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Thread: Shark Attack Hits Home

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    Default Shark Attack Hits Home



    Memories. Born and raised in Bicton. We used to spend hours at Blackwall Reach cliff diving and swimming...not a shark was ever seen anywhere in the Swan. Dad and his mates would night trawl for prawns all the time. The river had thousands of people skiing and swimming on any warm day. Fished there all the time too.

    A shame...it wasn't called Millionaires Row back then. You had to trek through bush to get to the cliffs.

    Sigh!
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    Spent a lot of my youth in the same area, it was a magnet for our death defying stunts off the cliff.

    I’m no shark expert but those Bull sharks are akin to fresh water crocs, lots of them there but they leave you alone....

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    Quote Originally Posted by mkhannah View Post
    Spent a lot of my youth in the same area, it was a magnet for our death defying stunts off the cliff.

    I’m no shark expert but those Bull sharks are akin to fresh water crocs, lots of them there but they leave you alone....
    I don't think they were there at all before Bondy and others ripped up the breeding grounds further north to build monstrosities. Bull sharks are bad news, they attack anything. All those years at Point Walter, and never a shark to be seen.
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    Swan River... hehehe.... We had a shark attack at Parramatta.
    Always cracks me up where this happened. I would have been less surprised if he'd been attacked in the council pool.
    In those days you could walk across the river there at low tide and not get ya skirt wet.
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    Quote Originally Posted by enf View Post
    I don't think they were there at all before Bondy and others ripped up the breeding grounds further north to build monstrosities. Bull sharks are bad news, they attack anything. All those years at Point Walter, and never a shark to be seen.
    Well there you go, no wonder I was fearless! I thought you had to swim into one before you were a chance of being lunch...

    I wasn’t in the water long enough, few jumps then on the bike to Happys Pinball Palace on the highway. Jesus what a different world.

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    Quote Originally Posted by trash View Post
    Swan River... hehehe.... We had a shark attack at Parramatta.
    Always cracks me up where this happened. I would have been less surprised if he'd been attacked in the council pool.
    In those days you could walk across the river there at low tide and not get ya skirt wet.
    Parramatta? That's nothin LOL.

    In the 60's, we used to swim in the Georges River anywhere between The Rabaul Rd Boat Ramp, and the Milperra Bridge (when it was being built). We used to find old mattresses and use them for rafts to cross the river. Eventually they'd get waterlogged and sink, then you'd have to swim to shore.

    Lots of old buggers at the time used to yell at us, and tell us that people had been taken by sharks in the river, but we didn't believe them. We did hear of two dogs that had been taken, but that was about it. Turns out that back in the '30's and 40's, there had been a few attacks.


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    Milpera. I wouldn't be surprised if they were up past Liverpool.
    The sharks can't get past Charles St at Parramatta. Not unless they can fly over the weir. We used to fish off it at high tide. At low tide you really could walk where the attack happened.

    And then there are the canals on the gold coast. A fella decided to take a shortcut home from the pub across the canal on his way home at Mermaid waters.

    I personally like how far south crocs have been seen. Brisbane River, Logan River and even Nerang River.
    The annual triathlon at Noosa. I've encouraged a few people to swim faster in that event. "Stick with the pack, safety in numbers."
    Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.

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    Quote Originally Posted by trash View Post
    ................................

    And then there are the canals on the gold coast. A fella decided to take a shortcut home from the pub across the canal on his way home at Mermaid waters.

    .........................................


    When I first met my future inlaws who were living at Mermaid Waters, I was hot, so I took my young son on my back and swam across one of the canals and back. We stopped somewhere in the middle and watched some mullet jumping about then came all the way. Everyone was waiting anxiously on the bank, and I couldn't understand why...

    My wifes father told me what was in the canal, and must have wondered...who's THIS f*ckwit!!! He said I turned a little green around the gills.....
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and a stairway to heaven says a lot about the anticipated traffic flow.

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    Amusing anecdote! We were heading "south" one dry season. The Stuart Hwy was still dirt south of the NT border then. We were driving a Nissan Vanette so the radiator was not particularly well protected. South of Coober Pedy had been closed because of rain so we waited overnight to wait for the breeze to dry the road a bit and headed south. After a short time the car started to overheat because of all the mud being thrown onto the radiator. Easiest way to fix it was to drive through every puddle we could find to wash the mud off. All went well until we hit a puddle that was a little deeper than most and we drowned the engine. The water was knee deep and, as the dissy was close to the water we hopped out to push the car onto "dry" land. Wife, as she is heaving on the back of the car, questions, "We don't get crocs this far south?" No! She was not blonde!
    I'm out of my mind, but feel free to leave a message...

