I'm booked for 2 trips this winter, Coco's (keeling) islands for 2 week's then Safari lodge Fiji for 2 weeks, did the same last year and it was a blast. I'm 45 and average age of the crews on both trips last year would have been Coco's...around 30ish, Fiji..35ish. Both destinations do require a mature attitude's and those that require night clubs and want to run around dropping tabs and making D$cks of themselves are not welcome.

Here' a link to my youtube page, there's 2 vids that others on the coco's trip have uploaded in "My Favourites" section, there edited better than mine and give a better overview.

www.youtube.com/profile?user=dadoppelganger


If you need any info on the Coco's or Fiji, let me know.

Definitely go somewhere IMO; it just breaks the year up.

Steve

Thanks Steve and Jeremy,


Steve, I had my trip booked and already to go to FIJI in '05 but ended up under the knife 3 weeks before take off and couldn't go.It was around the time when there was a lot of negative ** on sea breeze and frankly I just didn't worry about it anymore. Coco's might be the go.

Jeremy, I don't have any set ideas on where and when.I'm flexiable when it comes to taking holiday's.
I've never kited north of Perth. Been down to M/River a couple of times years ago windsurfing.

Last night I was actually thinking about seening if there was any interest in organising an annual GREY BEARDS kite week, no comp just get together and have fun.[}:)]
Starting it over in the west would be a good start and maybe hold it in a different state each year!!!
I've been to Mambo a few times, great week but it's for the young guy's.

Do you think something like that would create any interest over there

Any other takers or any other ideas?

Ian

Hi Ian
Some interesting ideas.
Just off the top of my head the following are possible kite spots;
Fiji
Cocos Islands
Mauritus
Indonesia

When i get time i will look at the best times and pros and cons for each of these places.
The young guns might be able to do unhooked onehanded loops yeah..but who cares!

Any other suggestions.

jeremy

Both places (Fiji and Coco's) have their merits.

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The Coco's islands is a coral atoll and its highest elevation is about 12 feet (I think), it's very small and it doesn’t take long to see the islands (2) of the atoll. If you’re interested in history, Kiting, Surfing, Diving and fishing you could fill 2 week's without a problem. We were lucky on our trip (2 weeks) and kited most days. It tidal and kiting at low tide is for thrill seekers,"aaaggghhh coral” but we didn't mind that much because there’s some good snorkelling to be had at low tide.

The Coco's is very Aussie, the tourists, of whom there are not many, stay on West Island and the Malay’s stay on Home Island. There talking about building a 90 room resort at one the only real beaches on the Coco's, I hope the project doesn't go ahead, IMO it would ruin the place. You can pull up at the pub, leave your wallet and a video camera on the seat of the ute, leave the windows open and feel safe that it will be there when you get back. Young kids that are brought up on the island have to be educated if they leave the island to live on the mainland, that people steal on the mainland, "absolutely unique"

Because the Coco's is Small, this is great as far as the weather is concerned, the weather really doesn’t change. No mountains to create or trap clouds. During our stay (2 weeks) in August last year, I think it rained once (at night) and the temp remained the same 24/7.

If you had a non-kiting partner that wasn't a keen water person, I would think that it's not the place for them, which is probably why they want to build a resort, for the pool
lizards.

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Fiji on the hand is volcanic and lot's of mountains. We stayed at Safari Lodge on the island of Nananu-i-ra. The island is located at the north end of the main island. One thing I enjoyed about Safari was the weather, on the odd occasion you could look across to Nadi and Suva regions down south and see some very sh$tty and cloudy weather at times and it seemed to miss us. I was surprised though, the temp did drop at night a bit and there are mosquitos, lots.
My trip to Fiji was organized through Tony (Ral Inn) and with the package you get a boat and driver at your disposal, if they didn't have the boat(s)I wouldn't have gone. During our 2 weeks at Safari there were lots of guests from all over the globe coming and going and this coupled with the relaxed feeling of Safari, made for an excellent trip.

If you enjoy sight seeing, kitesurfing, Diving, sea kayaking, fishing and don't want stay at a mainstream resort, Safari Lodge is the go. Safari is similar to Coco's, for a non-water person non-kiting partner; a more mainstream resort might be better.

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For any one interested. Ral Inn (Tony), Ryan (a USA kiter at Safari during our trip) and I are looking at a trip to "The Gorge" in the US in the near future. Ral Inn will post more details later.

steve