Australia Weather News

Thrillseekers have braved large surf on Queensland's Gold Coast brought on by Cyclone Gita, which is sitting about 1,000 kilometres east near New Caledonia.

Swells of more than 3 metres have been experienced from Fraser Island to as far south as Sydney as a result.

Dylan Dickson, 21, from Nerang spent his Sunday morning riding the big waves on a jet ski at Burleigh.

"It's fun, real fun — obviously you have got to have your wits about you — but it's definitely fun," Mr Dickson said.

"Normally you don't see Burleigh anywhere bigger than three foot [under 1 metre]."

'Pretty full-on' surf

Local Burleigh surfer Luka Carstens-Hey said he had a few scary moments in the big swell.

"It's pretty full on — there is a lot of water moving around, so it's a lot of paddling," he said.

"It's nice — it's got a lot of shape to it — but you have got to respect it."

Surf Life Saving Queensland (SLSQ) closed all beaches from North Kirra to Southport.

One man in his 50s was rescued by helicopter after he came off his jet ski at Jumpinpin between North and South Stradbroke Islands.

SLSQ Gold Coast coordinator Nathan Fife said most swimmers had been well behaved and kept out of the water.

"It's powerful surf so we urge people to just keep away from beach," Mr Fife said.

Heatwave conditions to ease

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster James Thompson said he expected the hazardous conditions to continue.

"We will see significant waves heights today and they'll get slightly bigger tomorrow morning," he said.

Mr Thompson also predicted the heatwave being experienced in south-east Queensland would ease early next week.

"We'll continue to have temperatures in the low 30s [degrees Celsius], but from Tuesday conditions will start to cool off," he said.