Hey Kel,

Welcome to the breeze.

Winter is a hard time to learn given the inconsistent wind patterns but have a chat to Surffx www.surffx.com.au and/or In The Loop www.intheloopkiteboarding.com. Both of these places are on the Gold Coast and will be your most knowledgeable place to start.

Hope that helps.

if you look at the lesson plan of the kite shops most usually start your first lesson with the trainer kite. they will give you the instruction you need.

If you really want you can buy a trainer kite, again just have a look at the kite shops alot of them sell them they start around the $150+ mark.

my suggestion would be to contact the shops, have a chat to them about lessons and plans etc going forward, they will be the best to advise you of your next steps.

Alternatively if you are super keen and can't wait till spring/summer then have a look at a few of the winter holiday destinations that you can get lessons and learn, there is a trip to fiji, cocos islands, mauritius and someone just came back from acheh kite camp in sumatra which has a thread going in the general forum.

Call SurfFX at Ferry Road Southport and they will put you in touch with Toddy. Great bloke and awesome instructor.