'Surfing For Good'
We're On A Mission
Our ‘surfing For Good’ Pillars
Our Pillars and goals are the backbone to our sustainability program.
Carbon & Energy
Our Goal: To reduce our carbon footprint over the next 2 years.
Waste & Recycling
Our Goal: To reduce waste sent to landfill in the next year.
Plastic Pollution
Our Goal: To actively participate in educating guests on plastic pollution and preventing plastic pollution.
Biodiversity
Our Goal: To increase the biodiversity on site and in our local community through plating and conservation practices.
Sustainability
Our Goal: To purchase materials and products that reduce our impact in 1 year.
Local Community
Our Goal: To support and empower our local people and organisations by establishing our long term community initiatives/ investment program.
Aotearoa Surf is committed to being a positive force.
Surfing For Good is our strategy to reduce our impact, and leave a net positive outcome, through our environmental and community initiatives.
Our ‘why’?
Why, as a team, we have decided to implement this program.
We value clean air and water and want to preserve the rich environment in which we were all so lucky to grow up in for future generations.
We want to protect the things that we love the most…. surfing and the ocean!
We appreciate the nutritious soils in which we are able to grow our food and the clean water we have access to.
We want to give back to the local community that continually supports us as well as encourage those around us to follow our sustainable movement!
What We’ve Achieved
We’re on our way to a sustainable future.
Free, Annual ‘Have A Go’ Surf Days
Aotearoa Surf School – bringing youth to the sport of surfing!
Our annual ‘Have A Go Surf Day’ is a safe, easy & fun ‘learn to surf’ day for all levels of surfers. We will have surfing, activities prizes and giveaways from Aotearoa Surf & our sponsors and the best part? It’s completely FREE!
Aotearoa Surf aims to introduce the excitement and fun of surfing to youth throughout New Zealand every year through this FREE event. There is no better way to showcase this than to give our future generations the opportunity to try surfing when they are young, giving them ocean confidence and awareness, a place to make new friends as well as a super fun day out in the ocean!
Our ‘Have A Go Surf Day is for kids and youth (4-16 years old) who may be new to surfing, beginners, intermediate surfers and even those that have never surfed before!
Educating Our Guests
This is an ongoing effort that involves educating and encouraging every guest that surfs or stays with Aotearoa Surf to do their part for the environment.
We have placed signs throughout the property regarding:
- Water consumption
- Recycling
- Landfill
- Compost
Within our welcome guests folder, we encourage guests to:
- Remember to use reusables
- Take 3 for the sea
- Buy right, buy local – Conserve water
Community Commitment
Aotearoa Surf X Make A Wish
Aotearoa Surf were honoured to work with @makeawishnz to make Maria’s dream of learning to surf with her girl friends come true! Make A Wish NZ makes dream comes true for young people in NZ with critical illness, helping youth in need to realise a wish – which helps to inspire at a time they need it the most.
It was incredibly inspiring to watch Maria and her friends having a ball out in the water with the Aotearoa Surf team. Maria was full of life, had an AMAZING bounce in her pop up, straight to who feet and defiently won the award for surfer of the day! Thanks so much for coming Maria!
Leaving a positive impact in people’s lives through our passion for surfing and the ocean is such an amazing achievement. As a part of giving back, we aspire to continue helping those within the community.
Our ‘Surfing for Good’ program aims at leaving behind a positive impact on people, communities, our environment and the world. If you have a cause that we can help with or know a person or group who you think we can support, please get in touch and together, lets make the world a better place.
Aotearoa Surf X Surfing For Farmers
Aotearoa Surf teamed up with Surfing for Farmers to give farmers a well deserved break and some time in the ocean! It’s all about having fun, taking up a new sport and getting out in the water regularly with other farmers.
The program involves free surf lessons for ALL farmers from around the region. This initiative focuses on wellbeing and was designed to boost the mental heath of farmers throughout New Zealand.
The Surfing for Farmers programme sees farmers and growers from around the country trade their paddocks for the ocean during a number of surfing sessions at beaches around the country. They are provided with surfing gear, lessons and a barbecue where participants can swap surfing stories and have a general catch-up.
Aotearoa Surf X Save Our Sands
Save Our Sands is a local community group within NZ that are trying to fight the corporations that are mining sand from our local beaches including Pakiri and Mangawhai, not only ruining our beloved surf breaks but also putting some of the local wildlife in danger including the adorable Fairy Tern.
