First Waves Roll Ahead of Urbnsurf Sydney Opening

The first waves at Sydney’s first surf park have rolled out ahead of its opening to the public next month.

The opening of Urbnsurf Sydney at Olympic Park on May 13 will bring the second Wavegarden-powered park online after Australia’s first park, in Melbourne, which began operation more than four years ago.

Spanning a 3.6ha site atop a carpark, and with a lagoon similar in size to the Sydney Cricket ground, the park is designed to accommodate up to 1000 daily visitors and will be open seven days a week. 

The park features a surf academy, leisure swimming pool, skate pad, a surf shop, health and wellness centre, and two food offerings.

The $75-million park will offer a range of wave types to suit different levels of surfers, from beginners to experts, with the opportunity to catch a dozen or so waves in a session.

▲ A surfer gets air at the Urbnsurf Sydney wave pool.

Plan for the Sydney park were filed in 2021.

Over the next two decades, Urbnsurf said, its Sydney park was projected to contribute a net economic benefit of $250 million to the Sydney Olympic Park area.

There are other wave pool proposals in various stages of development around Australia but this will be just the second in the nation.

In December the Gold Coast City Council added its support to that city’s first wave pool, which would be the centrepiece of a $300-million resort-style proposal.

Now approved by the council, the 4ha dual-zone surfing lagoon will be capable of generating “up to a 26-second end-to-end barrelling six-foot wave ride” with technology by Endless Wave.

▲ Urbnsurf Sydney is just the second wave park to come to fruition in Australia despite a number of proposals.

It would sit alongside an existing 18-hole golf course at the site at Parkwood, about a 15-minute drive from the Glitter Strip’s world-famous surf breaks.

Also that month, a developer bailed on its plans for a Kelly Slater surf park when it sold its 120ha landholding at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast.

The Sunshine Coast Council acquired the site for $6 million from Brisbane-based Consolidated Properties Group.

Meanwhile work and testing continues of the first Surf Lakes wave pool concept at Yeppon, also in Queensland, which has won the attention of a slew of top-class surfers including adaptive surfing world champion Mark “Mono’ Stewart.