Adrian Bort, 3 April 2014 |
Hey Nick,
Just want to thank you and the girls at Go Tours Travel for organizing my recent trip to Papatura Surf Retreat. Being a keen surfer and professional surf photographer, for me it really was 8 days in paradise. Brad and I surfed volumes of waves on crystal clear reef breaks every day to the point of exhaustion, you can’t ask for more than that. Bobby was great, he had us out in the boat looking for waves soon after arrival, He showed us all the breaks and we capped the day off with plenty of super glassy lefts at Zollies and even had a black tipped reef shark cruise past.
During our stay we had more fun surfs getting lefts at Zollies and Kumas and Brad and I were lucky enough to get 3 days all to ourselves at Anchovies surfing long solid 3 to 4ft rights with the occasional 6ft bomb. Most afternoons after the afternoon surf I would come back and go fishing with Bobby while Brad would grab a hammock on the beach and read a book or hang up in the loft where you can relax or watch dvds
All the Staff at Papatura were really wonderful to us. Your Dad was back in Australia so unfortunately didn't get to meet him but your Mom was there and was the perfect retreat host. She created a warm relaxed atmosphere, ensuring we felt most welcome and cared for. Bobby made sure we were having a great time, whether it be Surfing, Fishing, Snorkeling, Site seeing or Drinking and Partying and Josh prepared mouth watering dishes daily for lunch and dinner utilizing fresh local produce. The local girls helping out in the kitchen and dining area were very sweet and all the boatmen are a great bunch and always smiling and happy to run us out to any of the great reef breaks.
We had some great nights hanging at the Bar, swapping stories over drinks with other guests and Margie, Bobby and Josh and at day’s end crawled into bed and had a comfortable rest and wake early ready for another action packed day.
Regards Adrian Bort
Adrenaline Shots Photography
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Colin Warner surfing PT’s 29 Nov 13 |
Hello Nick,
I just wanted to convey a quick message thanking you for organising a seamless and fantastic trip to Papatura. The organisation of the trip was simple and faultless. Papatura was just the tonic - an idyllic, remote and fun surfing location immersed in the Solomon culture. The hospitality and service at the retreat was fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations with Marg, Pete, the Papatura crew and other guests. Thanks also to you for your friendliness and expertise in getting us to the best waves and guiding an ageing surfer like me as to where the best spot in the line ups were.
Thanks again and I hope to return.
Cheers
Colin Warner
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Tony White, April 2013 |
"This place is magic and should be a must if your looking for a spot away from the mainstream. Pete and Marg are unreal, the beer is always cold the staff are super friendly and eager to please. To get surf every day for two weeks is a bo-nus and if you really lucked out there are about another dozen or more breaks to surf that weren't working for our stay - the potential here is incredible."
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Gen Wilcox, April 2013 |
Hi Olivia
My husband is a new man since returning from Papatura! (happy wife = happy life J)
He is invigorated and recharged with a renewed spring in his step.
Before the trip is was looking forward to it and since his return has expressed his immense gratitude.
I met Nick and Christine at the airport and instantly I knew Steve would be warmly welcomed.
I have a sneaking suspicion he enjoyed the fishing more than the surfing.
Kind Regards
Gen Wilcox
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| Phil and Gabi Landless |
Dear Nick and Rachel,
Thanks so much for helping us when we cut short our stay at Maravagi recently. Your offer of transport to and accommodation in Honiara and the use of Atkin's taxi was extremely generous and much appreciated.
Rachel your speedy reaction to our phone call was amazing, we really felt very uncomfortable after all that had taken place there.
Yes, Uepi was just a fantastic place to finish off our holiday and as you said the snorkelling was just beautiful and swimming with the sharks just fantastic (to a point) lol!
Nick please pass on our fond wishes to Marg and Pete and tell them that we can't wait to come back to Papatura, which was certainly the pick of our 3 months in the Solomons.
We are yet to arrive back home to Ceduna but when we do we will certainly forward any pics that we feel you may be interested in.
Thanks again guys. We will certainly be using Go Tours in the future and recommending it to our friends.
Phil and Gabi Landless
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| Neil Slater, Feb 2012 |
Papatura is absolutely awesome. Pete, Marg and the crew made sure we had a great time and really looked after us. The chefs we awesome and everything we ate I thoroughly enjoyed. . They will only get better and really want to please your guests. I'm not sure why those clowns bag the food on trip advisor. Maybe their used to 5 star silver service? We had from meat pies and salad rolls to crayfish and everything was great. We loved the food and your local girls were great in the kitchen. Marg is a great cook too! I can't believe Pete isn't 150kg!!!
