Search over for the perfect wave

TOURISM Australia released its list of the ‘best of the best of Aussie waves’ this week, and our area was bound to feature prominently.

IT’S no secret – Northern NSW has some of the best surfing spots in the country.

With plenty of famous breaks, including Lennox Point and Byron Bay, thousands of surfers flock to the region every year in search of the perfect wave.

So when Tourism Australia released its list of the ‘best of the best of Aussie waves’ this week, our area was bound to feature prominently.

Tourism Australia spokesman Cameron Wilson said with 37,000km of coastline, Australia was renowned as one of the world’s premier surfing destinations.

But he lists Lennox Head and Byron Bay amongst his top spots, as well as Sydney’s Northern Beaches, Noosa and Bell’s Beach.

“When the surfing counter-culture took hold in Australia in the late 1960s, the NSW North Coast quickly became the promised land for anyone with a board and a hankering for an alternative lifestyle communing with the waves,” Mr Wilson said.

“Endlessly filmed and fawned over, the right-hand point break at Lennox Head rates a mention in any discussion of Australia’s best wave.

“And whether your preferred spot is Tallow Beach, Wategos, The Pass, The Wreck at Belongil or elsewhere along the Byron Bay coast, the compelling factor here has always been the vibe.

“Kombi vans, dreadlocks, hippie gatherings, communal drumming and a collective feeling that there’s nothing to do tomorrow but get up and do it all again, belong at Byron as nowhere else.”

He also tipped Angourie – home break of surfing legend Nat Young – as one of his ‘go-to’ surfing destinations.

He said the break remained ‘relatively unheralded’ for two decades after its ‘discovery’ in the 1970s, but had become more popular since Young rose to prominence.

Originally published as Search over for the perfect wave