Shark Alert

Believe it or not we have been in Sydney for 6 months and until this weekend not ventured into the water at many of the amazing local beaches.

So I accepted an invite by some friends to go body boarding at 8:30am on Saturday. After accepting the invite I figured I better kit myself out with a body board which we did on Friday evening. I wasn't sure if spending money on something that I perhaps may not like was wise but decided to go for it and am now the owner of a bodyboard, flippers and billabong surf top!

After spending most of the night awake (our body clocks are still abit all over the place after our trip) I met the others down at Maroubra beach about 15 mins from home. Esther and I visited Maroubra not long after we first arrived, then there were very few people around. Arriving on Saturday morning it seemed a completely different place, at 8:30 the beach was busy and the water was full of surfers and body boarders.

After figuring out which way to put the flippers on and hearing a warning to "watch out for these jelly fish in the water they really sting if they get you" and a few jokes saying "sharks like welsh meat" I ventured in to what my friends called a "very small swell".

The first few attempts into the water saw me get smashed back onto the beach by waves bigger than I had confronted before! After a few more attempts I was over the breaking waves and floating with the others waiting for the next big wave to ride back in to the shore.

It wasn't long before a suitable wave came along, and I wish I could say that I was in complete control riding the wave. But I cant. I was just in the right place at the right point and the wave took hold of my board and away I went...it was fantastic.

From this point on, it was back to fighting the waves and getting smashed about before catching the next one.

I was not really looking forward to bodyboarding but I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next opportunity to get out into the sea.

Having said that.....

I was not impressed to come home and see the top story on the evening news: Sharks at Bondi!

Bondi is only a couple of beaches up from where we were bodyboarding that same morning! Don't worry mum, they tell me there is a very slim chance of being had by a shark (even being welsh!!)

Here's a link to the news story if you are interested. "Sharks force swimmers out of water at Bondi"