What is "surfest"

Surfest is an annual surfing competition held in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. Surfest began in 1985 as an initiative of Newcastle City Council, and at the time, was the world's richest surfing competition. The event runs for thirteen days, and from the 2007 event, will be held at Merewether Beach, having been held between Newcastle Beach and South Newcastle Beach in the past.

It is Newcastle's only annual international sporting event and attracts more than 200 surfers, with many coming from around the globe. Former winners include local Novocastrian Mark Richards. It is rumoured that 2008's Surfest will be moved to Merewether for financial reasons. In addition to Surfest, there has been introduced an additional content that is aiding to raise money to help promote clean drinking water and other basic necessities in third world communities, called Evolution SurfAid.