To live near the beach...or not.

Great topic Spookypt, in fact I was about to post something similar as I've recently moved house and the transition is interesting.

For the last five years I've been fortunate enough to live in a beautiful apartment right on the beach (Sydney, Northern Beaches) however with our second baby imminent we had to make the decision to move into a bigger house.

Prior to this I've always lived very close to, if not right on the beach (another spot on the Northern Beaches, plus the Gold Coast and Adelaide).

Unfortunately, housing prices on the Northern Beaches are astronomical - renting or buying - so we've had to move away from any potential beachside locations. However, we did score some good luck and managed to move into a new place that's still relatively close ('bout a kay and a half as the crow flies, but with a couple of challenging hilly section for a pushy).

Anyway, what I've noticed is that I'm actually surfing more, now that I don't live right on the beach. In my experience, I found I was rather picky - having the ability to walk a few paces to check the surf means I'd always um and ahh about the tide, the wind, lots of little things like that.

But now that I have to make the effort to get to the beach every day (for the daily surf report, or just to surf) means that my thinking has changed - it's more like "bugger it, I'm here so I'll paddle out and deal with it". And with the surf forecasts and live buoy data I know which mornings I'll be surfing and which ones I won't.

And this is all a good thing for me, as previously I found I was surfing very little for someone who was fortunate enough to live right on the beach (my hectic work schedule probably not helping much either..).

FWIW, if I wasn't doing a daily surf report I reckon it'd be possible to live even further from the beach (don't tell my wife that!) and still surf just as consistently, by using the reports, forecasts and surfcams. Sure it's great to be right on the beach but the prices are just phenomenal.

I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience?

Absolutely Ben. We moved at the end of last year. Before that we were living in a place on a hill with a view not only of the ocean but of the actual line up. I could quite literally check the surf without getting out of bed! What it did at times was to induce some kind of weird paralysis. We would sit there looking at it trying to pick exactly the right moment and end up not surfing at all.
We now actually live closer to the water but with no view so I go, look and, as you say, probably just jump in anyway.

The last three years living in WA, my house was right on top of a point. Could see the waves from the balcony, literally jump the back fence, run down the sand hill and be in the lineup within a minute. Sure used to surf a lot, working even time rosters I had the break to myself on weekdays more often than not. But it made me lazy in the pursuit of other waves, I hardly surfed other breaks in the area, even the ones within a 2km stretch let alone the ones 10 mins down the road.

Now that I'm back in SA I still live close to the beach but down in a basin so I have to get out and about to check the surf. Nothing like a morning bike ride up a killer steep hill to get the blood flowing. The other thing is that the waves around here are spread far and wide so driving long distances is the only option to score good waves, so driving has brought the adventure back into my surfing experience. That in itself outways any of the bonuses of living at the water's edge.

The other great bonus is now I can grow a decent veggie patch.

Spooky Pt,

My experience is similar to the above commenters. For almost ten years I could check Cronulla Point while laying in bed: I'd hitch myself onto my elbow to scan the waves....then more often than not go back to sleep. Proximity induces laziness and, as BB says, a futile wait for perfection. I haven't lived there for nigh on ten years but I'm not surfing any less because of it.

If you're gonna live away from the coast I'd recommend getting acquainted with online tools. Bookmark the Bureau of Meteorology's 'latest observations' page for your coast. Pay close attention for wind shifts and the like. Do it regularly and you'll get a better grasp of wind patterns at the macro level then what you observe out front.

Yeah I've got a killer veggie patch too!

Who would have thought; for once I agree with Blindboy. At the moment, I'm in the unfortunate situation living far from any line up or ocean view. So keeping track of buoy stats, maps, charts and predictions has become essential, just as the "let's just make the most of it" attitude, once I get to the beach to see my predications couldn't be more wrong. Actually improved my surfing as I really put an effort in making the most out of nothing. Good luck with the transition Spookypt!

Wow, I am full of envy reading all of the above posts, I have never lived closer than a 20 minute drive from the closest surf break and often an hour away. You guys have lived a charmed life. PT you say you are flexible on where you live but guess its going to be between a 15 to 20 minute drive to the surf. The move is so you and your family will have more space.

