Watch: Shark Feeding Orgy Erupts At Snapper Rocks!
Ankle-deep water, fins everywhere.
As a Victorian, perhaps the last stretch of Australian coast blessedly unscarred by the yearly shark attack headlines, I now find myself, for better or worse, living in Northern NSW. Every surf up here tends to end with a strange sense of surprise: not just that I’ve made it back to the sand in one piece, but that my wetsuit, more often than not, isn’t ruined by a little anxious defecation.
Ask anyone who’s been here long enough: they’re out there. Big ones. More than the news lets on. And when it does report, it’s usually after something tragic. See: the Ballina bites, two attacks in two months at Cabarita, and just a few months ago, further south, the heartbreaking death of Mercury Psillakis.
This time of year is especially bad. The end of the whale run, when the pups too weak to make the journey south break off from their mothers and head for the shallows to die. Then, just as we’re heading into the rainy season, the warm river mouths, full of nutrients and the odd dead farm animal, pour into the sea. The bulls come out to feed.
Today marks the first real rain of the season, and, as if on cue, the bulls are on parade at Snapper Rocks. For the first time since the Industrial Revolution, the entire lineup is reportedly empty.
See the disconcerting shark orgy above and below.
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