Today’s wanderings took me to Bronte Pool, one of the most photogenic ocean pools in New South Wales. It’s small, only 30 metres long, but has a cult-like following of hardcore locals that swim all year round. These days Instagram has blown the joint to the universe, so it’s a key photo-geek hang. The pool […]

Typical of Sydney, after a warm(ish) north wind day we get smothered with a southerly. It’s colder, greyer and onshore at Bondaka. Waves are breaking around the 1.25ft to 1.934ft range. It’s not much chop and better suited to learners. Swim? Yeah, do it. Plenty getting wet this morning after a warm night. It’s not […]

Today’s morning swim was very fruitful. Not only did the sky spit out some pretty colours, we still have waves. I decided to shoot the middle and avoid the south end rapid/rip. Lots of crew out, pretty chaotic at sunrise. I only got run over 3 times today (which is good for me). Water temperatures […]

South Bondi currently has a brutal, powerful rip bursting out to sea. If you want to educate people on what rips look like, ava look, it’s like a wild river rapid with churning water and surfers being sucked out to New Zealand. Bondi surfers love a rip bowl though, so be thankful. It’s also creating […]

Gee this swell really kicked in yesterday. Some wild chunks of water smashing into Bondi this morning. The Icebergs was smothered and swimmers were thrown into different lanes. South Bondi had a few, but they were quite rare and fickle. When they broke they’re in the 4-6 foot mark. Lots of water moving around making […]

Big and brutal! Not a good day to go surfing out at Bondi. At sunrise, there was a small windless window where you could find some inside runners, but now, she’s blown out and big, big, big. Ok, maybe 6-8 foot. Southerly is in town…chill out until it calms down. Cloudy and rainy tomorrow. :: […]

Quite a cold start to the day (now 12 degrees). Very different to yesterday. Is winter back? We have an overnight south change to blame, but thankfully it’s producing some waves in the 3 – 4 foot range. Looks kinda fun for surfers – bit random and junkie, but there’s the odd diamond out there. […]

!@#$$%%@!## What? No Aquabumps photos for a whole week? Are you OK? Breath…breath. You probably already figured… I took a few days off last week to hang with my frothing groms. All back to normal now, phew. This morning Bondi was cloudy, calm and with waist-high surf. Very quiet morning as I think most of […]

It’s a solid spring day outside. Waves, winds, rays have all coming to the party. It’s currently 19 degrees but will top out at 24 degrees. You bewdy. It was early morning chaos down there at 5:45am. Breaking waves were filled with foamies, boogas, SUPs, mals, and shorties. Newcomers, veterans, swimmers all blended into the Bondi […]

The sun broke through the thick Ben Buckler cloud as the waves continue to break. Nice morning. It’s 2 foot, occasionally 3 foot if you’re lucky. Large crowd out enjoying the decent conditions. Swell is south and winds from the North. A mild day, 20 degrees. Enjoy it. :: uge

This could be the earliest Aquabumps update – ever. Why? What the heck? Well, the Spring Equinox was only a few days ago, and there’s so much sunshine, early, that you could go for a surf, jog, ava coffee, skate in the bowl all before work. Daylight saving will shift on October 6, so you’ve […]

If I could bottle up a day like today and put it on the shelf, I’d label it “You bewdy” ’cause it’s a cracker of a day outside. I’m talking blaring sunshine, NO wind and 2-foot dribblers suitable for high volume wave riding vehicles. Ah yes, these are the days. The days to be outside […]

There are bits and pieces of waves around the Eastern Suburbs this morning. I can’t say I saw anything of decent quality as I roamed. There seems to be a couple of swells in the mix, and it’s very small. BUT – it’s a cracker day outside and the sun is up VERY early, so […]

It’s been an interesting week down here on the beach. Rain for most days, but yesterday arvo a very short window of pumping surf and salubrious sunshine. Today it’s returned to the junkyard and it’s relatively quiet. Maybe we’re all heading down to the #climatestrike (hope so) where the kids are sending a message to governments for meaningful […]

How good is this rain! It’s been pretty consistent. The good news is that the winds have tapered off and we now have clean conditions for wave riders. I saw head-high waves this morning, operating on two sandbanks. Crowds were thin as most frothers hit the snooze button. It is not perfect, but surfable for […]

Day two of Sydney’s storms, today’s just a bit windier. Gusts have touched 30 knots of a gale, bending the trees and lashing rain against your windows. It’s no oil painting outside, not unless you’re into Turner’s work. So I’ll take this opportunity to show you some more photographs around Bondi that haven’t seen the […]

Today is definitely not a beach day. Nope, not even close. The waves looked dreary, onshore, manky, junky and brown! Rain is pouring and this will continue for a couple of days. That’s OK, I truly hope it’s helping with the northern fires and drought conditions. It’s cold, I’ve got the old puffer on. Bunker […]

It’s gonna rain soon. If you haven’t been down for a swim/surf you’re running out of time. It’s going to rain for a couple of days and hopefully fill our dams. At sunrise the skies were clear, by 9am it’s greyed over. Tiny swell still producing a few fun little waves for the frothers. Wednesday […]

Bondi is such a random place. Friday’s mornings in Bondi – even more bizarre. I don’t think many beaches in Australia would be this random, and not at 6 am. As I ride down the hill into the bay, I don’t know what to expect. Take today, for example. Bang in the middle of Queen […]

At first light, I swam out the back of Bondi dragging a camera. It was a mistake; I ended up swimming against a rip for an hour. So much water moving around in the bay. I would get sucked out to sea, then across to The ‘Bergs, and then back out again! After 5 laps in […]

