Did you catch the news stories about the shark attacks here over the past few days? This one has been one of the most popular stories on the Guardian for the last few days, and there was another on Sydney's Northern Beaches, with video.
I went surfing on Boxing Day evening at just after six, at Maroubra. At half six the lifeguards pull the flags up and stop patrolling the beach, and they gave a tannoy annoucement saying as much, advising people not to swim anymore but if they did it was at their own risk etc. It was roasting so there was still loads of folk swimming, and probably about 20 surfers. A couple of minutes later the tannoy came on again and I thought they were repeating the same thing, it's hard to tell when the wind's blowing and you're in the water. My hearing got a wee bit sharper when I heard "Would everyone please get out of the water, a shark has been spotted in the water near the beach". Cue loads of folk getting the fuck out the water rather sharpish. Luckily (especially given my skill level) I managed to catch a wave that I surfed pretty much all the way in to shore. Quite the motivator so it was... from hearing the message to being on the sand took less than ten seconds, though that was plenty time for all the wee snippets of info (like sharks don't like the taste of humans but they often mistake surfers in black wetsuits and the shape of boards for seals, that sharks hunt at dawn and dusk, punch them on the nose and poke them in the eye if you're lucky enough to get that close to them...) to go tearing through my mind.
After a somewhat short but 'invigorating' session I found myself suitably 'pumped' and took myself home. I hope that's as exciting as my Aussie-themed stories get! (Unless I meet Warney or summat, but you lot have more chance of that seeing as he's buying a gaff in Brighton and spends most of his time when he's over here in Melbourne).
2 comments:
is that picture for real? cos just looking at that is giving me the slight fear.
It is, but it's actually a dolphin, taken by a lad somewhere in California if I remember rightly. If that was me I'd still need a change of wetsuit by the time I'd realised it was a dolphin (though I have seen dolphins whilst out surfing at Maroubra before).
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