Everyone thinks Ripcurl, Roxy and Quiksilver clothing is cheap in Australia. You might be surprised when you walk into a city surf shop only to discover that a pair of shorts that barely cover your cheeks costs a whopping AU$80.

I'll let you in on a little secret; it's a placed called Torquay. Just around the corner from the main strip of surf shops in Torquay there's a cluster of factory outlet stores where you can get bikini seperates for as little as $5, or a current season swimsuit for $20. Not everything is dirt cheap, but if you look hard enough, you'll find some good bargains. Aside from the usual swimsuits and beach clothing, they also sell wetsuits, bags, even surfboards.

Go nuts!

First stop on our road trip today was Torquay, a little piece of Australian beach heaven. Many major surf companies (including RipCurl, Billabong and Quiksilver) have set up factories and retails stores in this once sleepy region, making it one of the surf capitals of the world. It's certainly a great place to shop for anything surf related!

We didn't have time to stop at SurfWorld, which lays claim to being the largest surfing and beach culture museum in the world and also doubles as a tourist information centre. We stopped for a few pictures on the beach and kept going on to Bells Beach.