It’s been a fun year together, lots of moving around and seeing new places. Thanks for tuning into Aquabumps as we complete our 18th year! I never thought my little hobby would get this far… I’m now gonna turn off the phones, laptops and cameras for a few weeks and teach my kids to do ollies […]

Yep, right on schedule…that smotherly hit yesterday arvo cooling things back down after peaking at 38 degrees. Hot wasn’t it? All stormy and grey down the beach this morning. Onshore with 0.5 footers. Today is not surfable but definitely swimmable – the North End had a little protection from the onshore wind. The next good […]

Warning: these photos may make you ditch work, strip down and float around North Bondi for the rest of the day. It is currently a whoppin’ 38 degrees outside. That’s hot and muggy in Sydney. I’m sure one of those cooling changes won’t be far away – so what are you waiting for? It’s the […]

I caught up with big wave legend Marky ‘Chalkie’ Matthews this morning. He’s been seriously injured (twice) over the past two years. His nickname ‘Chalk’ is in reference to his brittle bones that often break when you’re surfing 20 foot slabs of death. His last fall was at a nasty south coast slab that drilled […]

Yo. Warm muggy warm down there. NE swell is in town, but it’s finding it’s way in the middle bank of Bondi quick nicely. Saw a head high set there this morning and it should get bigger this arvo. Last minute Christmas shopping? We’ve got you covered. Punch in a present budget on our new […]

Sydney weather is like a wild ride on a rollercoaster. Belting hot moments flanked by smothering southerly cool changes. Repeat. Hot/Cold. Calm/Windy. Repeat. Last night was stinking hot – it felt like Singapore. One helluva thunderstorm at dinner time. This morning, howling southerly onshores, 1-2 foot NE swells, empty beaches. You’ve heard me spruiking our […]

Last night’s howling Northerlies have kicked up some wind swell. It’s not pumping, but surfable. Bondi doesn’t favour this swell direction and tends to break more in the middle than the magnetic south end. I imagine exposed beaches today would have some joy like Manly, Maroubra, Tama, Whaley etc. If you like my images you […]

Hello. Hola. Bom Dia. Ciao. I hope you’re loving this exquisite weather. Delightful ain’t it? Bondi stepped up a gear this morning…it was crazy packed at sunrise. We have visitors from all over the globe ducking down the beach to get a glimpse of our famous sunrises. Ok, some were still out from the night […]

One of the best things about my ‘job’ is that I meet around 4-5 new people every day down the beach. As you all know, Bondi is one helluva popular beach and there is a constant flow of people, all year-around. We get all types from all walks of life. Yesterday I was talking to 1-year-old […]

Yesterday was a superb beach day. Not too hot, not cold. Spent a bit of time shooting down at Clovelly yesterday, our local concrete beach. If you don’t like sand or waves at your beach, Cloey is for you. Why so much concrete? During The Great Depression, Randwick Council instituted a scheme to keep unemployed […]

We’ve had a good run the past coupla days. The surf has been pretty awesome and today the 5 am sunrise was a blaze of colour over Bondi. It’s a tad smaller today with 3-4 footers but from sunrise, it’s been super clean and hollow – pretty much everywhere I looked! Sydney loves an East swell, […]

Bondi, Tamarama, Maroubra, Manly, Avalon Everywhere is on the cook today. The planets have aligned, Christmas has come early, the winds are offshore and the swell has straightened out (now it’s dead east). Dead east means every beach along our coastline has something cooking. The fields are full of clover – go indulge. It’s gonna drop […]

Today’s quite interesting. I am not too sure what to make of it. Last night it all flipped, we now have an NE swell – and a big one. Waves look very junkie around here – but I KNOW places must be cooking right now. F.O.M.Oing quite badly here at my desk. I’d check the […]

Nothing special down the beach again this morning. Bondi has plenty of 2-4 footers but a flanking onshore is messing it up. Bondi was eerily quiet – not very summer like. Winds going offshore tomorrow, Wednesday clouds clearing. Thursday a cracker beach day. Gotta love Air New Zealand for their creativity – watch this to […]

Today is an absolutely perfect day for…for…online Christmas shopping! The beach has transformed from yesterday’s baking sunshine into onshore, rain and emptiness. The beach is all yours. Look at the bright side – the water temp will finally bounce from the frosty 15 degrees. How damn cold was it yesterday – coldest water of the […]

Hola! Onshore NE winds came early spoiling the opportunity to get wet this morning. Bondi was tiny, maybe Tama later on the low tide. The weekend looks good for surfers with plenty of NE swell. ’bout time! Our pals and local crew, The Critical Slide Society have buried a brand spanking new board on Bondi Beach. […]

Hot ain’t it? Terrific morning for a swim. The water has bumped up a couple of degrees and the water was packed with swimmers. Surfing isn’t really an option this morning. Waves are tiny as Bondi continues to neglect the dribble swell from NE. The next 3 days will be fun for surfers at exposed […]

Nice and steamy morning bringing down the crowds, early. At 6 am Bondi Beach had all manner of activities going down. It’s manic! Tiny waves dribbling on a seaweed bank. Nothing worth paddling for. Volatile weather, hot, raining, clear, thunderstorms…the full shabam. No, you’re not too late! We have time for you to place a […]

You probably already know this, but Tamarama, just over the hill from Bondi used to be an amusement park based on Coney Island (1906 it opened). A rollercoaster ran from one side of the bay to the other. Mad huh. Interest in the park waned and swimmers protested so it closed in 19011. Ok ‘Nuf […]

Couldn’t sleep a damn wink last night – it was a hot and muggy night, wasn’t it? With that restless night followed a slight sleep in until 6 am and I missed a cracker sunrise that only lasted a minute or two. So before you hit reply or msg me, “Did you get it?” Nah…I […]

