Australia is a big country, but nearly all Australians live near the sea. On hot summer days you can see thousands of people at the beach. Many beaches have waves that are very high. These large waves are known as surf and the people who ride them are called surfers. Surfing is a skill and needs learning. Don't expect to be able to surf properly the first time you try. However, by practicing a few time you will learn how to do it.

Surfing is not a new sport. Perhaps its origins need explaining. It started hundreds of years ago in Hawaii. Men swam out to sea to catch fish and found they could come back to land very quickly by riding the waves. These first surfers did not use a board. They were "body surfers". Many people still do this type of surfing today.

After a while people started to use boards and rode the waves by lying, kneeling or standing on them. These first surf-boards were made of wood and the water made them not after a while. Today surfboards are made of plastic or fiberglass instead.