Explore / Australia · New South Wales
Port Macquarie.
Now
· updated 12 hours ago1.5-2m southeast swell at 7-8 seconds holds through early week under moderate southeast wind, peaking Wednesday under moderate conditions before dropping to 1.3m Thursday as wind shifts north and goes blown-out. A fresh 1.5-2m south swell at 7-11 seconds arrives Friday under blown-out northwest wind, building to 2.6m by Wednesday under strong west-northwest wind. Looks like Tuesday dawn under light wind will be the best window before the northwest wind picks up.
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About Port Macquarie
Port Macquarie sits on the mid-north coast of New South Wales at the mouth of the Hastings River, ~390 km north of Sydney, roughly halfway between Sydney and Brisbane. The lineup is mostly beach breaks and breakwall corners. Town Beach runs right off the North Breakwall, Flynns Beach is the patrolled foamie zone, and Shelly Beach sits just south of the headland. Lighthouse Beach is the 9 km open stretch running south-east to Lake Cathie, where Middle Rock is the area’s one real reef-point. The 2023 Australian Surf Championships ran here. WSL events skip the town.
May and June are classic for the Mid-North, and June through August is the most consistent swell window off Tasman Sea lows. Summer adds short Coral Sea cyclone pulses. The working window is south-east to east. A typical day is 1 to 2 m with periods between 8 and 14 s. The clean wind is west to south-west through winter, offshore at every break. The north-east sea breeze fills most summer afternoons. That’s when Lighthouse, facing south-east, pays off. It shelters from the wrong wind when the rest of town is blown out.
Water sits at 19 to 20 °C in August, 24 to 25 °C in February, a few degrees warmer than Sydney. A 3/2 covers winter, springsuit or boardies through summer. Rips on Lighthouse work hard, especially through the gutters between the bars. Crowds are light by Sydney or Gold Coast standards, especially at weekday dawn. Sharks are present, as on every NSW beach. 2024 saw a serious white shark attack on a local at Lighthouse, the first there in roughly a decade. Don’t surf alone at dawn or dusk in the murky months. When the swell is small and the wind is wrong everywhere else, Lighthouse or Shelly is the move.