Today has it all.
This is what I saw…
I went down the beach early…5:20am…couldn’t sleep in with all this warm weather. I suffer from FOMO (Fear of missing out). The first thing to catch my eye was the rubbish. Tonnes of the stuff left on the beach yesterday. Disgust. I then strolled down to the water’s edge and saw a surfboard do an aerial without a surfer. Odd. Then I looked to my right and saw two hell man throwing boulders over their heads – really odd. Out to sea I could see 3 large whales meandering in the bay – cool. Got my water-housing and headed out for a swim. Nice. The water was freezing. Don’t be fooled by the 30 degree weather – she’s chilly. The water was also Fiji crystal clear – deluxe. Small waves chugged in on a shallow sand bank, mainly rights, waist high suckers…fun! I got out and the masses had already arrived. I reckon 3,000 people down there at 6:30am. WOW.
Today will be very different to tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be cold (and wet). So I guess hit the beach, NOW.
Onya bike.
Ciao :: uge
If youse don’t pick up your rubbish, those dudes throwing rocks will pay you a visit at home and throw a few through some of your windows ya grubs
All those blow in’s on warm days should take their rubbish home, really breaks your heart to see how they treat the beach. Any thoughts on what can be done? Other than a swift slap to the head
You could start by stop using the phrase “blow in” doesn’t really set the right tone.
I’m guessing your a true local, I myself am a blow in that’s lives in Bondi and its terrible to see the beach in such a mess in the evenings. I do think handing out $20 spot fines might help but when your dealing with people who cant even put rubbish in a bin that they will be passing when leaving the beach I’m not sure what you can do…
Is that rubbish? That is disgusting, i just returned from Bali and i thought that was bad enough. I just can’t see why people litter, and especially at beaches.
Real filth to see all that this morning. How come the comber was not in action? Too many Whopper wrappers and Black Doctor cans?
Good to see a few locals getting down and picking some up though….
Disgusting. Can’t something be done to stiop all the rubbish being tossed. Shouldn’t there be signs up everywhere saying $200 fine for littering. Can’t the cops atleast show their faces and enforce this instead of sitting in their cars eating doughnuts and catching people doing 5km over the speed limit. What a disgrace. Tell you what if I see someone leaving rubbish on the beach and then get in an altercation because of it bet you I will be the one blamed………
So sad seeing all that rubbish, spoiling such a beautiful place. Cheers for mentioning it in the email. Don’t you hate getting a hungry jacks bag for a hat after duck diving a wave.
Good on the Icebergs guys picking up rubbish in their togs. Ideas: Bins on the beach, on the spot fines, no smoking on beach, public awareness campaigns through outdoor advertising, more conscience pricking by Uge, encourage SLSC members to verbalise litter bugs…
I like to imagine the rock throwing guy with no rock. So he’s basically just taunting the beach or having a hectic still standing sand surf, or just has super heavy hands that are hard to lift, or the two guys suddenly found themselves in a no oxygen vacuum and are holding their breath or they just saw a guy get kicked in the nuts and are wincing or they’re actually cave men transported to modern times trying to wo o the girl in the pic.
Derverd, whatcha smoking there buddy?
Sunny + 30C + Aquabumps + stuck in office = Office Madness + pumped for weekend surf
I hate to imagine what my day would’ve been like without a little Derverd in it.
The boys from Bondi SBLSC always pick up what they can carry from the beach. When council in their wisdom removed the bins, litter has only gotten worse. People need to encourage their local members, Councillors that 20c deposits on cans, bottles etc is a fool-proof way to help stop this.
I collected close to a dozen glass bottles this morning, the beach rake can only break or bury them. How much glass is now awaiting some nippers feet this weekend…..
…and no feeding the bloody seagulls either!!!
Anthony Gill, +1!!!
How about all of us who go to the beach pick up three pieces of litter, to set an example to those grubs who trash the place?
Yep shame such a beautiful place has to wear that. Went for a late run last night and it was sad to see the middle of the beach like it was. Council needs to convert some of the parking revenue into action on the sand and make people realise that littering will not be tolerated and will result in big fines. Agree too that if we all grabbed a couple of bits on our way through (any time day) it would make a much cleaner place and make those around us think a little bit more about their own actions. Some prominent feel good signs about making the ocean a better place would be a start – then throw the book at em.
Thanks for drawing attention to it uge – mind you it’s impossible to overlook anymore
Just rang Council and they said that they would send some more wardens through and maybe put up more signs – be interesting if they follow through on this. If I see anyone littering this weekend I’m going to rub their faces in whatever they’ve left – scumbags
Reiterating others on the forum in thanking you Uge for bringing the litter issue up. Manly this morning at the end of the Corso on the sand was a disgrace. Brighton on a Sunday arve, if you dare and I won’t again, is a basket case.
