Last autumn, The Wave Bristol hit the five-years-in-business mark. Now, it’s the southern hemisphere’s turn as URBNSURF Melbourne celebrates five years of welcoming customers through their turnstiles.

The wave pool weathered construction delays, COVID and a host of other first-generation issues but persevered and continues to deliver surf to the city of Melbourne and surrounding areas.

“To say it’s been a wild ride would be an understatement,” said James Miles, Head of Strategic Partnerships. “However adversity is easier to overcome when you’re in the business of delivering smiles.”

And the surf park has done just that, delivering millions of waves to all surf-ability levels.

The idea for URBNSURF emerged from a group spearheaded by Andrew Ross (now of Aventuur) and the desire to create a controlled surfing environment that could provide consistent waves for surfers of all skill levels. The project was one of the first in the wave pool race to cross the finish line as well as outlive some of the earlier technology limitations that tanked projects elsewhere.

In 2017, the site for URBNSURF was chosen in Tullamarine. The location was selected for its accessibility and potential to attract both local and international visitors. Construction of the facility began in 2019 and officially opened its doors to the public in 2020. It was the first surf park of its kind in Australia. URBNSURF now runs another facility in Sydney that utilizes many of the learnings from Melbourne. Today URBNSURF is the only company to operate two wave pools.

“A heartfelt thank you to all our customers, partners, and staff who’ve been part of the journey — especially Shaun Hutchinson Emily Pilling Kaili Norsworthy Hannah M. and the incredible casual crew who opened the gates with us on 6th Jan, 2020,” added Miles. “Here’s to another amazing 5 years of turning challenges into opportunities and making waves together”