I have often dreamt about moving to the coast and from what I have seen with coastal development between Victoria and far north Queensland over the last 30 years I doubt now whether I would want to actually live on the coast preferring instead to find some beautiful valley or town in the coastal hinterland to settle down to i.e. your 15-20 minute drive. Very importantly however I would choose a place without a through road or highway meaning you drive in and out of that place on the same road. This is important as its these places that avoid over development relative to others areas that have a through road and are therefore cherry ripe for a Maccas, Red Rooster and Hungrey Jacks on every corner. There are places off the main drag like this in every state and often they aren't that far from major country/coastal townships with all their amenities and employment.

The only other comment I would make is Tasmania and perhaps the south coast of NSW could possibly provide everything you are looking for without the 15-20 minute drive.

Good luck mate, hoping you find your little piece of paradise.

YEAH Spookypt, go for it get out of there.
I live up in the hinterland and can get to Burliegh in 20mins on a good run, 35-40 up to TOS and 30 to cooly.
We love it up here, we get the best of both worlds, bush and wildlife or the ocean to play in.
I know what it is like down your ways and there is no way I would trade places, always hundreds of eyes watching your every move. Come to think about it there are thousands of little eyes up here in the bush too.:)
Like everyone has said in the above comments, making that effort usually makes you go for a surf.

A good reliable car that is cheap to run on petrol is a big help.
You have picked a vast coastline to live, I hope it works for you and your family, as long as mums happy.

It takes me 3 hours to fly to a wave now and I froth harder then ever. No matter what the surf is doing I am all over it, same sort of experience as the other guys used to live right on the water and was ultra picky with what conditions I surfed in.
Seems like I am living further and further from the waves every year but getting hungrier and hungrier when I do go for a surf.
Probably have a physical and emotional break down when we finally move back to a wave rich coast.

I'd be real careful about moving away from the coast, seen quite a few cash in their chips and move 20-30 min inland , 90% give up surfing after a few years, but most of them did it to get a nicer house and new cars.
It's a lifestyle thing, don't you want your kid to grow up a block from the beach like you did.

Spookypt, there's agood chance that we might know each other.

I lived right on Main Beach Pde. for years and years and surfed mostly Narrowneck, the beachies up near the Sheraton, the Spit and TOS. I always paddled to TOS or if I was lucky, my mate would pick me up in his runabout in the creek running along McIntosh Is.

Occaisionally I would surf Burleigh or the southern points or for a change of scenery, hit it up over the border or do a camping trip to Moreton or North Straddie.

I also lived in Sydney for 10 years on the north shore (Lane Cove) so had to drive a fair ways to get surf, usually around Mona Vale, Curl Curl, Long Reef.

Now, I live about a 10 minute drive from 3 or 4 spots and I have an ocean view from my window. Good for checking conditions and swell but I can't see the waves. So I've kinda had most situations. Beachfront, a short drive and a considerable drive.

I'm kind of along the lines of the above posters. When I lived on the Goldie I could look out the window or go up to the roof and check the surf in an instant. Often I would check 3 or 4 times before I decided to go out or give it a miss.

Now, I have a routine, surf report or not, where I get up and drive down just to have a look. From there I can gauge what conditions are like up and down the coast and it's not unusual for me to surf locally or drive an hour to seek out the best waves. Also, having to make the effort more, I'm usually more inclined to go out. Even if it's shitty i night get one or two decent waves or sections or pull a decent turn and I go home happy. Living across the road from waves made me very selective and quite often I wouldn't bother.

I'm kinda with Welly, as I'm getting older I don't mind driving to get waves and I'd rather be in a natural setting with a bit more elbow room. When I return to Oz I'm looking at buying land on the Gold or Sunny coast hinterland and hopefully within about an hour of the beach. With technology these days you can get a pretty fair idea of what you're looking at so you can make a calculated guess as to where and when you'll surf.

Failing that, if you've driven half an hour to get a surf in on a stinking hot day you might get that one gem of a wave and go home stoked.

Since i started surfing ive lived in Vic, Tassie, NSW, QLD (Goldie, Sunny coast and Fraser island) and in about 20+ houses/units some places i could check the surf from my bed, some a 5 or 10 min walk or bike ride, some a 5-10 min drive but only once an hour from the beach in west Sydney.

