A trip to Sydney wouldn’t be complete without taking in the beach at Bondi, the glamorous home of surfing. Every time I’ve attempted surfing I’ve ended up swallowing more waves than I’ve caught, then regurgitating them a few minutes later, so this time I was content to just take a swim. I’m sure the lifeguards appreciated not having to put their resuscitation skills into pr
actice that afternoon. As you’d expect the beach has some pretty big waves which makes it ideal for all the bronzed surf dudes who hang out there religiously. It also makes it hazardous for the pasty land-loving backpackers who go there to say they’ve done it. Looking at the warning signs overlooking the beach, it’s got them all – danger: big waves; undertow; rips; discarded hypodermic needles – it also had a new one on me which was “shore dumps”. I deduced that this wasn’t a warning that people sometimes use the beach as a toilet (although who knows what people do when the sun goes down) b
ut rather that when you surf a wave right into the shore you’re likely to get dumped head first on the beach as the sea ends and the sand begins. And if you do get on the wrong end of a “shore dump”, you’ll probably land on top of one of the hundreds of bluebottles – stinging jellyfish – that constantly get washed up on the shoreline. I got stung on my foot, not as I was gracefully guiding my surfboard back onto dry land, but when I trod on one trying to get it to pose for this photograph.
A trip to Sydney wouldn’t be complete without taking in the beach at Bondi, the glamorous home of surfing. Every time I’ve attempted surfing I’ve ended up swallowing more waves than I’ve caught, then regurgitating them a few minutes later, so this time I was content to just take a swim. I’m sure the lifeguards appreciated not having to put their resuscitation skills into pr
actice that afternoon. As you’d expect the beach has some pretty big waves which makes it ideal for all the bronzed surf dudes who hang out there religiously. It also makes it hazardous for the pasty land-loving backpackers who go there to say they’ve done it. Looking at the warning signs overlooking the beach, it’s got them all – danger: big waves; undertow; rips; discarded hypodermic needles – it also had a new one on me which was “shore dumps”. I deduced that this wasn’t a warning that people sometimes use the beach as a toilet (although who knows what people do when the sun goes down) b
ut rather that when you surf a wave right into the shore you’re likely to get dumped head first on the beach as the sea ends and the sand begins. And if you do get on the wrong end of a “shore dump”, you’ll probably land on top of one of the hundreds of bluebottles – stinging jellyfish – that constantly get washed up on the shoreline. I got stung on my foot, not as I was gracefully guiding my surfboard back onto dry land, but when I trod on one trying to get it to pose for this photograph.
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