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Kingsley Beach 65.1

#2709 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇦🇺 Australia · New South Wales · near Newcastle

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

Works all yearIntermediate
Kingsley Beach, Australia
Photo: Beren Ackers · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score65.1 /100
Surfable days98% of the year
Clean days13% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell16% period 11 s+
Typical size1.7 m 5.5 ft median
Water21°C a 2 mm shorty

Best time to surf Kingsley Beach

The best time to surf Kingsley Beach is April, June, August. It rarely works. In April the water sits around 24°C, so pack a rash vest or 2 mm, and the typical wave is 1.5 m. The nearest airport is SYD (155 km) and the nearest town is Newcastle (35 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan99%7%1.6 m23°Cvest
Feb99%9%1.9 m23°Cvest
Mar99%10%1.8 m23°Cvest
Apr99%24%1.5 m24°Cvest
May96%18%1.7 m22°C2mm
Jun97%19%1.8 m21°C2mm
Jul97%14%1.9 m20°C2mm
Aug95%19%1.8 m19°C3/2
Sep99%9%1.7 m20°C2mm
Oct99%12%1.7 m20°C2mm
Nov99%8%1.6 m21°C2mm
Dec100%6%1.6 m22°C2mm

What is under Kingsley Beach

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor drops to 60 m.

Depth 8 km out60 m
Depth 4 km out33 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 65.1

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%
15.8
Best days 22.4%
14.3
Clean days 18.4%
5.6
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
3.6
Access 4.1%
2.6

The detail

Faces 160° with 58% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 81% of days. Mean peak period 9.2 s. Days over 3 m: 6%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.7 m, with a peak period of 11 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 11%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -32.788, 152.104 (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.

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.

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