talk to your airline about sporting gear, Im heading to New Zealand at end of year for kite trip and had the same nightmare!! 20kg checked baggage and 7kg carry on is what I can take... turns out that my 22kg of sporting gear will take 5kg out of my luggage allowance so I can still take 15kg of clothes etc and still have carry on... make sence??? geez im even struggling with that!! but yeah... try to get over earlier as it gunna be an awesome season!!!