I've never stayed anywhere where your fish are cleaned for you and you clothes are washed, and folded (!). Our fishing guides, Rowe and Jonahs (sp?) were awesome. They really know the water and were keen to make sure we caught fish. I reckon we taught them a thing or two about lure casting and sport fishing in general. Rowe was amazed when I got the fly fishing gear out he was talking about it for ages. I also had a few lures he'd never seen in action before and he was amazed at how many we brought with us.
We had a ball and still caught some great fish you cannot get here in Geelong!!! I had a bit of bad luck too. I had 3 GTs short take a fly in 3 casts which is unusual and 3 or 4 good GTs follow poppers without taking them. At least two trout smash poppers without hooking up and one or two tuna completely miss the fly early in the trip. So, if I had've hooked all that followed, it may have been an extra 10 fish! The fish busting up on the surface were unbelievably scared of boats. Kind of like schools of tuna on the sunshine coast at xmas – as if they were chased all over the place by 50 boats. Maybe the whole off the bite thing but we couldn't get near them for a shot with fly or spin gear.
Your guides are gold
They're a little shy and we needed to extract info out of them at times but this will only improve. I told Rowe that he is the expert and that if they get guests saying, "I want to fish in the river this morning" but the tide is wrong, he needs to say so. Something like "I think we should fish it in the afternoon because the tide is wrong." I think that he is so polite, he just wants to please you and do whatever you want to do. I re-enforced that he is the expert and that helping people like this will ensure they get the best fishing opportunities possible.
That big mackerel was the fish of the trip and certainly a massive buzz. I likened it to standing on the edge of a highway and throwing your lure on the back of a car travelling at 100km/h – it peel line against a 10/12kg drag with ease and lifted me from the seat – totally awesome. When we got it in the boat, Rowe said something like, "Ooh, I am a very happy man!" while looking down at the fish. I think there is a bit of healthy competition between Rowe and Jonahs ? and for him to have the big mack landed in his boat was almost as exciting for him as it was for me! Certainly one of my best fish!
I'd love to return but it does take a bit out of the old piggy bank. I spoke to the guides and they reckon that the best fishing can be when the tides are really moving. When we were there, there wasn't much difference between high and low tide and low tidal flow as a result.
I have a few other scenery pics I can send on once I get them all sorted.
Cheers,NS
Feb 2012
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| Emma Stenhouse, Jan 2012 |
Hi Nick
Just wanted to say that we had a really fantastic time at Papatura. As you know, we stayed on both 2 and 3 January and just loved being there... what great walks (who needs to be a surfer!!).. and Marg and Pete are wonderful hosts – a HUGE thank you to them both. Barman Jimmy is a bit of a star too!
I will definitely be back.
Cheers
Emma
Jan 2012
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| Tim Wilson, Nov 2011 |
Hi Nick,
Just back from Papatura, IT WAS GREAT! Well, not so the surf, we only had it perfect one of the 12 days, but your parents are great hosts, it was lovely and warm/hot, with a few days of heavy rain. I got to go snorkeling, saw a turtle, reef shark & sting ray, plus lots of coral and tropical fish. Had a good time on the SUP, catamaran, swimming, bush walking. Great food, a great location, only 3 of us there the second week.
Thanks again, please pass this on to Pete and Marg
Tim Wilson.
Nov 2011
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| Mal Gilbert, Nov 2010 |
Hi Nick,
Where do I start about my adventure trip to Papatura, firstly I can't wait to go back, secondly it was very sad to leave and have to come home.
Peter and Marg are wonderful people and great hosts,they just make everybody feel like family and so much at home. I know that they are your parents so you already know what I'm saying is true.
I enjoyed all aspects of my holiday, the village visit was very special to me, I have a new found love for the local people as they made me feel especially welcome in their home.
We gathered oysters, snorkeled on the local reefs, dived on the WW 2 plane in the shallows of the short cut, and the fishing was great, not a lot of fish but enough to keep us interested for 8 days.
The bonus for me was no papers,television, radio or phones, I regained the art of conversation, talking to other people and listening to what they had to say, I absolutely enjoyed that aspect of Papatura.
I got used to the cold showers and the mozzie net.
The meals were very nice and there was plenty if you wanted to go back for seconds, also the variety was excellent, not once did we have the same meal twice.
