When travelling it really helps to have a bit of electronic assistance with finding waves and checking surf. Here are my most used sites for surf info in order of usage:

1. Coastalwatch – this one gives wave info, predictions, weather, wind and surfcams where possible for every state in Oz. It is a great site and easy to get around. I have been using the iPhone app for 3 days now and it is brilliant – worth every cent of $3.99 you pay for it. For those using ordinary mobiles http://m.coastalwatch.com/ is where you want to head.

2. Wannasurf – This is a site that gives you most of the main surf breaks in an area as well as a description of how to get there and what to expect. It isn’t always accurate, but it does get you started and it does have pics of the waves. I have surfed in a couple of places not registered on there and I’m sure there are heaps of others too.

3. Google Maps or Google Earth – once you know where swell & wind is coming from you can think for yourself and use satellite maps to help you locate some decent and remote breaks

4. Swellnet – kinda similar but with info presented slightly differently. One cool feature of this site is the desktop widget for staying up to date on surf conditions.

5. Seabreeze – this is for an easy to read weather,swell and wind guide all around Oz. I use it a heap back home, but I think the new iPhone coastalwatch app is going to supercede it.

As much as these are useful its pretty hard to beat a bit of good ole local knowledge from a friendly face. I find that as I chat with locals and ask questions most are pretty happy to give me their tips on where to surf. I get the feeling it helps that as a 45 year old I am not likely to be a threat in water these days…

Anyway, if surfing’s your thing then you can’t go wrong with these sites.