For the last three months he's been healing the heel, and while most people would love a few months to rest their feet, for a professional athlete it spells frustration. So while his World Tour peers were tackling big, brown Supertubos Parko waddled down to tackle waist high Superbank.

Rocketing back up the charts this week is a favourite rocky point for South Oz lads Jeff and Josiah Schmucker, who rockhopped a recent swell with Joel Murphy.

There's nothing quite like a super late drop straight into an open barrel with a clean exit beckoning at the end.

The hallmark of a quality reefbreak is its ability to replicate itself time and time again, thus giving a surfer the opportunity for a degree of familiarity in an arena where variables usually change by the second.

October's not normally revered for its Queensland wave count. Brisk northerly winds frequent the southern Coral Sea, usually blowing out any swells that care to make landfall.

Although its only October, we're not too far away from the beginnings of the North Pacific swell season. There's already been some solid action in Hawaii, and last week delivered the first swell of the season to the Caroline Islands courtesy of Typhoon Malakas (what a great name for a weather system!).

It's somewhat of an eye catcher. The heading, I'm talking about - 'Trials for the Trials'. Doesn't the Quiksilver Pro run its own Trials anyway, I hear you ask?

So after completing what felt like an extra year of school I made a point to myself that I would do as much as I could in 2010. True to my self-made promise, I kicked off the year with a two week caravan trip around the South Island of New Zealand in February. In my last couple of days there the surf started to do its thing and I managed to get a few good sessions with an assortment of great surfers, raising my spirits somewhat. In between these trips I have also done more trips up and down the East Coast than I care to count, with various surfers for a number of different projects. I got better waves on these trips than I did globetrotting, proving you don't need to stray far from home to score epic waves. I've had a privileged year so far and am stoked to have gone where I have and met the people I have.

Toss the binoculars and zoom lenses as South Aussie, Sam Norwood, takes us as close to the action as a photographer can go.

Torquay's weekend warriors were thrilled last Sunday when the reefs pumped under a beautiful springtime swell. All of them putting on their Sunday best for the best Sunday in ages. All photos by Kaine Hazle.//STUART NETTLE

"Hey Tim, how wide was that bazza you got last swell?" Tim Davy provides the dimensions, while Brad Lewis provides the proof.//STUART NETTLE

After all, the quickest way for a young fella to get experience is to chase the waves. Here's a small selection of Steve's recent work.//STUART NETTLE

Dayyan Neve getting loose over the sand-bottomed rights.

He may not live in the area anymore, but when Rusty Moran hears this particular reef is breaking he's there quicker than you can say, "your turn on the rope". Rusty whipped into a nice one last Saturday.

On Saturday Matt Hipsley went highway surfing down the coast. As it went, however, the stretch of coast he was on missed the bulk of the swell.

Cape Fear, Cape Solander, Ours....Sydney's heaviest waves has had many monikers but its original name - first given to it in 1968 - is the one that I like best: Pikers Hole. Despite it's reputation as the thickest and shallowest wave around, Pikers Hole was overshadowed on the weekend by it's lesser siblings.

It's not very long and listening to it may even make you feel better. There's a fellow I know, one of the keenest surfers about, who injured his knee about four weeks back. Like rubbing salt into his own wound he has the job of telling us when the surf is gonna pump while not being able to surf it himself.

During the peak of the recent East Coast swell the maximum wave heights hovered around five metres. To read a short article on why there was such a large variation in wave size along the coast click here. All photos by Matt Burgess.//STUART NETTLE

The acutely south direction and the long period nature created a large disrepancy in wave heights along the coast.