Welcome to the autumn 2016 retrospective, made late by a sensational East Coast swell that brought all but Swellnet's essential services to a standstill.

Despite the quality of the aforementioned swell the standout region during autumn was Victoria, specifically the Surf Coast, owing to the sheer consistency of good sized swell events combined with favourable winds.

But starting from the top and travelling clockwise, South-east QLD and Northern NSW generally had a consistent autumn. Both regions rarely went flat for long, experiencing extended periods of shoulder high trade-swell amidst settled weather and warm water.

Nothing significant registered until a solid S/SE swell developed late April around the ANZAC Day long weekend. Protected bays and points saw the best of that swell as gusty south-southeast winds made a mess of open beaches.

Things quietened down in May as the background trade-swell dried up and the dominant swell direction swung to the south, favouring swell magnets south of the border.

The southern NSW coast had one of the most dissappointing autumns in recent memory with long periods of small to flat conditions. Newcastle managed to scrape together the south swell remnants, as it so often does, but Sydney and the south coast were left wanting. There was the odd head-high easterly swell in the mix, but far below what we usually receive between March and June.

(Pic Owen Rennie)

The dire situation ended in spectacular fashion when an over-performing southerly swell provided huge waves across selected south facing breaks on Wednesday the 25th of May (see photo above). It was the only decent size swell of the whole season. Fortunately winter started with one of the most memorable swell events in recent history - but that's a whole 'nother story.

Victoria saw plenty of swell through March but winds failed to really play ball with only small windows of favourable conditions. Yet as soon as the Rip Curl Pro rolled into town the switch was flicked and the Surf Coast pumped and continued to pump all the way through until the end of May, bar a couple of slow weeks late April.

(Pic Steve Arklay)

Tasmania's South Arm received much of the same swells that Victoria did with plenty of good days and a few swells at Shipsterns. Tassie's East Coast, however, faired worse than the southern NSW coast with no real southerly swell getting in. The flipside, if you're an optimist, was that conditions remained consistently clean. Pessimists just called it flat.

South Australia also played out similar to Victoria with March offering a few some bouncy, fun swells. However, things really kicked into gear in April with lots of clean solid days across the South Coast ahead of an XXL swell into the start of May. The Southern Ocean continued to provide plenty of swell throughout all of May as favourable winds persisted for the South Coast, but less so for the Mid Coast. This topped off a good run through autumn, with some standout days at Bullies and the other reefs surrounding Victor Harbor.

Western Australia saw plenty off good days through March with a couple of large swells in the mix. Besides a large and clean swell to kick off April, there wasn't much to work with for the rest of the month. May however went mental with a couple of XL swells though winds remained a problem. It was feast or famine however, with few waves between festivities.

(Pic Tim Bonython)