Not sure how you teach basic courtesy and basic respect to those responsible but putting it out there is a very good start. It is a shame that those who care have got to pick up for those that don’t but that is how it is at the moment.
we all need to put pressure on the Waverley Councillors – we voted them in – we now need to get them to DO something about the rubbish. Go to http://www.waverley.nsw.gov.au/your_council/councillors_contact_details for their names and phone nos or email addresses.
Yep phone Waverley Council. If we inundate them will calls they will be obliged to do something – tel 9369 8000
My first daily email – and I love it already! Love the pics of course, but also the story that goes along with it. Can’t wait for tomorrow…
While waiting for council to put some signs, what about making some yourself and sticking them in the sand?
“No rubbish. $200 fines applies if caught.” or an arrow with “Bin that way” or “Aren’t you ashame of littering this beautiful beach? Stop being a pork.” or whatever inventive, creative, you can come up with.
Why not run a competition where people have to come up with the most inventive sign to tell people to stop putting rubbish on the beach? Ask council if you could organise it? If not, just do that little event some evenings on the beach? Or get organised, create your “Bondi beach Guardian Angels” association of volonteers. Make sure every evening x volonteers tour the beach and keep an eye out for people trashing it. Why not even carry big plastic bags and get to them. If the rubbish doesn’t come to the bin, get to the rubbish. There are tons of ways to fight it yourself. I do agree that at the end, a long-term solution is the council dealing with it and along these alternatives, I would say yes, keep pressuring the council to seriously do something about it. But meanwhile…there are immediate possibilities. I don’t live in Sydney, I wish, would love to help fighting this, but reading these discussions made me think of these ideas. Cheers guys.
The council needs to put up a sign that says ‘Go home – Locals Only’
I agree 99% of the rubbish comes from non locals but we’ve got to be really careful with sentiments like this. No one wants a Cronulla situation.
Gotta stay poz! Help people to see the massive downsides in litter and how nice a clean beach is to get people on board, rather than intimidation etc.
Well, Council decided they wanted to “educate” beach visitors and therefore got rid of all the bins on the beach The Tama and Bronte visitors obviously don’t need no education, since they still have their bins.
Now we’ve got the mess.
Ring Council and push our new liberal Mayor (who will be with us for 4 years now) to bring those simple silly bins back. Ridiculous.
Since they’re gone we had lots of people coming to surf patrol tents with cuts thanks to glass in thier feet too.
they just get up after a bit of melanoma production and “forget” to pick their crap up.
there’s bins on the promenade by the sand, i’ve dropped rubbish off after picking it up on my way back from a surf.
the world is full of selfish folk, you’ll even find ’em in the water at bondi (which Uge has handily documented for us today in “morning chaos..”).
Thing about Bondi is… Everyone in Sydney is a local! (I know, sucks when it’s your own backyard though.)
Imagine how much cash is flowing through the parking ticket machines on a day like this. Council should be looking at temporary bins for busy days or even a few staff cleaning throughout the day. They’re fine with bringing millions of people down to the beach every year and all the $$$ that rakes in, but seem happy to leave it as a shit-show for those who live there. Go figure.
Great photos today Uge. I guess everyone has got to distracted by the bad side of nature than the good. I mean there was a whale in the bay this morning.
P.s I love ‘morning chaos on the right’ its one of my favourite Aquabumps photos ever
Possibly the two reasons I don’t miss Bondi – rubbish and wankers. There was none of either at Yallingup yesterday. There was also a nice 7ft left at right on the point and some 3-4ft at the beach. Water crystal clear.
Nice one Greg.
Tip : If you don’t like bondi, you probably won’t like my website.
Also, I love Yals. Learnt to surf there – the right is fun when small. Pretty hard to compare a remote country beach to Bondi. Two very different things that cater for different types of people.
The great thing about Bondi is that you can have a beach life and be close to a city – which comes in handy when you want to work.
Hey everyone, thought this might be of interest: http://www.facebook.com/ResponsibleRunners
Chill and peace, Uge. Of course, it’s a “rant”, but an comment on the “bad” side of Bondi and how much the place has changed. Uge, I don’t think not liking your web site equates to disliking Bondi. I grew up there and am still a member of the surf club, some 43 years later (we has an emil exchange last week). Sure, Bondi gives you a beach lifestyle close to the city, but cut feet aren’t a pleasant way to spend a day at the beach (and they also do that here on my home break at Scarborough). For me, Bondi will always be “the capital of the world”).