Torquay tide times

Torquay is the start of the Great Ocean Road on Victoria's Surf Coast, 100 kilometres southwest of Melbourne. It's home to Bells Beach — Australia's most famous surf contest venue and the host of the Rip Curl Pro, the world's longest-running professional surfing event. The tidal pattern in Bass Strait is mixed semidiurnal: mean spring range around 1.0 to 1.2 metres. The tidal range is small; it's the Bass Strait groundswell from Southern Ocean storms that defines conditions here.

Bells Beach breaks over a hard basalt platform at the base of 30-metre clay cliffs. The wave is a right-hand point break that handles large swell (4 to 10 feet) with power and definition. Low tide exposes the platform and the wave becomes hollow and demanding; high tide softens it slightly. The Rip Curl Pro runs when swell exceeds 6 feet (usually Easter weekend in April, adjusted to the actual swell windows). When it fires in a 10-foot swell, Bells is one of the most impressive surfing waves in the Southern Hemisphere.

Point Bells (the left-hand break opposite Bells) is less famous but also works in large swell — a long, walling wave that can run 200 metres in the right conditions. Rincon (between Bells and Winki Pop) is a third break within the Bells precinct that catches more swell than the main break in smaller conditions.

For intermediate surfers, Torquay Front Beach and Jan Juc (2 km south) are the more accessible options. Jan Juc has a beach break that works at most tides in 2 to 4 foot swell; it's the main learner area. Surf World, the surfing museum on the Great Ocean Road, is in Torquay and documents the history of Australian and international surfing.

The Great Ocean Road begins at the memorial arch at Torquay and runs 243 km southwest to Allansford near Warrnambool, passing the Twelve Apostles sea stacks, Loch Ard Gorge, and some of the most dramatic cliff coast in Australia. Driving the Road requires 2 to 3 days for a proper experience; Port Campbell National Park (160 km southwest) is the headline destination.

Predictions on this page come from Open-Meteo Marine, a gridded global ocean model. Accuracy is typically within plus or minus 45 minutes on timing and 0.2 to 0.3 metres on height — model-derived, not from a local gauge. For authoritative Australian tide data, consult the Australian Bureau of Meteorology at bom.gov.au.