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    Working in Kakadu, similar sort of thing. The boss (who lived in Darwin) and I came upon a small creek crossing. He said I get out and check the depth.
    "you get the fvck out and check the depth! I don't give a fvck how shallow it is or that we're not near the river. Shit lives in that water and you know how the Kakadont advertising goes...
    You'll never never know if you never never go near the fvcking water!"
    And those little black kids at Daly River jumping off the weir and swimming.
    "Ya comin' in for a swim mister?"
    "Nar, ya little bastards. Using the white fella for bait. You buggers can swim faster than me!"
    They laughed: "Nar mister... he's not hungry, see! <they point to a croc across the other side of the river>."


    I have plenty of shark stories from scuba diving. Normal scuba you never see sharks. The noisy divers and lots of bubbles just scare them away.
    Sometimes sharks are curious, but the noisy rubber thing with a big metal thing just doesn't look like food.
    But when I'm using the rebreather for diving, that shit changes and sharks are not so timid.

    And I'm not easily scared by them. I have teased so many different creatures of the sea and most sharks don't have much of an attitude. They're not ferocious, it's just their teeth that give them a reputation. Though I was a bit un-nerved one day, swimming along in low vis water and I feel something on my knee. I roll over to see what it is, a big are remora chowing down on the dead skin on my knee. Pretty cool. wait a minute.... this is a big arse fish... where is the proportionally bigger fish it just came off??? Sheeeeeet!

    The most aggressive fish in the ocean... There are two, One which I will tease because they are harmless. (The clown fish) all attitude. If you go them, they run away and hide.
    When you swim away you can just about hear them saying, "yeah, you better run, as they attack you and enact their tiny wrath."

    The other aggressive fish..... the wolf eel. These fvckers are ugly and mean. And when you piss them off... they keep coming like a damn zombie.
    They're evil and relentless. They don't stop until they have a piece of you. Most other creatures give up when you go away.
    The wolf eel will make sure you get back on the boat.

    Oh, I did piss off an octopus pretty badly and he stuck with me until I was on the boat. Only when he was sure I was dead did he slip back into the water.
    But that's a once off, and to be fair, he was really pissed.
    Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.

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    I went shark fishing with the bro-in-law a couple of times, up in Tin Can Bay. He was a pro fisherman, and used to put out mesh nets at night. One night, after filling his home made dinghy with sharks around the 1.5M to 2M mark (the bigger ones tended to break out of the net) thank fvck, we were sitting a bit low in the water. He decided to take a short cut home, and we ran aground on a mud bank... about 500M from where we were catching the sharks.

    He says, we'll have to get out and push... I'm a tad nervous, due to the car sized holes in left the net, where the bigger ones broke out, but slid over the side into the pitch black water. Pushing away, started to relax a bit, when he lets out a scream, and leaps back into the dinghy.. me about 500mS behind him.

    He says.. "Good, I was testing your reflexes just in case anything bad came around"... farkin arsole.... Needless to say, he did all the pushing by himself after that.

    He was full of fun tactics like that though. He also worked crab pots too, and I went out with him a few times to check the pots. He'd motor up into a mangrove creek, nose into a tree, and say.. "that ones tied off on a branch" I'd grab the line, and pull towards the tree, and he'd yell.. "Don't shake it, there's a wasp nest on the branch" That was to deter the tourists from pulling his pots... The stings didn't last long thankfully.

    Had a few fun times with him up there though. Like the night he saw someone obviously pulling pots, where he reckoned his pots were. We headed towards them flat chat.. I'm perched against the gunwhale (no seats in a work boat), thinking.. he'll back off and come around when he gets pretty close to them. Nope, hit them full bore amidships. The suss boat was a Hartley ply hull... that ended up with a crack up the side of it, and I'm scrabbling around in the bottom of the dinghy with the live crabs trying to eat me. Bro-in law is up em for the rent.. which would have been better, if he wasn't 5'2" tall LOL. Fark he' used to be an angry man.. LOL
    Last edited by bob_m_54; 22-01-21 at 04:02 PM.

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