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Q: How do you tell when a season begins to shift?

A: Depends where you are, I guess.

If you were wandering around hunting waves during the south-east swell pulse so neatly forecast by the team for the NSW and southern Queensland coast this week, you’d have felt Spring in a dozen different ways.

Wattle bloomed — maybe “exploded” is a better word. Rain and sun came and went. The southerlies did their work and backed away, and in the morning calms, a light mist formed across open coastal waters, ahead of the northerlies which inevitably followed. Southerly followed by northerly, the classic east coast rhythm.

This is a strange year, kind of an outlier.  The oceans surrounding the continent are in serious flux. Everywhere, the actual climate, and thus the surf climate, is affected in odd ways. The south-west has been hammered with crazy gales and outlandish storm surf, while its leftovers have been aimed up at Indonesia. The Victorian coasts are getting by on a slim diet of small swell pulses and variable wind patterns, typical of the current state of things.

And the east coast? It’s done the shift. The days are longer, the wattle’s out. Winds are changing. We’re already moving toward a summer that may well prove to be the finest for surf for many years, as long as the floods stay away.

Here’s a look at the moment of shift during this week, through the lenses of Hannah Anderson, Ian Bird, Zach Bowden, Bill Morris, and Fabio Silvestre.

You know what they say about a red sky in the morning. Early Thursday light show. Photo: Silvestre

Then the morning sky clears off, and this sort of thing happens. Lonely southern NSW beachbreak, quietly pleading to be ridden. Photo: Morris

“You going out? What board you riding? Got any wax?? Can you throw a ball for me please?” Carpark surf checker. Photo: Bowden

The kind of days when sneaky little reefs light up, and you surf with a handful of friends. Dylan Jarrett, possibly unaware of the spectators. Photo: Bowden

And you can feel the seabreeze wandering around out there somewhere. Lennix Smith, drawing the line the wave wants. Photo: Bowden

No wonder we go surfing — it’s to get away from the power poles. Declan Clough, slice of Heaven last Wednesday. Photo: Bowden

The Sydney area’s big missing piece is a glorious right point-break, but if you can just put the oncoming left out of your mind, you can feel what it might be like. Maroubra close-out barrel set-up, Thursday. Photo: Morris

Well, there’s one nobody got. Sydney north side, Wednesday. Photo: Bird

The sort of day you just click with your local. 13-year-old Ruby Trew drops the hammer on Narrabeen. Photo: Bird

Above and below: A story in two photos. Here’s Narrabeen’s Tom Butterworth and the remains of his Highline 6’4″. Tom’s been going through boards this winter — this was number seven. The others were all freshie twins. “It was the best board I’d ever had until the day my toes felt the speed of a twin,” he says. “I’ve been attached and for plenty of good reasons to twins, there’s nothing in me that wants to do four turns to the beach or even two, ha!”

It’s been an expensive winter! Tom was right out of twins and ex-favourites, so he went back to the well for this 1990s “Gumtree special” 7’1″ Mick Byrnes gun. Sometimes you gotta switch gears. Photos: Silvestre

Meanwhile, Kobi Clements kept doing his thing. Photo: Bird

Everyone wants to see the photo. Tom, Jordy Lawler and Tom Law gather around Ian Bird’s camera screen, wondering who scored. Such a carpark moment. Photo: Silvestre

We suspect Jordy might have been the winner. Photo: Bird

Do what this person does, we dare you. Ollie Dousset, full hammie stretch pre-session. Photo: Bird

The surest sign of Spring — heading up the coast and seeing wattle bloom. Photo: Anderson

That, and the haze rising off the inshore waters. Another wave evades its rider, north of Sydney. Photo: Anderson

Two years of rain and the whole coast has greened. This’ll be an epic summer. Photo: Anderson

AND NEXT ON THE AGENDA…

Above: Look at this spring madness! Lotus 168-hour swell chart animation for the coming week in Australian waters. Like six red puppies all trying to bite the continent at once. Note the odd north-east pulses in the Tasman, the clean swell day in West Oz, and the steady turning of the dial toward Victoria, as the Southern Ocean storms slowly migrate east.

Actual forecast info: Slow build into a very good time for the Goldie and S Qld generally | Not that much in central NSW but don’t be surprised if you’re surprised, if you get our drift | Feeling for our Vicco buddies, better days definitely lie ahead| Definitely some quiet gold for Tassie  | Definitely a cleaner week in SA, shame about the swell, but there’s a bomb out there| Is there a few clean days in there for the SW? 

Those south swell angles love this island, and its drainy near neighbour.

Let film-maker and photographer Tom Pearsall open your heart and mind to this amazing surf zone.

This is where the Cut happens. It’s also a great place to just go for a surf.

In eastern Australia, the seasons are blurred. But summer always seems to end well.

This was a month worth a few second looks.

And would that be so terrible?