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Arid and largely unpopulated rock-and-scrub-filled Australian state covering more than a million square miles; bordered to the north and west by the storm-lashed Indian Ocean, and to the south by the Southern Ocean. While the northern half of Western Australia is unsuitable for surfing, the state's southern portion is home to some of Australia's biggest, best, and most consistent waves. 

Western Australia can be broken into four main surfing areas: 1) The remote northwest desert, stretching 800 miles from the state capital of Perth to Exmouth, characterized by dusty hills and plateaus fringed by an aquamarine sea and a number of long, fast, hollow left-breaking reef waves, including Red Bluff and the fearsome tubes of Gnaraloo Station. 

2) The Perth city area, filled mostly with beachbreak surf weakened by a swell-filtering offshore reef—although Rottnest Island, a 15-minute plane ride from Perth, has a small number of shapely reef waves. 

3) The southwest coast, a temperate 50-mile-long area characterized by rolling hills, eucalyptus forests, and vineyards, bordering a series of dazzling wave-filled bays and points, including the renowned Margaret River area. 

4) The rugged and largely inaccessible south coast, studded with isolated reefs and empty beachbreaks, including the sand-bottomed right-breaking waves in Ocean Beach Denmark, seen in Bruce Brown's 1966 movie The Endless Summer. 

Western Australia produces good surf all year, with the southwest coast usually best from January to May, and the northwest coast best from April to November. Average daytime temperatures in the northwest range from 90 in summer to 72 in winter; the southwest is generally 10 to 15 degrees colder. Water temperatures range from the low 60s to the low 70s. 

The Indian Ocean provides most of Western Australia's surf, which is frequently six foot and occasionally 15 foot or bigger. Surfing hazards include sharks, sea snakes, dangerously shallow reefs, powerful waves, and lack of emergency services along much of the coast. 

Although Perth-area lifeguards began surfing in the 1930s, the sport didn't really catch on here until the late '50s, with the introduction of relatively lightweight balsa-core surfboards. Perth surfers Len Dibben, Peter Hawke, and Len Hawke became Western Australia's first native board-builders in 1957 and 1958. 

Several years later, in 1963, the City Beach Surfriders club was formed in Perth, as well as Surfing West Australia, a statewide association for amateur competitive surfing. Cordingley's Surfboards, the state's first surf shop, founded by brothers Rex and Colin Cordingley, opened in the Perth suburb of Subiaco in 1964; the debut Western Australian state titles were held that year as well, also in Perth. 

Margaret River first hosted the Australian National Titles in 1969, and the event returned to Margaret in 1973, 1978, 1988, and 1994. Margaret also hosted a world pro tour contest from 1985 to 1990 (with the exception of 1988), and winners included world champions Tom Carroll, Wendy Botha, Barton Lynch, and Mark Occhilupo. Gnaraloo—first surfed in 1975 by Western Australia surf explorers Craig Howe and Charlie Constantinides—was the site of the dramatic Billabong Challenge events in 1995 and 1996. 

Top Western Australian surfers over the years include world tour standouts Ian Cairns, Dave MacAulay, Jodie Cooper, Mitch Thorson, Jake and Paul Paterson, Taj Burrow, and Melanie Redman. 

As of 2003, there were more than three dozen surf shops in Western Australia and roughly 75,000 surfers, the majority living in or near Perth. Dozens of regional and statewide amateur and pro contests are held in Western Australia annually, along with a minor international pro event at Margaret River. 

The Western Australian surf has been featured in more than two dozen surf movies and videos, including Evolution (1969), Bunyip Dreaming (1991), and Sabotaj (1999). Surfing Wild Australia, a lush 1985-published photo book, is centered around a surf trip to the northwest coast. Western Australian surf breaks are detailed in The Surfing and Sailboarding Guide to Australia (1993), Surfing Australia (1998), Mark Warren's Atlas of Australian Surfing (1998), and The World Stormrider Guide (2001). 

Western Australia

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