The local staff are fantastic, the ladies in the kitchen and the men were more than polite and friendly, they are lovely people.
A FANTASTIC holiday and adventure, I would recommend it to any of my friends.
A big thanks to Pete and Marg and to you Nick.
Next time you text Papatura please say hello to them all from me ( Colonel Sanders) as Pete has nick named me.
Kind Regards
Mal
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| Steven Cittarelli |
Hi Nick,
Had a great time, thanks so much for the last minute booking.
Caught a 12KG GT!!!
Food good, Beer was cold and some great company. Will be back next year sometime with lots of people and you can organise my travel from now on.
Cheers,
Steven Cittarelli
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| Phil Highland |
Hello Kristine, just got back, we had a great time. The weather was beautiful and we had a ball snorkeling and fishing. Food was great. Highlights were seeing my wife fight and catch a huge barracuda and the trip to the village.
Thank you
Phil Highland
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| Naomi and Andrew McCarthy |
Hi Nick, Peter and Margy and crew sorry for taking so long to get back to you. As you know when you run a small business and take some time off it takes you some time to catch up again, enough of the excuses.
Firstly from Naomi and I, thank you again for the opportunity to share your Solomon Island paradise, it was an experience we will never forget.
From the moment we met John at Honiara I knew we were in good hands, his calm manner and knowlege of the islands put us at ease immediately and helped us settle in to the hotel. While I was a bit worried about the impending cyclone and the works being undertaken under our hotel room at the King Solomon, the phone call the next morning early from John to pick us up for the airport set us back on the path and we were on our way to Papatura.
The plane flight out was another great experience with the pilot actually flying low over the surf breaks to show us what an amazing place it is.
When we landed at Survana international and were greeted by Peter, Simon and Levi we knew our adventure had begun and time as we knew it had stopped.
What can we say, Margy, Peter and the crew at the resort were totally in tune with the requirements of the guests, the food was brilliant and healthy, the soft drinks and beer were cold, the accommodation was clean modern and comfortable. The other guests were soul mates in surfing. Naomi fell in love with Kuma the dog and visa versa I think.
Now to the main event.
We experienced great reef surf between 4 and 6 foot a short boat ride from "home" with no more than 5-6 people out. Also fishing adventures unheard of now in our local waters and a great feeling of being alone, the only people who surf or maybe fish regularly with modern gear within 100 kms.
The crocodile, reef sharks and whale sharks only made the adventure more exciting with Simon and Trevor yelling "sark" on the odd occasion a fin was sighted. I believe they were being protective of Naomi.
For experienced surfers any sightings were more fun than danger, especially the killer whale sighting by Naomi who saw them a day before any one else. I put that down to youthfull eyesight as nobody believed her until the following day when we all sighted them.
I must admit it does take a little time, even for those used to these sea creatures, to acclimatize to surfing in what seems in the middle of the ocean.
Highlights
- The people we shared the resort with, including staff and guests
- Surfing 5 ft reef with 3 other people
- Margy's and the girls cooking and good humour
- Simons laugh/ smile
- Trevors smile/ sark call
- Mark and Kens laugh
- Killer whale sighting
- The village visit
- The rainforest walk at night.(Including crocodile noises)
- Naomi Catching big GT (Fish)
- Me catching and losing 3 ft Dolphin fish
- The great beer fridge fire.
- Pete's water catchment walk.
- The Fish Attracting Device adventure with Simon, Naomi, Ken,Mark and me.
- Diving the plane wreck
- Kuma the dog and Naomi.
Thanks again for your from us all at the Gold coast, we hope to see you soon
Cheers
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| Shane Rowley |
Papatura was a hot
Great waves
Great hospitality
Got to go back soon
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| Chris Henry |
Sorry for being tardy getting back to you, but I’ve been back to work and trying to adjust from Pacific time!
We did get some good waves, just about every day, but I really would have liked a kick in the swell at some stage. Obviously the guys the previous week had plenty, but we had a fairly sustained time without any real swell.
I do realise that is the Pacific and that you can't dial up the swell.
Your folks are doing a great job and I really admire their aims, manner and concern for both the environment and locals. We did feel very well looked after and were quite impressed with the meals considering the logistics of supply, storage etc. Those little surprise treats after lunch were something I would not normally eat but seemed to help me into my nanna nap, and preparation for the afternoon surf.
I had spent the month trying to decide whether to take my new 8'3" SUP in preference to my mal (and 6 six). I ended up with the mal - so was stoked to see your SUPs on arrival.
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