Australia & New Zealand surf forecast

Australia is really several surf regions that happen to share a landmass. The east coast runs on Tasman Sea lows and tropical cyclones, producing the sand-bottomed point breaks of the Gold Coast. The south coast takes the full force of Southern Ocean swell at Bells and Shipstern. The west coast at Margaret River faces a swell window that is open essentially year-round.

New Zealand sits further into the Southern Ocean again, exposed on both coasts, and receives swell from a wider arc than almost anywhere — which is why its breaks work on conditions that would leave the Australian east coast flat.