Surf Trip to Yallingup: Where to Surf, Sleep, Eat (and a Rest-Day Detour)

Surfing has been part of my life since before I knew what furniture was.

Photo: Lasthib, CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

I moved to Yallingup in 1982 to apprentice with a local furniture maker. The surf was a serious part of the equation. Forty years later I still surf, still live on Blythe Rd, and most weeks I paddle out at one of the same handful of breaks I started at. So here is a surf trip guide written by someone who is not selling you a surf school. Just a list of what is worth doing if you are coming down with boards strapped to the roof.

There are dozens of surfable breaks between Yallingup and Margaret River. These are the ones worth a foreign visitor knowing about, in roughly the order I would send a mate to try them.

The local point. Reef break, left and right peaks, works on most southwest swells. Best at three to five feet and a southeast wind. Crowded on a weekend but the locals are mostly friendly if you are reading the lineup. The takeoff is steeper than it looks from the carpark. Watch a set before you paddle. Yallingup Beach the way I play it

Photo: David Stanley, CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Supertubes is the right-hander at the southern end of Smiths. Heavy, hollow, sand-bottom. When it is on, it is one of the best waves in the southwest. When it is off, it is closeouts. The middle of Smiths has consistent beach break that is friendlier, good for an improver who wants more than a learner break. the Smiths Beach write-up

About ten minutes south of Smiths. Two main waves: the Point is a long left that handles size, and the Carpark is a punchy peak that breaks closer in. Both pick up more swell than Yalls or Smiths, so when everywhere else is too small, Injidup is often the call. Access is via a rough track. High-clearance vehicle is helpful but not essential.

Up the northern end past Yallingup. Three reef breaks in a row: Mama, Papa, Baby. Mama is the easiest. Papa is the most consistent. Baby is the wave for big days. The walk in keeps the crowds down. Allow twenty minutes from the carpark.

The Margaret River Pro break. About forty minutes from Yallingup. Heavy reef, handles solid size, advanced only when it is over six feet. On smaller days, the Box and Suicides are nearby and worth a paddle. rest days during the Pro

Twenty minutes south of Yallingup. South Point is the long right, Huzzas is the punchy left, Lefthanders is the named left further south. South Point on a clean swell with light wind is as good as it gets in WA.

If it is your first time:

• Beginners: Yallingup Beach inside the reef on a small day. Or take a lesson. Yallingup Surf School operates from the main carpark.
• Improvers: Smiths beachies on a small to medium day.
• Intermediate: Yalls reef on a clean small-to-medium day, or Injidup Carpark.
• Advanced: Anywhere on the list. Pick your day.

The wind forecast is more important than the swell forecast down here. A two-foot swell with light easterlies will be better than a six-foot swell with a southwesterly chop. Reading the Yallingup surf cam is the morning routine; check Seabreeze or Willyweather alongside it before you commit.

Three main options depending on budget and how seriously you want to surf:

Both are walking distance from their respective breaks. Smiths is the more upscale option. Yallingup Beach Resort has older self-contained units that work well for a surf trip: somewhere to hang wetsuits, store boards, and cook. Book early in summer and Easter.

The grand old building just up from Yallingup Beach. Mid-range. Walk to the beach, decent food downstairs, lawn for the after-surf beer.

The cheapest way to do a surf trip with three or four mates is a house in Dunsborough or one of the older bush-block places on the back roads around Yallingup. You will need a car. Most of these have outdoor showers, which is what you actually want on a surf trip.

Surf trips burn through calories. The places I send people:

• Yallingup General Store. Toasties, coffee, simple lunch. Sit on the bench out front.
• Caves House Hotel. Counter meals, lawn, kid-friendly. The pub at the back is the local.
• Bunkers Beach Cafe (over at Bunker Bay). Best post-surf breakfast in the region. Get there before nine on a weekend.
• The Common Margaret River. Bigger nights out: small plates, good wine list. Drive in.
• The Studio Bistro (Yallingup). Fancier than the rest, worth it for one dinner. Booking essential.

The Margaret River Bakery in town is the no-fuss option: vanilla slice and a coffee after a session.

Photo: Lasthib, CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Every surf trip has a day when the wind switches and nothing is working. Here is what I would do.

Morning. Cape to Cape walk. Park at Sugarloaf carpark, walk south towards Canal Rocks. It is a couple of hours return, easy terrain, and you get to look at the coast you have been surfing from a different angle.

Lunch. Bunkers Beach Cafe or Yallingup General Store.

Afternoon. Come find me at the gallery. The workshop window is open most days and there is something to look at if you have any interest in how things are made. Even if you do not, the building stays cool, Pamela curates the space well, and you can pick up something that does not need batteries or a charger. Injidup’s natural spa, properly

If the wind is up and the surf is unsurfable, the gallery is a good rest-day stop. Solid jarrah walls, southwest limestone, a working workshop you can watch through the front window. Open most days. Google Maps sometimes misdirects via Wildwood Rd — stay on Bussell Hwy, turn at the Carbunup store, then Blythe Rd.

Late afternoon. Drive to Canal Rocks for sunset. Bring a towel. If the spa at Injidup is firing on a clean day you might want a soak before dark.

Coming from interstate or overseas, here is what trips people up:

• Wetsuit. All year. Even in February, dawn paddles are 18 degrees. Winter (July–September) is full 3/2 minimum, hood optional.
• Boards. Bring a step-up if you have one. WA swell punches above its forecast size. A 6'2" shortboard, a 6'8" step-up, and a board you can ride on small days will cover most things.
• Booties. The reef at Yalls and Three Bears will cut you. Worth it.
• A second leash. You will lose one on a reef break.
• Tropical wax. Useless. Bring cool to cold water wax.

The southwest of WA is on the Indian Ocean and picks up swell from low-pressure systems south of the continent. Swell direction matters:

• South swell lights up the cape breaks (Yalls, Smiths).
• Southwest swell wraps in everywhere. The main producer.
• West swell is rare but lights up Three Bears and the bigger reefs.

Wind:

• East / southeast is offshore for most breaks on the cape. The morning wind.
• South / southwest is onshore for the cape breaks. Move to the north-facing beaches (Bunker Bay).
• North is rare and means a front is coming.

The pattern most days in summer is light offshore in the morning, sea breeze building from late morning, full onshore by mid-afternoon. Surf the dawn and dusk. Eat lunch when the wind is up.

The local crew at Yalls have surfed it forever. Hassling for waves does not work. Watch the lineup, take your turn, give a wave when one comes your way that you do not need. It is the same etiquette as anywhere, just enforced a little more firmly down here. If you are respectful, the locals are some of the friendliest you will meet. I have surfed with the same guys at Yalls for thirty years.

The local crew at Yalls have surfed it forever. Hassling for waves does not work. Watch the lineup, take your turn.

This is the connection I would not have made when I was twenty. Surfing teaches you to read what is in front of you instead of imposing on it. You watch the set, you read the water, you respond. You do not get to insist.

Furniture making is the same. I do not impose a design on a slab of jarrah. I read the grain, the figure, the way it has dried, and I respond. The board you ride and the chair I make come out of the same posture: pay attention, then react.

That is why I have surfed every week I could since I came here. Not just because it is fun. It keeps the part of the brain working that I use in the workshop.

That is the trip. Pick the right wind, paddle out before the breeze comes in, eat a big breakfast, and the rest takes care of itself. The waves here have been the same waves for as long as I have been here, and they are still the reason I never wanted to live anywhere else.

Come and say hello at the gallery on a day out of the water.