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Australian Surfer

Australia’s beaches are not only one of the great attractions for visitors to that sunburnt country they are an integral part of the Australian psyche and national identity.

17 ½ million Australians live within an hours drive from the beach and most sunny weekends see them getting a good work out.  Even during the week at the more popular city beaches the number of beach goers is significant.

Most native Australians have a healthy respect for the surf and beach safety instilled in them from an early age with parents, syblings, uncles, aunts and extended family and friends educating the young ones in safe beach use.  Visitors and new arrivals to Australia regretably don’t often have this collective knowledge and training to call on and many get into difficulty in the surf each year which results in many unecessay deaths.  2005 resulted in 87 deaths by international visitors by drowning.

2007 was the centenary of  the foundation of the Surf Lifesaving Movement, designated as the “Year of the Lifesaver”, recognising its role in keeping the Australian beaches safe and contributing to the unique Aussie beach culture.

In this podcast Talk’N Tours provides some useful background to Australian beach culture and even more important information about how your visit to an Aussie beach can be made even more enjoyable and safe. Remember a beach may “look safe” but unless you are family with surf beaches there are many hazards such as tidal rips which can get you into a lot of trouble very quickly indeed.

Talk’N Tours provide this information for general education purposes and accept no liability for any inaccuracies that may or may not be present in the podcast.  Talk’N Tours recommend beach users to follow all safety directions from Lifesavers & Lifeguards and specifically advise that Talk’N Tours accept no liability for any actions or results of use of a beach that may result from reference to these materials.