October 2013 (ROTM#58) Boomerang Beach, NSW, Australia

I've never really thought about it, but this could be the quintessential name for an Australian beach! Fortunately, it's actually tucked away along the mid-north coast of NSW and never gets many crowds. Which is probably a good thing because it's an unpatrolled beach and usually has lots of rips....a bad combination.

This picture was taken during the field trip for my 3rd year undergraduate course 'Coastal Geomorphology' at UNSW. One of the students, Josh Park, turns out to be an amazing photographer and snapped this picture of a purple dye release I did at the southern end of the beach in a rip current against the rocks. These 'topographic' or 'headland' rips are fairly permanent features and tend to flow fast and far, but not on this day. I released the dye basically at the shoreline and it slowly, slowly crept out. But in general, unless you're a surfer, it's not a good idea to swim against the headlands. The thing is, the stairs look like they are leading people right to it, which I guess they are!

One of my talented students took this one