Nothing like a quiet surf in the land of Oz

[El Presidente]

Eden Hasson had the fright of his life when he surfed right over a massive Great White SHARK.The 10-year-old had no idea he dodged death until his horrified father zoomed in on a photograph he had taken of the youngster surfing.

The youngster said he didn't realise the dark shape he saw in the sea was an 8ft man-eating shark.

 

[jackupster]

How many things that can kill you in OZ? Sharks, jellyfish, snakes and spiders! Glad to hear the kid cruised on by him!

[archosaur]

To be fair, an 8 footer is still considered a juvenile and they are primarily known to feed more on fishes and invertebrates at that stage.  At 3 meters/10'+ is around when they shift towards more mammalian prey.  We have a lot of juveniles that are living in our coastal waters here and they are being studied with a pretty intensive telemetry project at Cal State Long Beach.  

Nevertheless...for the record, I don't surf 

[Ken Gargett]

i saw this. the full story - http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/photo-shows-startled-25metre-shark-in-wave-next-to-10yearold-surfer-20170125-gtynx1.html?promote_channel=edmail&mbnr=MTA5NzQ1MDU&eid=email:nnn-13omn654-ret_newsl-membereng:nnn-04%2F11%2F2013-news_am-dom-news-nnn-age-u&campaign_code=13INO010&et_bid=29063051&name=40_smh_newsalert&instance=2017-01-25--18-05--UTC

i reckon they are a bit like snakes. 99 times, you do not see them and they have no interest in you. it is just the 100th time...

i've fished port stephens and the beaches just north at hawks nest etc. long time ago but you could just about walk across water on the backs of sharks at times.

what i really do remember, and this was an evening when we were catching a tailor (bluefish for our american friends) every cast so plenty of food, at sunset, two young kids, probably 3-4 years, building sandcastles on the edge of the water. they left and less than ten minutes later, a whopping tiger shark, 10-12 feet, was rolled by a small wave on the edge. it would not have eaten the kids, it would have literally steamrolled them. scary.

a good mate runs the shark netting program and associated govt programs. the stories he tells, turn you white-haired in minutes. he does not go into the water.

[Auspaul]

Never seen a big shark at the beach or in a creek seen plenty of Crocodiles they are frightening

[PigFish]

... and I thought your tobacco taxes were scary!

-the Pig

[Ken Gargett]

11 hours ago, Auspaul said:

Never seen a big shark at the beach or in a creek seen plenty of Crocodiles they are frightening

i do a fair bit of breach and rock fishing and i could not tell you the number of times i've seen big noahs in very close. especially up on fraser.

the biggest i saw there on the island was an absolute monster that we first spotted well out at sea - thought it a small whale at first. came right into the rocks and even into a small inlet on the headland. so big it could not turn around and had to thrash itself out.

the biggest i ever saw was when i was at uni, early 80s, and on a reef trip out to the swains (now overfished, sadly, but a terrific reef system about 100 miles off the coast). deckhands and i were cleaning fish and tossing the scraps overboard. we all just looked at each other - the only way i can describe it was that everything went quiet, but there was nothing reall to go quiet - no birds that far out. we looked over and there was a hammerhead. my first thought was that it was bigger than the shark in jaws, and by some way. we reckoned 25 to 30 feet easy. it was simply scooping up the scraps as we tossed them over. spooky.

i prefer staying on land!

[PigFish]

You have nothing to worry about Ken. As a Bruce fan, you don't have very good taste, I mean taste very good!!! -LOL -Ray

[Jeremy Festa]

LOL

Irresponsible reporting!

That is a surfer duck diving and the "white shadow" is the nose of their board. They have clearly just submerged under water and you can see the remnants of this in the face of the wave. Surfer is in a black steamer wetsuit, because the water is as cold as my soul down near Newcastle. 

I understand the "locals only" mentality but this is far too cheeky. 

 

 

[Williamos]

Don't get me wrong, sharks and crocs scare the tripe out of me, but pissed off brown snakes rearing up in front of you, that takes the cake. My fox terrier Two Bob has two barks: one for everything else and the other for snakes. He just loses his mind when one's around.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ken Gargett]

1 hour ago, Williamos said:

Don't get me wrong, sharks and crocs scare the tripe out of me, but pissed off brown snakes rearing up in front of you, that takes the cake. My fox terrier Two Bob has two barks: one for everything else and the other for snakes. He just loses his mind when one's around

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

we had a foxy when i was young. brilliant dogs.

i think i am correct in saying that they were originally bred to chase and kill snakes? but yes, not a pleasant thing to have a grumpy brown. the only thing i'd add is that while you might have a grumpy brown in front of you, with luck it will slither away. find yourself that close to a shark or croc and pretty much game over.

[Williamos]

Foxies aren't too fussy. Two Bob will wait for days worrying a rabbit out of hiding. Mice, rats, especially snakes. A kangaroo ten times his size. I've seen two foxies take on a tiger snake. One distracts at the front the other grabs it from behind. End score foxies 1 snake 0.

One of my uncles who ran about 50 chickens got tired of snakes in the run. Snakes love eggs. He'd leave eggs outside the chicken wire and another inside it, just in front of the outside one. A hungry big brown or tiger snake would swallow the egg on the outside, poke its head through the chicken wire and swallow the inside egg only to find itself stuck with a swallowed egg either side of the chicken wire. The commotion of the chooks would alert the dogs or my uncle and sometimes the chickens would peck the snake to bits. True dinks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Fugu]

34 minutes ago, Ken Gargett said:

i think i am correct in saying that they were originally bred to chase and kill snakes?

As the name sais - originally bred for hunting fox, Ken. Fox, badger, boar and other small game. First bred in England, so there isn't really a snake problem there... . But also once frequently held at farms as rat killers.

My grandparents always had Foxes (the Smooth Fox Terrier), since the early 1950s. Actually the very first pet I had contact with. You don't see them anymore. Incredible dogs!

[Fugu]

12 hours ago, Jeremy Festa said:

LOL

Irresponsible reporting!

That is a surfer duck diving and the "white shadow" is the nose of their board. They have clearly just submerged under water and you can see the remnants of this in the face of the wave. Surfer is in a black steamer wetsuit, because the water is as cold as my soul down near Newcastle. 

I understand the "locals only" mentality but this is far too cheeky. 

 

 

 

[Ken Gargett]

9 hours ago, Fugu said:

As the name sais - originally bred for hunting fox, Ken. Fox, badger, boar and other small game. First bred in England, so there isn't really a snake problem there... . But also once frequently held at farms as rat killers.

My grandparents always had Foxes (the Smooth Fox Terrier), since the early 1950s. Actually the very first pet I had contact with. You don't see them anymore. Incredible dogs!

thanks. i'm thinking of australian terriers. we had one of those as well. both fabulous dogs.