I'm new to Mermaiding and I really want to meet some other mermaids in my country, so are there any NZ Mers?
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I'm new to Mermaiding and I really want to meet some other mermaids in my country, so are there any NZ Mers?
Hi! I'm just outside of Auckland :) welcome!
:-D
Welcome rivermermaid! I live by the Waikato river, in Hamilton :3
I'm in the process of making a tail, and building my mersona. I'm looking forward to getting to know you
Yay another NZ mermaid!
Hey guys.
I'm all the way down in Southland by the Waikaia river near Piano Flat (If anybody knows where that is).
I'm also making a tail and once in a blue moon I go up to Auckland.
It was nice meeting you guys.
Hi!! Are you guys still swimming?? I am new in New Zealand...went for my first swim at Piha today!
hello! I'm still around [emoji4] piha is a brave choice for your first swim in a monofin, how did it go?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ichthus Mermaid
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HelloCourtney! Thank you for the reply! I went to Piha because it was close and it was the perfect weather. Start of low tide and I went to the calmer waters to the left side just behind Lions Rock. I was a little nervous at first but it was great!! Where about are you?
awesome! I'm on the North Shore [emoji4]Quote:
Originally Posted by Ichthus Mermaid
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Hi, I've just joined & just got interested in mermaiding. I'm in Christchurch, would love to meet up with other mers once things get back to normal.
any advice on buying and/or making tails & monofins in NZ?
Hi Starfire! Great to hear from you! I just finished my own tail and I was waiting for lockdown to end before taking it to the waters ... but now the ocean is pretty cold yikes! I bought a Mahina fin and made a custom silicone tail for it which I loved doing! I see you are in SCA? what exactly is that? Attachment 43916Attachment 43917Attachment 43918
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Heh, I'm in Chch, the ocean's even colder down here :p
That is an awesome looking tail, what did you use to make it? Dragon skin, caulk etc, is it over a fabric base? The scales & the starfish are super cute!
I don't think I want to start with a silicone tail, so I'm looking at fabric options atm, seriously considering getting neoprene custom printed and making my own. I'm tempted by the mahina fin, although the mertailor fantasea 3 also looks awesome, not sure if either fin is to big to start with though.
SCA is a medieval re-enactment group, there are groups worldwide and it's been around for almost 60 years now, I've been doing it since I was a kid , cause my mum does it, we've dragged her mum (my grandma) into it as well, a few years ago we were all at an event & I had my kids there too so 4 generations at the same event. I do rapier fighting and archery, both target archery and combat archery, where I wear armour and shoot blunt arrows at other people in armour in war scenarios, tons of fun.
hello from Auckland!Quote:
Originally Posted by Starfire
I made my first tail out of neoprene, caulking and scuba knit. its got a hydra monofin built in. it's not letting me upload through the app at the moment, but my Instagram is Mahurangi.mermaid if you were at all interested [emoji28]
i've also got a couple of finfolk fabric tails which I use a mahina in and a mertailor whimsy fantasea 3 (which is the best monofin I've ever tried, hands down)
feel free to get in touch with any questions, we also have a pretty inactive fb pod but you're welcome to join! I'd love for it to be more active but we're a small spread out group [emoji4][emoji1181]🧜*♀️
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your tails are so pretty! is the bronze & blue scales with the blue & gold fluke the one you made? it's so pretty, so's the purple one too!
whats your opinion on the mahina or fantasea 3 for an adult starting out? I'm a pretty strong swimmer, but never used a monofin of any type before. AFAIK chch/waimak pools allow tails, or at least I can't find anything saying that they don't, so I'll be swimming in pools to start with & my flatmate has agreed to be my mertender (seriously my flatmate is awesome, he's like my platonic life partner), should I start with one of those or with something smaller/lighter?
yup, that's the one! thank you!
a mahina is a great starter monofin for sure, because it can fit into a lot of the commercially available tails and they're relatively easy to get a hold of. I'd definitely recommend a pair of neoprene socks because I find it can rub and is pretty hard on my feet.
