ABSTRACT
For a period in my childhood, I lived in South Australia. Our family had a house right next to the sea in a small town south of Adelaide. The house was about 100 metres away from a long sandy beach which was interrupted by the mouth of a river. The river separated the beach with about 25 metres of fast-flowing water pouring into the ocean. For a child in early adolescence, our house provided access to a natural adventure playground with unlimited possibilities. It was always a great thrill to swim across the river mouth as the current was strong and made swimming a little more challenging. However, the biggest thrill for me was found at the rocks which formed the border of the river mouth to the land. The rocks were on one side of the river, while on the other side there were sand dunes where one could slide down into the water. The rocks were exciting because they provided the opportunity at the point where the river met the sea to climb up them and jump into the water below. The ledge from where it was possible to jump was only about 4 or 5 metres above the water, but it felt like jumping off a mountain. At this point the water was also quite deep which made it feel like one was plummeting to the bottom of the sea on entry. This was followed by a mad scramble to get back to the surface. Another thrill in this adventure was the awareness that there were sharks in the sea. There were often newspaper reports about attacks on surfers at nearby beaches, but this knowledge did not put us off as the thrill of throwing oneself from the ledge into the deep water below was too enticing. My group of friends had reasoned that if there was a shark below, we would probably stun it when we jumped on it, so we would have time to get to out of the water if need be.
