August 25th 2015: Creatures of the deep

Australia seems to be gripped by shark fever right now with sightings and incidents soaring on the East Coast. Even Bondi has become the local hangout for a grumpy bronze whaler. But there are more serious threats further north of Sydney.

Saturday's attack on a 38-year-old bodyboarder at Port Macquarie was the fifth on the East Coast of Australia this year. The popular beaches of northern New South Wales – Ballina and Lennox Head – have taken a massive hit – not only from the mental impact from living in such close proximity to these creatures, but also from the downturn in tourism as beachgoers opt out of a visit altogether. It seems the stealthy bull sharks, and even some great whites, have stepped up their presence in the area with surfers regularly chased out of the water, line-ups going untouched altogether and dawnies and dusk surfs just distant memories.

Tracks Magazine has just released this interesting documentary with the Ballina and Lennox communities – exploring the situation from the locals' perspective.

Here in New Zealand we aren't exactly shark free either, but we have limited numbers of bull sharks. Great whites, of course, are plentiful. Maybe it's just luck that we're not in the same cycle as our friends in Aussie – perhaps that cold water has a benefit afterall. But we do have other creatures to keep an eye out for – after swimming for a few hours on a remote sandbank last week I was stoked to avoid a run in with a sea lion. A small pod of Hector's dolphins were a welcome sight, but I didn't expect to find the two creatures hauled out on the sand on the walk back: not one but two leopard seals. They were only small and their bellys were full as they rested, stretched and lolled about on the beach. They have a bad reputation, but they are actually extremely intelligent and curious as this video of wildlife photographer Paul Nicklen's Antarctic enounter shows.

More waves coming at the end of the week ... enough light now for a quick after-work session. Get amongst it.

See you at the beach ... Derek

PS I spent the end of this past week in one of New Zealand's most remote merino stations: Muzzle Station tucked in behind the Seaward Kaikoura range. The Redfern family run the 18,000ha operation that can only be accessed this time of year by plane. Check out the shot of the road in below and you'll see why it is so often impassable. Theirs is another remarkable story from the high-country ... we'll be sharing that with you all in 2016.