Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Hi, ok, ive done loads of research the last 12 months, andi know everything there is to know about Oz, I even know when your PM has a poo. Well, we all know when Paula Radcliffe has hers now :p

Anyway to my question, everytime i see a photo of someones holiday or Reccie to Perth, theres always the statutory beach shot, lovely golden sands, warm sunshine, beautiful sea, but NO PEOPLE :eek:

Where are they all? is it because

1. You have so many miles of sandy beaches, theres so much to go around.
2. you have a huge pollution problem and the sea coastline is full of Paula Radcliffes "Time Out" deposits :scared:
3. You have shark and crab infested waters
4. Auzzies are not impressed by beaches and nice weather anymore, so they just dont bother
5. Or maybe because its not a safe place to be and full of Hoons!

I seriously doubt its the last 4, and sorry its such a crap thread, but its been niggling me. See im a beach bum, and youl see me running down the beach in a wetsuit (ok i know i dont need them in Auz) which is clearly two sizes too small, carrying a very flimsy body board which will under no circumstances hold my whale like figure, but hey, us Brits like to impress :D

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

maybe it's safety in numbers. If you're the only person swimming off a beach, the sharks can see you better........ ;)

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Simple Low population and endless beaches. :cool:
It doesn't get any better than that

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

You get the same if you go to the beach in north norfolk (wells, brancaster etc), much nicer than busy horrible places like Great Yarmouth (chavsville of east anglia)

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Last year in Perth august time we were at the beach nice sunny day great...nearly all to our selves...10 people at the most...at whitfords later on and talking to a girl in the shop...told her where we had been...she looked in horror and said we dont go to the beach until it hits 30 uptil then its cold..... :rolleyes: still good enough for me

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

me too, once it hits 16oC were off in droves with our handkerchiefs on our heads :D

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Sharks could be hungry?

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Agree with you about nice Norfolk beaches being sparcely occupied - although the seemingly single figure year round temps could also be a contributing factor there :rolleyes: brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

We took a short break hol to Great Yarmouth last year and, yep, it should be renamed 'Chavsville-on-Sea'! We felt very out of place on the beach with no unusually placed piercings :eek: or tattoos!!

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Forget sharks, spiders, snakes etc. The Ocean takes hundreds of people every year. Nearly all go missing outside the red and yellow flags the lifesavers put up to mark a watched safer sandbank. The ocean waves develop viscious rips which drag the swimmer out to sea. Those that fight the rip get exhausted and drift away to drown.

SWIM BETWEEN THE FLAGS

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Guess i never thought of rip tides, i dont even know what they are, i always assume that any strong swimmer can swim agianst a current, guess im used to small cornish beaches which are too cold to swim out further than the raft. cheers Tony

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

You swim across the current but never swim against the current. Not even the strongest swimmer can swim against a rip. Eventually you will come free from the rip but then you may have to swim back in with large waves behind you. I have helped rescue one boogie boarder who got tired in large surf. Another 8 people were being rescued by the surf lifesavers. I put him on the surf board and paddled in a bit until the surf rescue could get back out.

The bigger the wave the bigger the rip but even a small amount of wind chop can generate a current.

http://www.ripcurrents.noaa.gov/overview.shtml

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

This help?:

http://www.australianoutdoors.com/im...ia-britain.jpg

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Bondi's right,In OZ around 2 or 3 people are killed by sharks each year in the ocean compared to 500 people drowning in it, wheres the real danger.

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

So tempting on a hot day to take a quick dip in the Ocean.

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

In Winter in OZ when it is around 15c all the beaches are empty except for a few Poms who think its a hot day. :D

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

They still have the flags out at Bondi for them in mid winter. In June the water is still 19C in Sydney, warmer than the air. In december it is only 16C and that is a wake up call when you jump in.

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

yeh thats right, takes all summer to warm the sea up, and the paradox is (as well in the UK) that the sea is damn cold at beginning of summer but nice right up until late autumn. I go surfin in the Gower SW Wales, and its funny to see all the people hit the beach one the first day of warm weather, but get a shock in the sea. Best time in Uk is Sept to OCt, and i guess OZ its May/June.

IS the East Coast same Sea temp as West Coast??

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

The real reason OZ's beaches may seem empty is becuase OZ is one of the largest countries and the largest island in the world with 33,500 km's of coastline, with a small population of 20 million, apart from crowded city beaches most of the rest of OZ's beaches in rural areas probably seem empty, except for popular surf and swimming beaches in summer.

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

I have not been to the west coast yet. Water is warm now and it is sunny so I am off for a quick swim before work.

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

None of our family are great sea-swimming worshipers hence thats why we're looking to live out in the Hills.

We do all love the beach, paddling and rock pools, etc etc though so it makes the decision to come to Adelaide all the more perfect as we wont have too far to drive to find some sand and waves :D :D

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Just come out of the Indian Ocean and its lovely, I would say its probably low 20's at the moment, my pools showing 23c and its feels pretty similar when I dip the toe in :D . Air temp was about 29c earlier so you do notice the difference when you first get in the sea, but after you've paddled out through a couple of sets your soon warmed up.

Steve :)

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

well, well, you learn something new everyday!!!!

