WorldAustralia › Victoria › Mornington Mills & Mothers Beach

Mornington Mills & Mothers Beach 70.3

#2348 of 5756 surf spots in the world · 🇦🇺 Australia · Victoria · near Cranbourne

Works almost every day, no off season.

Works all yearIntermediate
Mornington Mills & Mothers Beach, Australia
Photo: Michael Rowe · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Surf score70.3 /100
Surfable days98% of the year
Clean days30% groundswell + friendly wind
Groundswell70% period 11 s+
Typical size1.4 m 4.5 ft median
Water16°C a 4/3 with boots

Best time to surf Mornington Mills & Mothers Beach

The best time to surf Mornington Mills & Mothers Beach is January, March, November. The season runs Mar to Mar. In November the water sits around 16°C, so pack a 4/3 with boots, and the typical wave is 1.3 m. The nearest airport is MEL (63 km) and the nearest town is Cranbourne (25 km).

MonthSurfableCleanSizeWaterSuit
Jan95%36%1.2 m19°C2mm
Feb95%33%1.2 m20°C2mm
Mar99%44%1.3 m20°C2mm
Apr99%29%1.4 m18°C3/2
May99%25%1.5 m16°C3/2
Jun99%24%1.4 m14°C4/3
Jul99%13%1.5 m12°C5/4
Aug99%18%1.7 m12°C5/4
Sep99%28%1.6 m13°C5/4
Oct95%25%1.3 m14°C4/3
Nov100%47%1.3 m16°C4/3
Dec98%33%1.2 m18°C3/2

What is under Mornington Mills & Mothers Beach

Eight kilometres out along its swell window the sea floor is still shallow, 9 m.

Depth 8 km out9 m
Depth 4 km out7 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 70.3

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%
15.0
Best days 22.4%
12.8
Clean days 18.4%
13.8
Consistency 10.2%
10.2
Season spread 4.1%
4.1
Water comfort 6.1%
1.3
Access 4.1%
3.7

The detail

Faces 310° with 36% open water around it. Friendly morning wind 43% of days. Mean peak period 12.1 s. Days over 3 m: 2%. On its best tenth of days it reaches 2.3 m, with a peak period of 14 s. Mellow days (0.4 to 1.2 m): 36%. Months that work: 12 of 12. Coordinates -38.213, 145.039 (OpenStreetMap).

What it costs to be here

Living here
€1,990/ month
typically €1,750 – €2,230
Rent, one bedroom€1,050
Groceries€416
Eating out€238
Getting around€140
Phone + internet€151
Renting by the month, cooking most days, local transport.
One month here
€3,890/ month
typically €3,420 – €4,360
Somewhere to stay€2,290
Eating out€815
Car, transfers, fuel€529
Data + extras€248
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 8% 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
Own a cabin on a surf coast in Sumba

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

Playa de La Concha🇪🇸 Spain · score 80.8Praia da Nazaré🇵🇹 Portugal · score 80.7Sucky Lefts🇦🇺 Australia · score 80.2Lookout beach🇿🇦 South Africa · score 80.8
Compare Mornington Mills & Mothers Beach with 5,700 other spots
Filters by month, level and water, map, side by side comparison and a trip planner.
Open the interactive profileMore spots good in November