I love the fantasea 3. by far my favourite monofin to swim in, it's so comfortable and i love how it moves, I'm super buoyant so it's a great match for me. when I eventually make a full silicone tail, I'll definitely be buying another to put in it. the downside of it is is that it's HUGE, and it's heavy. it might not be the best fit for public pools due to that, and it's a lot of work to lug it around. you also have to take into consideration shipping. it cost me 190USD in shipping alone to get it to NZ!
another fin to consider is the mermaid linden monofin, i tried one when I was in Adelaide for mercon australia last year and I loved it! great shape, super comfy and heaps of push [emoji4]
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:jawdrop: That shipping is insane, I guess the fantasea 3 goes on the 'maybe later' list then.
Nice! I made it from Dragon skin with a support mesh in the back. learnt alot of lessons but it was fun to make!
I might just like to try out the SCA thing as I love to sew and even have made wedding dresses and formal gowns (before I had kids).
So cool I read you have blue hair! I just dyed mine teal over the lockdown...just a subtle kind of change.
Would love to go swimming with other mers...
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how much do you like cold water lol? swimming season isn't quiiiite over [emoji23]Quote:
Originally Posted by Ichthus Mermaid
where did you get dragonskin in NZ?
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The local SCA group to you is called Ildhafen, here's the link to their website https://ildhafn.lochac.sca.org/Quote:
Originally Posted by Ichthus Mermaid
Thanks, I love my hair. Here's a pic from a few years ago when I first wen't blue, I'd post a current one, but I have like 6 inches of regrowth and I've been trying to fade it out to even up some not quite bleached enough spots next time I re-do it so it looks terrible atm. the blond streak is gone now (too much hassle to wash and dye) and my hair's even longer now, it reaches the top of my thighs!
Attachment 43923
I have flights to use within the next year, so I'll be in Auckland to visit family at some stage, if I have a tail by then perhaps we could all meet for a group swim?
Hello NZ mers! I can’t believe I missed this thread! I’m also in NZ, I live in Auckland :)
I’ve got a finfun and a mahina monofin and am flipflopping on buying a fantasea fin 3. I nearly bit the bullet and bought one then saw the cost of shipping and noped out lol but now I’m considering it again. Just a bit worried to spend all that money and then find I don’t like it, I pretty much only mermaid in the ocean so a bit concerned about lack of propulsion, also about loosing it in the ocean from it sinking!
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I haven’t done any tailmaking myself but through my work have bought dragonskin a while back, I can check out who the supplier was if you are still looking for it?Quote:
Originally Posted by hellocourtney
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Kia ora! Always good to have another kiwi mer around, I'm in Auckland too! Not sure if you know but we have a facebook pod too that is getting more and more active every day. We're hoping to have some meet ups when it starts to get warmer, we'd love for you to join :)
I love my fantasea fin 3 but the shipping is definitely a killer! I find that it's propulsion (at least for me) is pretty comparable to my mahina but sooo much more comfortable. it also doesn't sink as fast as you would think it would considering it's weight on land.
Awesome, I’ve put in my request on the fb group :) would be super keen to meet everyone and see their tails!Quote:
Originally Posted by hellocourtney
O that’s very interesting! I like the idea of it being more comfortable, do you find it more manoeuvrable than the mahina? I was wondering if since it is softer it might have less resistance to turning etc. my barrel rolls are very hit and miss but that may just be me haha
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I'll be honest it's been a while since i swam in any monofin because of the whole corona thing and then winter but from what i remember it's very maneuverable! if you can do barrel rolls in a vinyl containing tail then you can definitely do them in a fantasea fin, way less drag :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Naiadele
Hey everybody! It’s so great to see some more merfolk from NZ, I’d love to get to know you guys better! I’m new to the whole mermaid culture but I’m very excited to be a part of it all! I live in Auckland but spend a lot of time in the Coromandel too :)