0.50 and a four course meal for two with two bottles of wine was $50. Though you can eat cheaper.
Spain I believe is a little more expensive than Portugal but I do not have first hand knowledge, not yet, sorry.

8) Lagos is a fantastic place to visit as it's not as touristy as Alvor (Algarve) and is more mediterranean than the Alvor side.

Either way looking at the book if you have the time and going from Spain's East coast down the South coast and then up the West coast of Portugal you will find heaps of spots. Like I said speak to the locals they are friendly and will know what time is best to go to certain spots. If you have a camper you can just camp wherever. If you want something more planned I would say get the book, helps make decissions when searching for statistically the best wind spots.

As for Ozzie there are a lot of places on the Gold Coast, though, they have been having afew issues at some beaches and at the lagoon. Send me your email and I'll pass it on to my brother who can give you better advice.

As for me I'm off this April to the Canary Islands - Feurtventure (Spain).
Really looking forward to it.

QLD is OK but winds are on the light side. Best in winter SE sea breeze. Lots of places to launch.

I throughly recommend Portugal in (their) summer. 30C air temp but only 16C water makes good sea breezes. The water is a bit warmer in the Algarve (south coast). We got wind every day for the first two weeks but iffy in the last. 12m weather every day. Guincho is windier but gusty.

I have some photos here:

http://www.nzkiteboarding.com/plug.php?e=gallery&f=139

Cost of living is about the same as NZ, some things (like coffee) are cheaper.
Avoid the holiday season (August?) if possible, beaches near cities get busy.