I’ve just been tinkering with a chapter about Hervey Bay for Crikey! and came across this photo I took inside Vic Hislop’s fantastically tacky Shark World. It was thanks to this picture that I had a hell of a time getting Sally into the water again.
Like a lot of Brits Sally was already under the impression that a great white pointer patrolling just off shore was as much a part of the Australian beach experience as a bronzed lifeguard wearing a red and yellow hat. When I told her that in all my years swimming on Aussie beaches I’d never seen a shark she didn’t believe me. When she read the government’s claim that on average only one Aussie gets killed by a shark attack each year she declared that it was hogwash.
Looking back on it, I don’t think taking her to Vic Hislop’s Shark World was one of my better ideas.
(BTW: Is it just me or does the kid in the picture look like a very young Heath Ledger?)
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Ah good old Vic, if theres a shark it seems he’ll kill it. I remember going to his shark world in Airlie Beach, and I agree with you Peter, very tacky, but quite ammusing, if only to watch the videos with people in the shortest shorts possible, along with the smallest and flimsiest tin boats to go out “shark hunting”. (however anyone else look at the picture and have Michael Caine come into their head?….”old it lads…i’ve got an idea!”)
Sally is a smart woman. You notice the wording–only one AUSTRALIAN a year gets KILLED by a shark. Seems to me that plenty more tourists do–and Sally is not Australian–and loads more Aussies have what they view as hilarious interactions with sharks. You know, things they can brag about later like sharks attaching to legs and refusing to move until the swimmer has walked all the way to Coolangatta with a shark on his leg.
Good on you sally Im with you, Im an Aussie i know better.