Saturday, December 16, 2006

Australia's sharks are back


Update; call me a scaredy-cat but are the waters of NSW just teeming with sharks? And i don't mean the nice ones you get in England.

Feb 2; surfer mauled by a Great White in Lennox Head, NSW
Jan 23; Abalone diver half-eaten by Great White again in NSW
Dec 12; a dozen hammerhead sharks were spotted just 150m off the Wollongong coast, near Sydney.

As a result of the friendly-looking creatures below having returned to Sydney's waters, the heli patrols are back.



Australia suffers about one shark fatality per year, which is astonishing as these waters, according to one expert, are 'packed with sharks - bulls, hammerheads and pointers'.

Yes, pointers. Known to the rest of the world as the Great White Shark. In typical Australian style, they take one of the most ferocious predators on the planet (one of the few with a genuine claim to dinosaur heritage) and change its rather alarming name to the 'Pointer', which sounds about as scary as a mackerel.

Update; 'pointer' mauls surfer off Bells Beach in Melbourne last night and leaves his teeth in the guy's wetsuit as souvenier.