Aotearoa Surf decided to jump on the bandwagon and back this incredible initiative by sending out emails, to our large, local database as well as talk about the initiative on our social media pages and website. We got great feedback from this and can only hope that we were able to get a few more people to sign the petition against the sand mining!
Check out the Save Our Sands Facebook Page here to find out more.
Beach Clean Ups/ Take 3 For The Sea
Plastic pollution is killing wildlife, devastating oceans and threatening the health of our planet. Plastic represents a disconnection. It’s a material designed to last forever that we often use only once. Poorly managed plastic leaks into the sea. The ocean is downhill from everywhere.
Through education that inspires participation, Take 3 is building a global movement of people who are connected to the planet. (take3.org/)
Our staff have made a commitment to pick up 3 x pieces of rubbish each time they visit the beach (which is every day) in an effort to keep New Zealand’s beaches a little bit cleaner. We also aim to organise regular beach cleanups with staff, customers and locals involved.
Surfing Scholarships Scholarships
As a part of our ‘Surfing For Good’ program, a few times per year we give away a FREE kids surfing scholarship to someone within the community who deserves it most.
This involves a member of the youth joining in our 8-week progressive surfing program, our Junior Surfers Club, After School Program, completely free of charge.
We generally let the community vote for who deserves the award by entering their name via our social media channels.
Sustainable Building Design
Each of our Pods were designed and built using sustainable building materials and eco-friendly products as much as possible. Some of these methods included wool insulation as well as making them North-facing for natural heating. Recycled timber was used where possible in an attempt to do our part in decreasing wood harvesting. We also ensured responsible recycling and disposal of building waste throughout the entire building process.
Property Planting & Biodiversity
We are continually planting on our property! To date (September 2021), we have planted over 5,000 trees and shrubs, with another 3,000 to go. Our planting efforts so far have covered 4 acres of farmland so far. We aim to convert the farm land into something special, complete gardens and landscaped areas with a native backbone and sub tropical flare. We have planted an entire ‘food forest’ at the bottom of the property which guests are welcome to enjoy. All of the grounds and gardens are watered with captured rainwater instead of hosed.
Native trees we have planted on the property;
Nikau, Pohutakawa, Totara, Karaka, Coprosma and many more.
Plants we have planted and harvest in the food forest;
Banana, Subtropical Apricots, Citrus, Cherimoya, Figs, Guava and many more.
(We also have very rare species from Africa, Madagascar, South America and Asia)
A stay at Aotearoa Surf is all about the experience, we have landscaped gardens with sculptural native and exotic species that give you the feel like you are on holiday. From pond, to our own private beach, tropical food forest, lookouts, hidden courtyards, walkways and railway sleeper stairs… to panoramic ocean views… nothing beats a stay with AS.
Staff Engagement
Each of our staff members, both old and new are trained on our current sustainable practices as well as encouraged to constantly seek new ways we can reduce our environmental footprint.
All cleaning on the property is done with natural, home-made products to minimise the harmful impact on the environment from cleaning chemicals.
Responsible Waste Management & Single Use Plastics
All waste produced from our surf shop, surf school and accommodations is properly separated, disposed of, recycled and composted.
We aim to minimise the use of single-use plastic where possible, with hopes to almost eliminate single-use plastics over time. One such effort has included the switch to compostable bin liners. We encourage all staff and guests to use reusable products where possible.
We also participate in the collection, storage and conservation of filtered rain-water for drinking and garden watering purposes.
Sale Of Eco Friendly Products
We stock a number of eco-friendly/ sustainable products in our surf shop. We encourage the purchase of these to our customers and educate them on the benefits to the environment. Some of our eco-friendly products include:
- Matunas Organic Wax
- Aotearoa Surf School Merch (100% cotton)
- Carve (Recycled Sunglasses)
- Vissla Board Shorts and Wetsuits
- EK Sunscreen (local brand)
- Billabong Graphine Wetsuits
- Yogis Zinc
- Sol Zinc
- Eco Sol Sunscreen
- NSP Protech Eco Project
- All Aotearoa Surf Hats, Tshirts, Hoodies are 100% Cotton and NZ Made, locally printed
Matunas Wax
Matunas Organic Eco Surf Wax is 100% natural, biodegradable and non toxic petroleum free, made with no synthetic chemicals, eco-friendly surf wax. Matunas ingredients are grown on the Matoon family farm, utilised from the source in their purest and most raw forms. Ingredients such as clay, jasmine, raspberry, coconut oil, tree sap and aloe are combined to develop a wax that smells amazing but also performs.