My personal cut-off for the pool is now 20c. If it's colder than that I don't swim.

Badge

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Hi

The Colebecks: Marino, Hallet Cove and (a bit further away) Port Noarlunga would be the nearest places to Adelaide for your hobbies! :)



As for the beaches being quite unpopulated: we went to a beach for Australia Day, the following day when we told Aussie relies and my husbands Aussie workmates - they were amazed that we had spent MORE THAN 20 MINS ON A BEACH!! :scared:

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Thanks for the info :D ... just wanna be there NOW! :rolleyes:

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant website Bondipom - thanks.... have always wondered about the whys & wherefores of rips and will make sure all the family has a read. :D

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

I've always assumed that it's a weekday, (like when we went to validate) everyone is at work whereas the people taking the pics are on their hols. I'm sure the fact they have so much coastline also helps though.

Presume the same here, beaches must be far quieter during the week.

Cadman

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Our pool is heated, the thermostat is set at 29 degrees & I baulk at that. Pick the aussie :rolleyes: .

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Because it is far too hot and you would fry sitting on the beach all day in Australia is the real answer. Even hardened sunseekers in Aus don't stay on the beach all day - you're just asking for skin cancer.

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

29 degrees is nice. My view is that if the sea was that cold (20), I would still be swimming in it on a hot day. The same applies to my pool.

I swim to get fit, there is no other reason.

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Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

That is not true. The hotter the weather the more crowded Aussie beaches are. Aussie beaches are most crowded during the 3 months of summer and are almost deserted for the rest of the year when the temperature is under 20c. Many people do stay on the beach all day on a hot day, some have little sun shelters which look like small tents and some just lie out in the sun.

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Slightly OT, but has anyone else noticed that little run that most surfers have?
What's it all about?

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Different reasons/for different people/for different areas.

To explain the photo's: either everyone's at work/at school. Or you're in a underpopulated area. Or it's a dangerous beach. Or it's a boring beach(no waves at all).
Or it's not summer(or after summer)
Then in the northern half of the country you've got dangerous jellyfish a large part of the year, and then there's crocodiles.
And sharks, rips, big waves in all area's.

Then there's the fact that if you have something available always, you don't go that often(not all people, but lots. You might go quite often in the first couple of months you are here, but then it gets normal, and you've got better stuff to do like shopping, housework, washing the car etc etc etc ;) )


I'm not a beach person, and only go on really hot days, sometimes. Actually, have only really been with visitors. Pascal and I would never just spend a day at the beach, never.

We went on Christmas day (about 40 degrees), and the the water was really cold. And again in january, and it was still quite cold. I guess it was better then in later months, but we've not had a reason to go. Or time. There's always something better to do...


Btw, a lot of you say: yeah, we'll swim in those temps(winter, spring), and you might in the beginning, but you're most likely to acclimatise, definetly in a year. Then you'll be like (most of) the rest of us! :D (it's 25 degrees outside, and I'm wearing, long pants, closed shoes with little socks, a long sleaver sweater thing(thin, but still)..... it's was a bit warm in the car at lunch time, but other than that.....

Also, regarding it's too hot. Yes, it can be too hot(if you don't have an umbrella or shade thingy with you! And even then! And in the water you really need to wear a hat! (especially bald guys, ha ha!). And it can get annoying, everytime you get out of the water layer the sunscreen on again. And you do really need to do that. The water reflects the sun, so it makes it worse I believe....


:D

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Is it a warmup stretch thing. If I go I jog down the beach to warm up the legs.

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Have you been listening in on my conversations with the skin check doctor :D :D

I went for a molescan check today, and got the all clear :) It was actually a surprise, as I was expecting a few cancer spots. I did get a telling off though for not wearing a hat on my bald head !!

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

I prefer cat scans, moles are quite short sighted and can miss things,


Cheers,
JTL

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

But the lab reports are most thorough! boom boom!

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

I'd much prefer to swim in the Indian Ocean in mid winter than swim in the North Sea at the hight of UK summer....

on the beaches front in WA, there's only about 1.8 million of us here with thousand of k's of beaches, that's how they look empty, just how I like it thank you....

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

lol!
Lucky you!

My collegue(of the older generation, 60), used to bake out in the sun(and still goes into it :rolleyes: ) A few weeks ago she had a cancer removed from her nose, and it's not the first one.

I should really have a check too, I was out in the sun quite a lot as a kids, and we were protected, but not as much as kids are now!

Re: Why are your beaches so Empty?
 

Yeah, are you going to drive up to Broome, or even Yanchep for a swim? :p


If it's nice weather in the weekend, all the nice/good Perth beaches are busy(well, busy enough).

That's another thing why I don't often go! I think they're too full, lol!!! I like my privacy, especially when wearing a bikini :scared: :D :o


In January we were on holiday in the southwest. I thought, let's go to Elephant Rocks(William Bay NP), it's so beautiful and nice and quiet! OMG, it was packed!!! (well, packed compared to what I was used too! Probably because it was school holiday, and very nice weather(though cold water!!), but I still hadn't expected that! And it's not exactly close to Perth either, or even close to Albany or Busselton etc!!!

:D