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Fraser Island 50.7

#4009 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇦🇺 Australia · Queensland · near Hervey Bay

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

Works all yearWarm waterRemoteIntermediate
Fraser Island, Australia
Photo: Lucas·G · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score50.7 /100
Surfable days99% of the year
Clean days3% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell9% period 11 s+
Typical size1.4 m 4.6 ft median
Water24°C a rash vest or 2 mm

Best time to surf Fraser Island

The best time to surf Fraser Island is June, July, August. It rarely works. In August the water sits around 21°C, so pack a 2 mm shorty, and the typical wave is 1.2 m. The nearest airport is BNE (270 km) and the nearest town is Hervey Bay (62 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan100%2%1.4 m27°Cboardies
Feb98%3%1.7 m27°Cboardies
Mar99%2%1.7 m27°Cboardies
Apr98%2%1.6 m26°Cboardies
May100%4%1.7 m24°Cvest
Jun99%6%1.4 m22°Cvest
Jul99%6%1.4 m21°C2mm
Aug99%9%1.2 m21°C2mm
Sep100%1%1.3 m22°C2mm
Oct100%4%1.2 m24°Cvest
Nov100%0%1.2 m25°Cboardies
Dec99%2%1.5 m26°Cboardies

What is under Fraser Island

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor sits over 48 m.

Depth 8 km out48 m
Depth 4 km out38 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 50.7

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%
10.4
Best days 22.4%
12.0
Clean days 18.4%
1.1
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
4.9
Access 4.1%
1.1

The detail

Faces 40° with 53% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 38% of days. Mean peak period 8.5 s. Days over 3 m: 2%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.3 m, with a peak period of 10 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 34%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -24.963, 153.339 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,560/ month
typically €1,380 – €1,750
Rent, one bedroom€824
Groceries€327
Eating out€187
Getting around€110
Phone + internet€119
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,060/ month
typically €2,690 – €3,430
Somewhere to stay€1,800
Eating out€642
Car, transfers, fuel€416
Data + extras€196
Short stays, eating out, a car or transfers.
49% cheaper if you live here instead of visiting

Remote spot, so the local estimate is 15% below 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.

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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

Praia do Silveira🇧🇷 Brazil · score 53.9Pump House🇺🇸 United States of America · score 54.1Ekie Island🇯🇵 Japan · score 56.1North Haven🇦🇺 Australia · score 55.7
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