Vissla Wetsuits
Before designing each wetsuit, Vissla always considers how to make it as eco-friendly as possible. We use earth mined limestone to replace petrochemicals in our neoprene. It comes from nature and has less environmental impact. Carbon Black, one of the key ingredients of neoprene, is now pyrolyzed from scrap rubber tires. This significantly reduces energy consumption and cuts CO2 emission by 200g per wetsuit. All black interior & exterior jersey material and Neo 2.0 super stretch black tape are made using dope-dyed yarns. Dope-dying infuses dye pigments into molten plastic solution to produce colored yarns without the dying process. This saves tremendous amounts of water while reducing energy consumption and water pollution.
EK Sunscreen
Our sun protection is the world’s 1st BioGro (Natrue) certified natural sunscreen SPF50 and carries the Certified Natural label, authorised by Natrue. This means you can feel comfortable knowing you’re purchasing a true, completely natural cosmetic product that meets global certification standards, not a greenwashed one.
Supporting Local Community Initiatives
So proud of this little champion!
A massive congratulations to Sam, he successfully raised over $1200 for Charity Water yesterday, by walking 10kms carrying 10L (10kgs) of water.
We even got a special mention from Sam himself for our sponsorship and “going the extra mile.”
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We are passionate about enabling/ helping the community and young people to step up and make a difference to the world around us.
If you know a way that we can help, get in touch with us: surf@aotearoasurf.co.nz
Free Slideskate Surf Training For Local Kids
Aotearoa Surf has released FREE SlideSkate Surf Training at MAZ Skatepark with the aim of helping kids to improve their surf skills out of the water as a part of our Surfing For Good Program.
Kids have been improving their surfing skills using our Slide Surfskates. Learning to surf and skate, like any sport, takes time and good instruction. Our epic Slide Surfskate coaches Ollie and Taj teach all the kids everything they need to know to increase their confidence in the water including basic, posture and balance, generating speed (pumping) and various manoeuvres including bottom turns, cutbacks, carving and snaps.
All equipment is included in these super fun sessions held at 2 different times every Tuesday.
Want to find out more? Get in touch
Qualmark Sustainable Tourism Awards
Aotearoa Surf recently underwent our second, extremely thorough audit and evaluation of our business/ operations through Pure New Zealand, Sustainable Tourism Aotearoa and Qualmark.
Qualmark is a Tourism New Zealand authority that recognises those businesses that are focused on protecting what makes New Zealand unique and special. Their award can be proudly displayed as evidence that Aotearoa Surf School is committed to protecting our beautiful natural environment, enhancing connections with our local communities, whilst also delivering a quality, safe experience for all visitors.
Aotearoa Surf were awarded a GOLD Sustainable Tourism Award, the highest possible result for such an assessment. This is a HUGE achievement for us, particularly because we are the first and only surf operator in New Zealand to undergo the audit!
In the Economics section, we have been recognised for having an excellent standard in our Operations, Marketing, Reservations and Payments, Maintenance and Planning.
Dune Restoration With the Auckland Council
The dedicated crew from Aotearoa Surf School, in collaboration with the Auckland Council, recently took a significant step in preserving Te Arai’s unique coastal ecosystem by planting 260 Spinifex plants. Te Arai, known for its pristine beaches and diverse marine life, boasts a delicate dune ecosystem that plays a crucial role in protecting the shoreline from erosion, providing habitat for native wildlife, and maintaining the natural beauty of the area. By planting Spinifex, a native dune grass, we are not only stabilising the sand dunes but also enhancing their resilience against the forces of nature. This initiative will help preserve the integrity of Te Arai’s coastline, support biodiversity, and ensure that future generations can continue to enjoy this beautiful natural environment. Our commitment to ecological restoration reflects our deep connection to the land and our ongoing efforts to promote sustainability and environmental stewardship in our community.
Want to find out more? Get in touch
