Yeah the Mallacoota situation is terrible. I have been there many times and can visualise the horror. There's quite a few places I know burning which feels much closer to home. Scary.
Yeah we were lucky to catch early tide before massive crowds. Only had one guy drop in who I shouted at and he pulled off. Seriously wish people would get some surfing etiquette classes before paddling out. Got heaps of waves though... hoping for a couple tomorrow then that'll be it til early low tides again... Its dawn or nothing for me, cant cope with crowds. Yoga instead.