Waves Surf School

Out of Boat Harbour at Cronulla, Dean Dunstone has run Waves Surf School since 1999, teaching everything from first-timers to advanced surfers looking to sharpen technique, with pickups available from Bronte, Bondi, Central Station and the Northern Beaches for visitors without transport. Dunstone is an ASI Level 3 coach with a NSW bus operator's licence, holds current surf rescue and first aid qualifications, and still runs the day-to-day teaching himself alongside a small team. Beyond the standard lesson menu — day trips, school-holiday camps, private groups, kids' parties — the school runs a weekend surf camp three hours north at Seal Rocks, inside the national park, plus surf-guiding trips further up the coast and periodic surf-yoga weekends. A quarter-century of continuous operation on one of Sydney's more consistent beginner breaks says something about the standard of the teaching. For visitors based anywhere between the eastern suburbs and the Shire, it's an easy way to get proper instruction without organising your own transport to the water.