I actually moved back to Victoria from Queensland because I couldn't afford to buy a reasonable distance from the beach, while now i have my own place about a 10-15 minute walk from the beach (5 minute bike ride) or about 1-2 minutes in the car, which I think is the perfect distance as like has been mentioned if you live right on the beach you often don't surf anywhere else which can actually cause you to miss out. (not to mention the salt kills your house) mostly im lazy and drive to the beach but in summer its good to take the bike especially for a late surf on a hot summer day.

I couldn't live to far from the beach as for me its not just about the act of surfing itself, but i almost need to see the ocean everyday and there is something special just about checking the surf and just keeping an eye on banks shaping up or just smelling the salt air and seeing the oceans horizon or taking the dog for a walk with the missus, all totally underrated stuff its also a place i bump into people who i rarely see anywhere else, so there is a social aspect to it.

Actually I don't even think its a surfing thing even if i gave up surfing i don't think id ever give up the hanging at the beach thing, like they said Michael peterson was, he gave up surfing long long long before he died but i believe he still was often sighted sitting looking out into the ocean from places like Kirra hill.

That would be a pretty big move from Main beach Gold Coast to country Tassie, totally like black and white.

I love Tassie good vibe and people and its great geographically and has some of the best set ups in Australia but even as a Victorian I couldn't move back there even compared to Victoria the winters are longer summers not real hot and the water freezing.

hmmm and i thought you were from Angourie.

spookypt you need to speak with braithy if considering a tassie move.

Last visited Tassie in early March 2 years ago. Spent 3 weeks on the east coast and only saw 2 other surfers in the water, saw plenty of waves though. I reckon hooking up with some locals for water company would be a good idea, plenty of isolated reefs along way from anywhere for a lone surfer.

Ha, walked into Wineglass Bay on a warm day and by the time we made it to the beach I was so hot I striped off and jumped in .... bang, instant ice-cream headache. Water as cold as late winter in Victoria for sure.

Beautiful place. I hope to be back there in early 2014. Hoping next time I don't stumble on any of those stumpy black tiger snakes like last time!!

I grew up at least an hour from a coast with any chance of a wave, the old boy hates the sea so I rarely got to go the beach let alone learn how to surf. I always wanted to surf so it wasn't until I was older I could get into it, my surfing will probably never be as good as it could have been.
I surfed my local last night with one other fella, it wasn't epic by any means long wait between sets, but it is fun when there is hardly anyone around. I was talking to the other fella he lived about hr half an hour away, me two mins on my bike. After I was home, I washed my wettie,cracked a beer and thought about the other fella probably sitting at traffic lights, and how I probably wouldn't have bothered driving a half hour based on the forecast or reports. The only reason I got out was because I drive past the beach on my way home, saw it, saw no one was around and thought fuck it why not. I would love a little country hideaway up in the hills, but I would find it hard to leave the coast I love it too much. In saying that my house does cop a hammering from the salt that is one downside. So personally I would surf less if I lived away from the coast.

Hey spookypt
I've done some research on people going to the beach, the dropoff rate as you get further from the shoreline is pretty dramatic. Vast majority of visits come from people who live within 750m.
Dedicated surfers are a bit different, they seem to be willing to drive up to 20mins each way and still visit a lot.
TBH I think the number of kids you have affect surfing more than how far away you live, up to a point.

I agree with that Dave. I live inland (2 1/2 hours from where I surf). I have got back into surfing in a big way over the last few years. Now both my kids have flown the coop I have been hitting the coast nearly every weekend (all winter, even investing in a 4/3). It helps my youngest is in Geelong (good excuse to visit) but not having to be a chaffuer has certainly increased my time in the water. But going back to earlier posts from those lucky enough to prop up on an elbow to check the surf, I have become an ardent forecast checker and have found myself deciding not to go surfing on the weekend as early as Wednesday because it "didn't look good enough" :(

It's the dilema many of us face once we catch that surfing bug. Probably more so the crew that started surfing a little late as a result of growing up away from the beach and having friends / family / job oppertunities in these land locked places.

Although I totally relate and empathise with your situation Spooky, I get the feeling alot of people on here seem the need to justify that move away from the beach with the fact that they 'froth harder than ever before' etc etc. All this is probably true but maybe for the fact for the vast majority of us we want what we can't have.

