![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tracksmag.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Surfing-sugar-city-images-4-1024x683.jpg\")
I\u2019d much rather take my chances with a shark than a croc. A fatal shark bite would be, I imagine, sudden and relatively painless, while a croc might drag you half-drowned to some muddy snag and leave you to rot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But these fears are unfounded, another young, local surfer tells me he\u2019s been a lifeguard here since he was a small boy, and has never seen one at this beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou mostly get them in the creeks and around the mangroves. It\u2019s almost unheard of to see one of them cruising along the beaches here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, he tells me, the wind is blowing the wrong direction to bring box jellyfish in to the beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey come in with the northerlies. You\u2019ll be right with this sou-easter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I launch into the water, dodging floating logs of driftwood in the muddy shorebreak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After some time away from surfing, I\u2019m seeing it with renewed perspective. The sensation of just paddling and laying on a board is a welcome novelty, but there are other ugly things I haven\u2019t missed. The selfishness, the ego, the entitlement that comes with the gentrification of Australia\u2019s coastal areas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n All of those things are ingrained in the memory of movement, but here in Mackay there is almost none of that. Everyone here is just stoked to be in the water. Most people are riding high volume surfboards, some of them beginners, others are aging, lifelong surfers, and there\u2019s the odd group of frothing but respectful grommets. Everyone is all smiles, and some of the men are happy to share information about other breaks up and down the coast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After an hour in the water, I\u2019m stoked to be hanging in the car park with a cold beer, remembering that calm, post-surf euphoria. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s funny, though, for the past four months I haven\u2019t even thought about surfing, and those who don\u2019t surf might think that now I\u2019ve had my fix I might be satisfied. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But that isn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because surfing is one of those rare and sometimes devious pleasures, where the more you surf the more you want to go surfing. And right now, this muddy windswell has reignited the froth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tracksmag.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Surfing-sugar-city-images-1024x683.jpg\")