Mad surfers take on dangerous swells from Cyclone Marcia

A number of Queensland surfers have shirked emergency warnings to find shelter and braved the massive swells brought on by Tropical Cyclone Marcia as it hit the coast his morning.

With lots of guts and little sense, a number of surfers took the opportunity to catch a few barrels encouraged by the category 5 cyclone.

One surfer in Yeppoon, the first town that Marcia would hit, grabbed his stick and headed to the beach to enjoy the abnormal waves blown up by winds exceeding 200km/h.

Another local surfer, Rex McLennan, told The Morning Bulletin he got an "insane" rush from braving the ocean during storms and nothing beats cyclonic surf conditions.

"It's more fun when it's trying to kill you," he told the paper.

"It's more fun than normal, it might be more dangerous, but that's not going to stop me."

Further south at the Gold Coast, kids where photographed clinging to an ocean pool as huge swells washed over the wall.

With the cyclone approaching yesterday, tides of 4.7m hit Yeppoon and a number of local riders took the opportunity to enjoy the massive waves.

For local surfers there is an added danger of the seawall at Yeppoon which can easily be hit during king tides.

"The idea is to get close enough to get the back wave, but pull up before the concrete wall," Mr McLennan said.