I definitely agree that living right on the coast can make you a little choosey with the surf but resigning yourself to weekend warrior status due to distance or time restrictions will only result in one thing for most and that's less time in the water.

I currently live in Northern NSW and the fact that I can take advantage of that uncrowded mid week surf or those 3 day mid week swells does it for me.

Its a really hard one. Surfing can be a very self centred and obsessive sport and I admit that it was like that for me years ago (and I guess at times still can). Stints living away in places like Townsville and London has taught me that there's more to life however.

I guess its a matter of what makes you (and your family) most happy? Is it the waves? Is it lack of crowds? Is it your job? Is it where you live and trying to weight all that up. Definitely a tough one.

For what its worth Tazzy does sound like an excellent adventure and sounds like you've got nothing to loose if you go and try it.

Spookpt - Good on you mate I reckon. I think its quite noble and bold that you're willing to try something new given your primary thoughts are your wife and child. Who knows you may grow to love that cold water thing................winter swells, perfect reef setups, noone out.

I've always said that I'm more than happy with at least 2 good surfs a week. Granted although I may surf more than this a week, not every week will I get those 'good' 2 surfs. So wherever you end up I'm sure that if there's good conditions, the lack of crowds will enable you to enjoy your surfs alot more than a good day at crowded TOS.

I'm actually packing up myself, the wife and 6 month old at the end of year in a campervan and doing a lap around Oz myself. Who know what amazing places we will find?

When it comes down to it surfing is a pretty selfish pastime and for most of us being a good parent means a lot less time in the water. The number of dedicated surfers who have lost the time or ability to surf regularly(or at all) due to family reasons would be immense. I doubt they will ever lose their love for surfing, they've probably just found something they love more. I reckon it sounds like a great plan spooky and the benefits will far outweight the negatives, especially when you believe its in the best interests of your family.
The most important factor I would look for in a new home is the quality of waves when it is on. I would rather surf once every few weeks at a barreling, thumping reef break with a few guys than surf every day in average gutless beachies with a couple of hundred.
It's easy for us to get too comfortable in the evironment we live in. The best things I've ever done have always come from stepping out of the box and trying something new. If you dont like it you can always come back but if you dont try you'll always be thinking 'what if'.

Hey spookypt, your 15 minutes seems like luxury to me. I'll always identify myself as a surfer, regardless of whether I'm actually catching many waves.
I'm currently living over an hour's drive from my nearest 'surfable' beach ('surfable' in inverted commas, because that beach is the notorious Middleton (Dribbleton) in SA). Prior to that I was living on my grandparents property up on the NSW north coast, which had an uninterrupted view of Lennox Point (although it was about 10km away as the crow flies).
It's taken a lot of getting used to - whereas before I was surfing 4-5 times a week, now I'm limited to once a fortnight if I'm lucky, hence 'surfstarved'. The arrival of my two kids 5 & 3 years ago respectively meant my opportunities to sneak away for the dawn raid are even more limited.
About two and a half years ago I decided that I needed to increase my surf quota somehow, even if I couldn't get to the beach more often, so I set about converting my shed into a shaping bay and now at least I can escape to my mancave and carve away at a lump of foam and imagine myself using it to catch a wave. It's not exactly the same, but I'll take what I can get.

Tasmania is an epic place. But I have seen a few people move here from warmer climates and not last one winter season before returning whence they came.

Sounds like a great trip you have planned spookypt. For what it's worth kids can improve your surf stoke on many levels, one being getting you in the water even if it's onshore and half a foot.

I hope you and your family find the place you are looking for.

thinking about living in the hills eh .... giving up the surf culture completely because nobody in the hills looks like a surfer until they tie a board onto their car, walking away from the carpark cloisters because you have a half hour ride to get home, forgetting what it's like to watch a southerly buster travel up the coast because you're too busy tying down the tomatoes, buying a guitar and meeting a few of the old boys on tuesday night at the local hall, never smoking a joint with a wet end, learning how to handle a sighted rifle and a dog trap, thinking maybe now's the time to write a few things down, just for yourself, that way you'll never forget.
It aches for a while, leaving the lover, but any hilltop will do for a look at her, so stay close enough for that.

living here 15 min away from cronulla beach kind of sucks except its right next to highway to go south coast or city and work. nearest beaches and reefs are good quality but always crowded and even groms have aggro localism pretty often.
next to highway is good as there national park reefs and beaches 30 min away and better reefs 1-3 hours away.

