Surfing World Magazine

Surfing World is the oldest, deepest and most respected surfing magazine in the world. Founded in 1962, it's become a cornerstone of surfing culture both in Australia and right around the globe. It's a premium, high concept magazine, showcasing the best surf writing and photography. It's both classic and contemporary, reflecting the kaleidoscopic surfing culture of today.

WORIMI COUNTRY • “Heading north across the muddy Hunter River, you leave Awabakal land and enter Worimi country. Worimi country stretches over sand dunes and wetlands, rivers and mountains, bays and forests. Sand and water country, as the eagle sees it. Bountiful lakes and wetlands abut several of the longest, emptiest beaches in the state. Dingoes still howl at night along those beaches. The traditional place names tell a story of abundance. Tuncurry: plenty of fish. Booti Booti: much native honey. Karuah: place of native plum. When the first whitefellas arrived, they noted that the Worimi were tall and stout and “more prone to laughter than tears.”

Surfing World Magazine

MORNINGS WITH TOM CARROLL — Froth, namaste • “I’ve always been an early riser. That’s part of who I am. As a little kid I’d always be awake before Nick, and always up before first light. I liked to get up and go outside. I’d climb trees and find adventure. It was a time of primal instinct. No one else around. Once I got a bit older and started surfing, I found that that was also the best time of day to surf. That was it… mornings were mine. Charge out of the house like a maniac, straight to the surf.

WHY I HOOT — When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. • Right before Covid-19 turned the world upside-down I was prepping my adrenal system by worrying about fire tornados, mega-droughts, and a populist assault on reality itself. Then the virus hit, work dried up and the surf became either worryingly empty or disturbingly crowded. The new normal wasn’t normal at all. Nothing was.

UNE VIE AQUATIQUE – Ben Thouard’s life aquatic • A dozen years ago, Ben Thouard moved to Tahiti, initially chosen because – for a French national – the paperwork was easy. I would guess this was one of those swift life decisions for which he will remain eternally thankful. Ben lives with his wife and two children in their lagoon-front home. His alarm clock is a rooster, or when the swell is up, waves cracking on the outer reefs. I cannot think of a more bucolic existence for a surfer and photographer anywhere on Earth.

FREE JALEESA. The creative prison of green hills. • Jaleesa Vincent is a creative wildfire, just not today. Today, she’s doing her tax return. “Getting it done,” she sighs. “Usually, I’d have funner things to do.” But after a long break locked down at home in the hills behind Bangalow, the fun is about to start again. This Saturday she’s going on a surf trip. Her cabaret punk band, Cupid And The Stupids are playing gigs again this summer. The world is finally coming back to life after a long period of stalled introspection. In the absence of expanded horizons, time has expanded. “I’m like, ‘Oh, my god. I’m getting older! I’ve got a pterygium now!’” Jaleesa hasn’t wasted her time at home, though. For the artistically inclined there’s always a balance between finding inspiration… and then finding the time to turn inspiration into art. Locked down at home, Jaleesa has had all the time in the world to create.

A SINGLE POINT OF LIGHT — Albe Falzon takes ultimate spiritual form. • If your path to enlightenment begins as a young man with Morning of the Earth, where does it lead you 50 years later? These are big issues to discuss at 8am on a Friday morning. Albe Falzon is on his verandah in the coastal hinterland, the property he bought soon after the film was released in the early ’70s. In the years since the surrounding forest has moved toward the house like Birnam Wood. Albe loved...