Australia is a great land of wonder, as anyone who has had the privilege of visiting knows. From the arts and culture of Melbourne to the meat pies of Nyngan, Sydney’s iconic opera house to Kirra’s reeling tubes, it might just be the greatest country on earth… but a dark menace lurks.
Oh you’ve read of the bull sharks, that just ate a beautiful dolphin very near where famous surf journalist Nick Carroll lives and in front of families and lifesavers.
Horrible.
But worse?
Posh European-like beach cabanas.
According to the Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Club president Ross Fisher beach cabanas have become an absolute must-have accessory in the past few years, exploding in popularity.
“They’ve become a phenomena,” he told Australia’s ABC News. “People found their patch of sand, they had their family under the cabana, they had sun shade, shelter from the rain if it rains.”
Except herein lies the mess. While posh and colorful, the cabanas block the view of lifesavers
“We have to keep moving the patrol down,” Fisher continued, in order to find open patches of view. “You’re trying to keep the flags going down, which we have to do anyway, but you have to be smart about it.”
Surf Life Saving Queensland Gold Coast coordinator Nathan Fife encouraged beachgoers to use common sense when setting up their Italianate roofs. “Make sure there is pathways, make sure they [lifesavers] can still see the water and see their flagged areas, he said. “They’re there to make sure everyone is safe at the beach. If they can’t do their job, it’s not good for anyone.”
Does the beach cabana plague make you think twice about planning your next surf trip to the Lucky Country or are you more devil may care in your approach to life?
Sipping mimosas underneath a Louis Vuitton four-sided umbrella.
The post New terror emerges on Australia’s surf-rich beaches as posh European-style cabanas implicated in potential deaths! appeared first on BeachGrit.