If i could move and find work it would be one of these- Forster -seal rocks area, or crooked river to batemans bay stretch somewhere. Its just that in most of those beach towns the locals get lucky to find work locally and often travel for hours to get to work or sleep on trains on way to work.
If your a blow in starting a good business would be good for you and give jobs to local kids imo. good move.

I have a friend who lives near shipsterns (Dover) although he might be bitter he seems always pale and pasty, already wealthy (not sure why he moved there, he loves fly fishing i guess), he says the locals seems like the highest goal in life is to win Keno at the pub.

added note, look after your car if moving away from coast.

Agree! No car at the moment! Sucks big time! The 971 bus goes passed my place to Cronulla Station but dragging a board, wettie and all the goodies that fill your car boot sure add up in weight. A long trudge just to the Alley and the Grom fest is a bit off putting LOL

Born and bred in Cronulla virtually on the beach at Eloura just a few houses down from the beach front 50's to 70's. Moved to Sylvania, about 15 mins drive late 70's but nothing in the scheme of things. Still get down for a wave when I can, variety of beachies, point and reef breaks, KP, Voodoo, Shark Island and the Point amongst others nestled away.

groundswell wrote:

added note, look after your car if moving away from coast.

Interesting thread.

At the moment I have to drive 40 minutes through city traffic each way to surf 1-2ft crappy metro waves. I hate it. If I take public transport it takes around 80 minutes from the time I leave my house.

I would really love to be living within walking distance, or at least biking distance (3-4km carrying board and wetty is about my limit) of a decent surf break. Nothing epic, just somewhere half consistent with a few 2-3ft peaks most days to have some fun with.

I'm renting at the moment and aside from the distance to the beach, the house is in an amazing area very leafy green, safe, quiet streets, close to my work and friends (all within easy cycling distance). So it's not all bad.

But I'm coming to that stage in my life when I am thinking about buying and building somewhere. I've been doing my research for the past 18 months and it has really shocked me how expensive land, not to mention building, costs are in Australia even in small towns away from the main urban centres. Ideally I don't want to live a life of being destroyed by crushing debt, I am happy to have a small and simple house as long as it is in a good area close to a surf break and I can find some form of employment/income that will allow me to have a basic, yet comfortable lifestyle. Having to pay $400,000+ for this is way beyond my reach without taking out a massive loan.

I hate the idea of having to own and use a car just to go for a scrap around at my local, but it seems like I will have to take this chance so I can get some nice land just away from the coast that isn't too expensive. Lots of crew around Margs surf everyday and they all have to drive 20-30 minutes to get to a decent wave too.

Another option is forming a housing/land collective/cooperative which is something I am also investigating. Obviously this approach is a bit more complicated and needs to be implemented correctly to address issues such as land ownership and management, planning and building approvals etc. It helps that I work in this field, so it's not too daunting.

E.g. buy a block of undeveloped bush land between 6 people (ideally three couples), subdivide equally or create shared title (a bit more paperwork). Create a common building with shared communal resources. Then build small 1-2 bedroom cottages (Eco-dome etc) for each party (hence why couples are ideal, rather than 6 buildings) which will cost around $30k each residence if built DIY and also buying materials and tools in bulk to be shared. It will also be possible to collectivise generation and harvesting of electricity and water, e.g. through a jointly owned solar panel array and water storage tanks (again there's issues with resource management but it can be achieved). FInal price we've estimated, including land, building materials, taxes, fees, approvals, engineering etc will work out to be around $80k per person. At this rate it would be possible for the average person with some sensible, frugal savings habits on a moderate income to pay this outright in cash after saving money for 2-4 years or getting a private loan from family to avoid going to the banks.

Thoughts?

ED: Just reading some of the comments about how being further away will make you more keen, I have to agree with this even if it is a massive PITA to travel so long for your daily surf. I can name a number of sessions I have had recently where I the forecast was dicey, I took a punt at it, made the trek, arrived to find the surf totally crap. So I think to myself that since I invested this precious time from my weekend and fuel, not to mention getting out of bed on a sunday at 5am, just to come and check it, I may as well just go out for a paddle to stretch the arms and get wet. On more than one occasion the surf has actually improved significantly as the morning went on (swell increased, winds turned, tides chance etc) so for an hour I am surfing 1ft closeouts and then the rest of the morning I am surfing this awesome fun bowling 2ft bank all to myself because the crowds are down as other people have also skipped on it. I end up having a great session simply because I wasn't expecting anything and was keen enough to hang around and have a crack. Usually when I am in this mindset I will surf better too, it also helps having less/no crowds as there's no rush or stress.