It’s cleaned up a lot and still pretty sizey. I saw sets in the 4-5 foot range at South Bondi. The swell is now from the SE, and we have favourable winds from the WNW direction at 8 knots. The ocean still has plenty of wonk from its recent agitation – well, it has been […]

The swell peaked last night, and we’re now on the way down. I thought it was going to be bigger today, it was just a nice chunky swell, 4 maybe 6 foot on sets. The only surfable waves were Bronte, Coogee or Maroubra. Bondi was a pigsty.  Winds SSW 20-25 knots. Rain? yep. Intermittent. This Thursday (12th […]

G’day. It’s backed off this morning – we anticipate the swell to come back in strong. Tonight you’ll see some monster surf out there. Unfortunately, it’s flanked with seriously strong winds around 35 knots of SSW. A few protected corners would have something for you to surf – but it’s going to be quite wild […]

Like the ocean, I’m confused. There’s swell (east), and it’s 3 foot, but it seems to be all over the shop. The ocean has a heap of junk on it. It appears to be onshore, but you can’t feel the wind. It’s still. So, once the ocean wipes off some of this morning sickness, it could […]

The current east swell has dropped a gear. An early morning low tide was closing out most waves at Bondi during sunrise. Every now and then a shoulder-high set will limp in, but it’s not unreal. Just surfable. Fantastic conditions, light offshores, perfectly sunny. Like yesterday, another cracker day to be outside in Sydney. Have […]

It’s a magic day outside. 1 in 100. It’s that good I think you should all put your tools down, chuck the out-of-office on and hit the beach. The surf is about 5/10…Tamarama had a few on the lower tide but the 11:20 am high tide has engulfed any goodness – it’s now fat as. […]

Ah…so good to have some rays back – welcome to SPRING! The ocean has calmed down and the waves cleaned up. I saw head high sets this morning breaking kinda well. It was offshore earlier, but now a gentle southerly is fluffing around. Great weather all week long before a windy, stormy Friday. Enjoy. :: […]

No photos today. It’s horrible outside. Wait until Sunday when the winds, rain, storm all blow over…looking forward to Spring next week! Check out my highlights film from Milos, Greece (It’s only 2 minutes – you have time). Ciao, Ugios

“The world is a book, and those who don’t travel only read one page.” ― St Augustine The Travel Edition! Today we’re going around the world to some of my favourite places that I’ve visited this year so far. Why? Oh man, ‘ cause its THAT ugly down the beach with a 30 knot southerly, […]

It was like waking up on the set of an alien movie this morning, an ominous giant mother ship lurking just off our shores – quietly, observing us. Will they make contact? Are they abducting surfers for biological tests? Maybe it’s a french gang of surfers who’ve heard Tamarama has a few banks, and they’re […]

Similar to yesterday it’s raining, onshore and dark grey. Fortunately, there is a bit more swell today but it’s still in the two-foot range. #notpumping In a nutshell – continue to do work as you’re not missing anything down here on the beach! I’m selling some camera gear on eBay, click below:

It’s one of those ugly days down the beach today. It’s raining, it’s one foot, it’s onshore and there’s little or no light. I think you’ve got better things to do with your time than hang down a wintery beach today? I opted not to shoot this morning. I saw a few guys out scrapping […]

It’s big. Massive last night but has started to taper off by the time the sun rose today. It came quickly, and now it’s leaving us fast — one-hit wonder. There is still plenty of large chunks of water crashing on our shores. It’s rare to get this big around here and still be surfable. […]

I thought there’d be more swell this morning. Ian Wallace reckons it will hit at 4 pm tonight. If not, call him and complain! Haha. It wasn’t that surfable. I saw one lone wolf in the middle – he only caught one wave riding a 9-foot board. It was 4-6 foot, but they reckon on sunset it […]

I’m back. I’ve travelled far and wide this winter and had (and shot) so many incredible experiences. I always say this; it’s good to be home – Sydney is a fantastic place to live (especially when Spring is only 11 days away!). I’m staying put in Bondi now…until next winter. The sun is rising a […]

Dubrovnik…it’s like going back in time. It’s a stunning fortified city in Croatia surrounded by the idyllic Adriatic islands (which we just sailed through). The centuries-old port pretty much looks the same today as it did in the 16th century. This blows my mind…the city has had a constant stream of aggressive armies trying to take […]

While drifting through the Croatian islands, we got wind of a mythical sea cave on one of the larger islands. I showed an Insty pic of the cave to the Dinko (Captain) “I want to go here” he replied, “Da, da we go!” he recognised it instantly. Geeze, that was easier than I thought. Coincidentally we were not too […]

I’ve spent my life chasing waves in wild oceans. The Adriatic Sea is the complete opposite. It’s super calm with barely a ripple most of the time. It’s very different… Its calmness does create ridiculous underwater clarity and opportunities to swim in caves, crevices and cliffs that would not usually be achievable with swell. Think […]

Our European tour continues on the spectacular Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. We are sailing from Split to Dubrovnik, poking the boat into all the best beaches and ancient towns. Firstly, this area has so much tumultuous history I couldn’t possibly discuss it here on my morning Aquabumps rambles…but I had did have dinner in a […]

Milos is like a chunk of swiss cheese poking out of the Aegean Sea. It’s full of holes, caves, tunnels and even Catacombs. For such a small island there’s plenty to discover – and by boat is best, many caves and beaches don’t have roads. Pirates used to love this island as they could hide their […]