Scary Stuff

On Christmas Day I explored a good bit further north from Harrington...

I rode up the beach from Crowdy Head all the way to Diamond Head, winding up on Kylie's Beach.




I was kind of hoping to see Kylie there...


(I mean, the beach is named after her, right?)

Unfortunately, I think it wan named after a different Kylie... The possum in The Fantastic Mr. Fox.

But I digress...


I had my snorkel gear and took a swim out near the rocks near the beach.
No runout there, and saw some great soft corals, lots of cod (grouper), and one small gray nurse shark... I had a great time...

I was fine with the bike down on the firmer sand near the waterline, but when I tried to get out at the 4WD beach access, the sand was too soft for the BMW... Which meant a 18km ride back to Crowdy Head...

The scary part?

I was at the site this afternoon and one of the guy asked if I had been up to Diamond Head.
Yep- told him I'd been snorkeling up there...
"You're lucky mate. Guy got attacked by a shark up there this morning."

Huh?

Watching the news tonight that have been several stories about it...

From The Australian - 12/28/2012

Shark attack at Diamond Head near Port Macquarie in NSW

A surfer has had one finger bitten off and another left hanging by slivers of skin when he tried to fend off a shark which had bitten into his leg while surfing on the NSW mid north coast this morning.
...
The man was treated at the scene by paramedics before being flown by the Westpac rescue chopper to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle.

Kylie's Beach is an unpatrolled beach and is popular with surfers due to its exposed location and protection from north-easterly winds.

Adam Eady, from the Crowdy Head Surf Life Saving Club, south of the attack site, said beaches from Crowdy Head to Camden Haven to the north had closed as a precautionary measure.

Damn... That dude looks to be in pretty high spirits for someone who just lost a finger or two.


TBG- ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒE