Australian BeachesIf It's Dangerous to Swim and Sunbake,  When I first came to Australia, I was amazed to see so many beautiful - but empty (!!??) beaches. Being from Europe where everyone loves swimming and sunbaking, and coming to Australia which is a sunny country surrounded by lots and lots of beaches, this was the last thing I had expected to see. Bondi Beach in Sydney looked 'normal' to me - but that's only because it's all full of European backpackers. Australians have a totally different approach to beaches.  Custom Search And there are reasons for it. Firstly, Australians don't sunbake anymore as they used to, for a good reason - the sun here is very strong thanks to conditions in the ozone layer above us, and causes much more skin cancer than sun in Europe or north America. Secondly, ocean water is the most dangerous environment in Australia when it comes to dangerous animals. Australia is so famous as a country of dangerous creatures, but most of them are in the water. We haven't got large land predators, so the only dangerous land animals are snakes and spiders. But in the ocean, there are sharks, stone fish, marine snakes, fire fish, cone shells, you name it... + in northern Australia we have crocodiles and deadly jellyfish. Good enough reasons why we use beaches for a picnic in the shade or a game of cricket.. but then again, of course, there are exceptions, particularly in the big cities like Sydney and Melbourne. If you do go swimming - do read warning signs and make use of stinger nets.. and always swim between the yellow-red flags.
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