@ crankitupto11, I saw a cool documentary a few weeks ago where a few families in europe did exactly that, pretty cool idea, not enough thinking outside of the box these days, but concil and government are also to blame with so many rules and regulations.

if only we could have floating houses like banyaks and playgorunds, do they pay money to the govt Indo dreaming you think?

Edit - cronulla surfing we should surf somewhere sometimes if we're both free ive probably seen you around. ill add you on facebook.

Dont know I don't think they do (well technically dont think they need to, but perhaps in indo style have to pay someone) as ive talked to a local friend about doing a fish farm and he never mentioned any need to pay government, those set ups are kind of an evolution from fish farms where they basically just make big floating rafts with nets in the middle where they farm fish and they have a shed to hang and put things in and they have just taken the idea a step further, that one in banyaks is a local guys and one in playgrounds is originally a fish farm (i don't know if its still there, i dont recall seeing it last time was there)

BTW. what about house boats?....I had friends that owned and lived in a houseboat at the back of Fraser island, they actually both still worked on land, they had a mooring they had to pay for, but i think they ended up ditching it as was open to bad (SE) winds, and ended up just anchoring here there and everywhere, pretty cool.

ha ha...a google search of "building a house boat" comes up with some pretty cool stuff like this

http://retirementfortherestofus.com/building-a-houseboat/

http://weburbanist.com/2008/02/20/17-extreme-houseboats-and-houseboat-de...

I'm sure you have somewhere out in the water, the old guy that sits way out waiting for the bombs LOL and currently riding a stock 6' 5" Simon thruster. Ignore the Southside Malibu cap in the avatar pic, that is a freebee from their sponsor :D

groundswell wrote:

if only we could have floating houses like banyaks and playgorunds, do they pay money to the govt Indo dreaming you think?

Edit - cronulla surfing we should surf somewhere sometimes if we're both free ive probably seen you around. ill add you on facebook.

Spoken to a mate who surfs, he plans to live on the water once he is up and running but he never had children, their schooling, medical etc etc Good idea none the less with the coastal land prices, even the remote ones, all but bought out or excessively expensive. Some of these Houseboat are awesome! Jump in a tinnie or Jetski off to your nearest break, too easy.

indo-dreaming wrote:

ha ha...a google search of "building a house boat" comes up with some pretty cool stuff like this

http://retirementfortherestofus.com/building-a-houseboat/

http://weburbanist.com/2008/02/20/17-extreme-houseboats-and-houseboat-de...

It's a great laugh reading this.. And also makes me greatly depressed knowing that for some of you living away from the beach means living less than two clicks from the sand. Im an hour to the dude coast and two to a decent one.

Tassie is great but living by the coast is tough, n the east at least, not much n the way of work regardless of the industry and I haven't mt a single girl down there for decades. In early September I was surfing a three foot swell mid week wi twenty blokes and it was minus four degrees... It's tough. Conversely, I have surfed perfect two hundred meter well overhead rights by myself on more occasions than I can count. Some of the better spots are the sharkiest and the most remote. Nothing beats the brilliant feeling of driving west into a pink sunset through gorgeous forests after scoring pumping winter waves, all rugged up with the heater cranked up full... Almost makes me sad winter is over.

@ dandandan Where you live im guessing Launceston?

Hour to Tamoshanter, two to east coast, surfed Tamoshanter heaps and East coast.

Use to camp out on the point at tamoshanter as a grommet, there was a hut on the point and we kept a fire going all day and almost all night, average waves but good memories.

Unreal Spookypt! Glad it all worked out.

Well Done mate

Sweet. Lovely area.

Sunny hinterland on my short list of where I'll return to in Oz.

Thanks for the update.

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Good on him, I remember that the Cordingley brothers of early WA boardmaking fame (factory 329 Hay St if you can picture that today!) ended up in Darwin or other part of the NT...

He looks the part!