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Bribie Island 48.6

#4168 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇦🇺 Australia · Queensland · near Bongaree

Works almost every day, wind is the enemy here, no off season.

Works all yearIntermediate
Bribie Island, Australia
Photo: Kgbo · CC BY-SA 3.0 · source · photo taken 3.6 km from the spot
Surf score48.6 /100
Surfable days96% of the year
Clean days6% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell11% period 11 s+
Typical size1.1 m 3.5 ft median
Water24°C a rash vest or 2 mm

Best time to surf Bribie Island

The best time to surf Bribie Island is June, July, August. It rarely works. In June the water sits around 21°C, so pack a 2 mm shorty, and the typical wave is 1.1 m. The nearest airport is BNE (37 km) and the nearest town is Bongaree (5 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan98%4%1.1 m26°Cboardies
Feb100%7%1.3 m27°Cboardies
Mar99%6%1.2 m26°Cboardies
Apr92%6%1.1 m25°Cvest
May99%8%1.2 m23°Cvest
Jun90%13%1.1 m21°C2mm
Jul92%11%1.0 m20°C2mm
Aug90%11%0.9 m20°C2mm
Sep99%3%1.1 m21°C2mm
Oct100%4%1.1 m23°Cvest
Nov97%0%1.0 m25°Cvest
Dec99%3%1.1 m26°Cboardies

What is under Bribie Island

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 36 m.

Depth 8 km out36 m
Depth 4 km out31 m

Measured, not estimated: NOAA ETOPO 2022 global relief at 15 arc-seconds, about 460 m per cell, sampled along this spot’s own swell window. At that scale the survey sees passes and channels; it cannot see a reef ledge, so nothing here is said about how the wave breaks.

Why 48.6

Seven parts, each normalised 0 to 1 and multiplied by its weight; the sum is scaled so the best spot in the world scores 100. Wave quality and what the spot does on its best days carry more than half of it, which is what separates this from a ranking of where the water is warm.

Wave quality 34.7%
8.3
Best days 22.4%
8.4
Clean days 18.4%
2.3
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
4.6
Access 4.1%
4.1

The detail

Faces 70° with 44% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 55% of days. Mean peak period 8.8 s. Days over 3 m: 0%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 1.7 m, with a peak period of 11 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 60%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -27.058, 153.200 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€2,120/ month
typically €1,860 – €2,370
Rent, one bedroom€1,120
Groceries€443
Eating out€253
Getting around€150
Phone + internet€161
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€4,140/ month
typically €3,640 – €4,640
Somewhere to stay€2,440
Eating out€868
Car, transfers, fuel€564
Data + extras€264
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Airport and town on the doorstep, so the local estimate is 15% above the country average. Estimate: World Bank PPP price level for Australia (2025, United States = 1.00) applied to a fixed surfer basket, then adjusted for how remote the spot is. Your own number moves with the season and how you live.

Our own project · Sumba, Indonesia
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Sumba has eight spots in this ranking, the best of them inside the world top 50. A cabin is €11,500. The land it sits on is separate, from €6,500 (€9,950 oceanfront), on an 80-year lease that extends at the end. Water, septic and electricity are another €6,500, and furniture is on top, so a finished cabin lands around €28,000 plus the land, payable in instalments.

Eco Beach City is run by the same people as SurfRanking, so treat this as our own advert, not a recommendation. It is an off-plan property in Indonesia: take your own legal and financial advice before paying anything.

Spots nearby

Vanimo, Twin Rocks Reef🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea · score 59.0Palmetto Point🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda · score 56.9The Wall ( North Cronulla)🇦🇺 Australia · score 60.0Odomari🇯🇵 Japan · score 59.6
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