Options.

As you head out from Wollongong on Highway 1 you don't get much view of the coastline. There's no procession of panelvans driving slowly trying to get a peek of the surf to see if it's on or not. She's country highway here, mate. Just a line of goods trucks and commuters most days, all trying to get where they are going, unaware as they head south that all they would have to do to escape their daily grind is use the left indicator at any one of the many, many turns.

There are about a thousand places you can pull up the car and have a quick look, and about a million more that require a sense of adventure, a good pair of walking shoes, and possibly the largest pair of testicles you have.

On this coast you will find every type of wave you could ever wish for. There's wide point breaks that would appeal to the 9 foot plus crowd. Plenty of fun beach breaks and reef breaks for all to enjoy and the south coast also has it's fair share of exposed reef breaks that generate some of the heaviest waves you'll ever ride. If you dare.

I'm not going to name names here for a few reasons, the main one being that it seems there's always more than one for each break. As the years go past different people from different areas have come here looking for waves and named spots in out-of-the-way places, meaning people from Sydney will call one spot a different name than people from the south coast, or people from further south. The other reason is that there are too damn many. It would take more than my word alotment.

Grab a map of the area and take a look, or go to whereis.com, start in Wollongong and scroll south. Or have a look at the area you're taking the family too. I guarantee that there's gold just around the point, or the next beach over, or in many cases - right out front. The possibilities are there. Alot of the time you can find something that's converting the current swell within 1/2 hour of travel by car. In most cases less. The places that would seem to generate the best waves are the ones with a southern aspect. If you look at the points you may pick up on some names of areas on their southern sides, one in particular would have to be wreck bay, know as the home of aussie pipe.

I knew of a young bloke who once walked from Tathra to Noosa to visit his brother, all he had was his board and a fishing rod. He's possibly the only person on this planet who's seen that much of the south coast, and I will stress he was alone most of the time. There's alot of nothing around on alot of the south coast, as you explore you'll notice exposed wind swept points that look as baren as the waves peeling beneath them. As you kick out of a wave you'll suddenly realise the only other person out is your mate, and the only car on the point is yours. Surfing happens differently when this is the norm.