Western Australia

Where to surf in Western Australia

The best way to describe Western Australia's surf is probably raw. Raw in terms of pure Indian Ocean power smashing into thousands of kilometers of north/south oriented coastline that itself is raw and untamed. The surfing world is well-versed with the famous cluster of waves around Margaret River, alongside the northern desert lefts of Gnarloo, yet these two zones represent the tiniest fraction of the surfable real estate that West Oz offers.

Northwest Coast

The Kimberley region of northern WA is an impressive wilderness and most of the surf comes courtesy of cyclones for a few months of the wet season. Apart from the multitude of offshore islands that must have some waves somewhere, the most popular spot is the 22km long Cable Beach in Broome. Plenty of locals surf here for the few weeks a year it works plus these days it is a popular tourist destination replete with big beach resorts.

Down near Gantheaume Point and Riddels also work when it’s big enough and you have to factor in the huge 10m tides, favouring mid to high. Some waves further north pick up big SW-W swell, but access is an issue with big fines for using washed out tracks and many vehicles are lost to the tides while beach driving.

Next major mining centre is Karratha in the Pilbara, where offshore islands Angel and Gidley in the Dampier Archipelago spin up some righthanders, but are separated by ‘clue in the name’ Sharks Passage. More boat-access-only spots exist down to the Murion Islands.

The Northwest WA region that includes the famous lefts of The Bluff. The 150km long Zuytdorp Cliffs link Shark Bay to the Batavia Coast at Kalbarri, extending down to Port Denison.

West Coast

At Port Denison offshore reefs and skerries start to appear and hold some scary options for the brave in boats. Jurien Bay is the best place to launch from and Sandy Cape has land access beachies. A number of reefbreaks off Lancellin and Edward islands 500m to 2km offshore, work in moderate to large swells with light winds, plus there are some good peaks on the backbeach.

When the Moore River opens to the sea, long barrels can form up for a short while. Check Two Rocks and the fun reef peaks at Derrs, that tend to be crowded.

Yanchep has a handful of breaks including the areas best lefthander at The Spot, rights over the reef at Rafts and some sucky beachbreaks at Doggies for the bodyboarders. Clayton's is a full-on wedge growing from the bounce off the Mindarie Keys marina. Burns Beach benefits from a good reef peak, alongside average beachbreak options. For more of a challenge try Big Rock just down the coast before Trigg Beach.

the metropolitan Perth zone.

A perimeter of fringing reefs suck the power and size from Perth’s and Fremantle’s surf so unless a heavy swell is running, waves are rarely overhead. Garden Island is off limits to all but navy personnel and boaters who remain in the channel and surf a few reefs in the south or across the channel at Point Peron to Penguin Island.

Secret Harbour is one of the better Perth beachbreaks with something for all abilities throughout the year. More of the same at Golden Bay and Singleton, but Mandurah’s 4th Groyne is a sucky barrel and guaranteed busy with bodyboarders.

Between Falcon Bay and Avalon there are some reliable left reefs and the breakwall at the Dawesville channel has a rebound wedge, peaks at Pyramids and sandy reefs down at Melros. The straight sands of Yalgorup National Park leads down to Bunbury where a number of sand fed breaks get going in winter around the groynes and breakwalls of the harbour and back beach.

Surf deteriorates as you go south into Geograph Bay and Busselton, since Cape Naturaliste cuts off the swell that makes Southwest WA so awesome and home to some of Australia’s most consistent and challenging waves.

Southwest WA

South Coast

Rounding the storm-battered lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin opens up the coastline to SE-S swell. Augusta Rivermouth is the first regular righthander, but is ultra-shark-friendly. Windy Harbour has beachbreaks either side, better in small swells. Mandalay and Conspicuous Beach holds more size for those fearless enough. Peaceful Bay has a serious left reef out of the W winds and an exposed big-wave right at the eastern end of the bay.

A string of SE-facing beaches to the east include Parry, Lights, Lowlands and the most popular Ocean Beach where long rights can form off the rivermouth of Wilson Inlet. Mutton bird Beach gets hollow and powerful in S swell, N wind combo and like most of this coast, a 4WD makes life easier. The Bibbulmun Track winds for 1000km between Perth and Albany overlooking endless pounding surf that is always bigger than it looks from the towering granite cliffs.

Albany's wave riches include Salmon Holes sucky reefs and protected Middleton Beach in town for all abilities. The coast turns to face the SE so winter becomes more consistent when breaks like Cheyne, Bremer and Hopetoun work with NW winds.

Esperence is flanked by a number of quality waves from gentle, beginner friendly beachies to sucky reefs, points and is the jumping off point for Cyclops, one of the world's gnarliest big waves. The Cape Arid national park is bristling with quality waves, but signals the beginning of the longest line of sea cliffs in the world along the Great Australian Bight.

Eucla is on the WA - SA border and has some ugly beachbreak by the jetty under the sand dunes, before the cliffs return up to Yalata's SW-facing 100km long beachbreak.