Bells Beach

Bells Beach is a lovely town in Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia. It is famous for its beautiful surf beach, which is about 100 km (62 miles) southwest of Melbourne. You can find it along the Great Ocean Road, close to the towns of Torquay and Jan Juc. The beach and nearby areas are special and listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

The town is named after William Bell, a businessman from Geelong who owned much of the land there in the 1840s. Even though many people think it was named after John Calvert Bell, who came later in 1905, he was not related to William Bell. In a survey from 2016, about 130 people lived in Bells Beach, and most of them were born in Australia and spoke only English at home.

Surfing

Bells Beach is famous for hosting the world's longest running surfing competition, now called the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach. This event started in January 1962 and has been held every Easter since then. Sometimes, when the conditions at Bells Beach aren't right, the competition moves to nearby spots like Johanna.

Surfing at Bells Beach began even earlier. In 1939, surfers from Torquay visited the beach, but it was hard to get there until 1960. That's when Torquay surfers and Olympic wrestler Joe Sweeney cleared a road to make it easier for everyone.

Nearby surf spots include "Southside", "Centreside", "Rincon", "Winki Pop", "Boobs", and "Steps". Bells Beach is known around the world as one of Victoria's best surf breaks.

In 1988, some local surfers started a group called Surfers Appreciating the Natural Environment. They work to protect and care for the Bells Beach Surfing Reserve by planting plants to help it stay natural and beautiful.

Surfing competitions

• Rip Curl GromSearch National Series (under 17s)
• Rip Curl Pro every Easter since 1962

Surfers Appreciating the Natural Environment (SANE)

Since 1988, a group of local surfers has been meeting monthly to help the Bells Beach Surfing Reserve. They have planted over 100,000 plants to keep the area natural and beautiful.

In popular culture

Bells Beach has been featured in several films and documentaries. Although the final scene of the film Point Break appears to be at Bells Beach, it was actually filmed at Indian Beach in Cannon Beach, Oregon, in the United States.

The final scene of the 1992 Australian film Romper Stomper was filmed at Bells Beach. The 1966 documentary The Endless Summer also visits Bells Beach. In the 2007 animation film Surf's Up, the Australian surfer is shown to be from Bells Beach.