Mark Michetti
YOU HEAR IT WHEN YOU TRAVEL, YOU READ IT IN THE TRAVEL MAGS. NEW ZEALAND – OUR PLACE! - HAS A REPUTATION AS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL, SERENE AND UNTOUCHED PLACE ON THE PLANET. A visit to our shores is on most tourists’ bucket list, but as locals it’s easy to take what we have for granted. So to help you appreciate home just that little bit more we’ll be catching up with visiting surfers who we run into on our travels. We’ll get the word from them on their experiences while taking in the waves, views and vibes of Aotearoa. This issue we feature Mark Michetti of Kauai who has been hanging around our shores on and off for a decade.
What brings you to nz? The wife and I took a second honeymoon back in ‘98 and just had a blast. She is into horses and not really the third world surf trips I go on, so NZ was the perfect compromise. You live on the island of Kauai in Hawaii, to us that sounds like a dream location, so what gives nz the big thumbs up in terms of attracting you
here? Yeah Kauai is an incredible place, I’ve lived there most of my life. But it’s a small island with a lot of tourists now. To me NZ is such a “frontier”. Really, if you don’t mind a lot of driving there is so much to do, the surf is great and the people I would say are the big plus. So how long have you been here? And what have you experienced? We’ve been coming to Gisborne for about 10 years. My kids went to school here for one and a half years. It was a great experience for them. I think being a foreigner and having to learn a different culture and lifestyle is the one of the best educations a person could have. Where have you scored the best surf during your stays? Knock on wood, I’ve always been really fortunate with the surf, and had great waves most every time I fly in. Pretty much right in Gizzy and an hour north or south there’s usually something good happening.
So will you be back anytime soon? Hope to be back asap. The battery on my ski must be pretty weak. Aloha!