Oh boy, I love this weather. It’s just perfect. The sun is out and we’re looking at 27 degrees. Get excited. The waves are less exciting. It’s not happening. I haven’t surfed a decent wave in a while now. I don’t think you will find waves until Monday evening when we’re blessed with an NE […]

Quite a warm morning down the beach. We’re looking at 25 degrees today, that’s solid. The water is still very cool (17), so you’ll need rubber. Waves – micro dribblers. Mals or over enthusiastic man grommets only. We’ve put out 3 books. THE BONDI BOOK (just on Bondi) is $50 and available online so you don’t […]

I was out of sync with the beach this morning. I woke, rode down, it rained on me, I found shelter and java, the rain stopped, I returned to the beach, it rained on me again. I sought refuge in a bus shelter, rain stopped, I went to shoot, it rained on me. Now here I […]

It’s pretty grubby out there. That nemesis onshore is ruffling our little 2-3 footers. Cloudy morning with very few people around – hope the sleep in was good! Not much to write about or shoot today… Weather is warming up towards the end of the week – beach time! :: uge

Moody kinda morning down there today. Dark, then spurts of bright light. Made for some different kind of morning shots. Wind is light onshore. Swell from the East. Junkie and uninviting (yet still surfable) conditions. Contestable conditions? …not really. Swell is coming up this afternoon but the winds are no good (onshore). Good to practice […]

No waves, today, just yet. NE swell coming with some fresh NE winds today. Maybe later. Sun poked out for a bit. The Bondi Single Fin Classic is on tomorrow. At the time of writing, there are 4 spots left in the opens and 5 spots in the grand masters (over 50s). The master’s division […]

The waves are tiny, Bondi is doing it’s best impersonation of a lake. Is it surfable, kinda…on a mal. Swimmable – very. It’s a mighty fine day – but it will change later.  Around 4 pm the clouds will increase and Thursday and Friday are rainy days. This new storm should shake up some NE […]

What-a-day! Magic. Deluxe. Exquisite. Waves – nah. 6 things random things about your ‘hood: After years and years of rumours, Justin Hemmes of Merivale has officially purchased the Royal Hotel in Bondi (Cnr of Bondi Road and Denham). He paid nearly 30 mil for the joint – the deal is done. The Royal has been there since 1904 and […]

Let’s get on the weed today!  Overnight, seaweed has taken over Bondi. In the South end I reckon it was actually acting like a bank and making a left form. Bondi is surfable – but not great. 1-2 footers, with 1 freak tube ridden by Mr. Weetman. The water is warm and relatively uncrowded. 41 […]

The weather is warming up and Bondi is a hive of activity from 5:30 am. The weekend was perfect for a visit and the sands were packed. How good has the surf been lately? 6 days in a row of good conditions. Today slots into the ‘surfable’ category…like a lot of days down here that are […]

Best morning of the week so far. The weather was deluxe, water warm, waves small but piping… I swam for 1’n’half hours with my camera in hand. I do love my job. Feel alive today. Recently I’ve been commenting on those new rent-a-bikes. Just to clarify, I am ALL FOR bike sharing 100% (I ride a […]

Conditions are looking so much better than yesterday. There is still plenty of swell, I am talking 3-4 with the odd bigger set. The sun is out and it’s shaping up to be a cracker. Swell is from the South and the wind has gone Nor-East (grooming). Nor-easter will make it dribble, and weaker (I surfed […]

Looks real bad for surfers out at Bondi. Windblown trash really at 3-4 foot. ESE winds are terrible in Sydney, they seem to affect most beaches. It’s a shame as most people were nursing their Melbourne Cup hangovers and you’d score the line up empty – well if it was surfable that is. It’s true, “Bondi […]

These soggy rainy Sydney days are a great opportunity to dig through the Terabytes of shots taken on recent trips. If I stopped shooting I feel I would have enough supply to show you something every day, for years! (Don’t worry, I am not going anywhere – I love shooting, you know it). Grab a […]

The planets finally lined up and the surf has come to the party. Bondi had some super fun waves and a massive morning crowd. Very difficult to snag a wave sans shoulder huggers. Light winds, 3 footers and a warm day ahead. Enjoy it, as tomorrow is cold and 19. The swell is fading fast, I […]

I was getting all excited about today, put time aside to paddle out and sample some for myself… on paper, it looked good, offshore and building south swell (8 foot tonight). Benny from Coastalwatch was even classifying today in the ‘EPIC’ range. So there I was, waxing my 7’2″ Rhino (thinking I would be doing […]

Hmmn, an interesting morning. Really different. The light seemed to be blue. Everything had a cool kelvin temp.  It was sunny, then cloudy, then sunny (all in 1 hour). It even rained on me, whilst still being sunny. It was dead calm early then 10 minutes later howling. It’s cold, I am wearing a jumper […]

Well, that was a biggie. Yesterday was the perfect storm down at Bondi – Sculptures, 31 degrees and a Sunday. Huge crowd madness. Watch my little video if you don’t believe me. Today Bondi is pieced back together and all back to normal. Waves – 1 footers, not even. Winds are NNW (good for Bondi) but […]

I reckon Bondi is probably one of the most consistently surfable beaches in Australia – if not the world. Surfable doesn’t mean the best or pumping, just meaning you can paddle out, a wave will push you and maybe the opportunity to lay a hack will present itself. Bondi faces South, which is the dominant […]

It is still surfable just not pleasurable. Take the mal for a spin as it’s dropped another gear overnight. Knee high waves were common, waist high sets rare. Clouds have crammed in over the bay and rain continues to threaten. Expect a few thunderstorms and rain overnight. It’s happening. The Bondi Single Fin Contest is […]