101 Things I Love About Sydney

While Melbourne had Nadal and Federer battling it out in the final of a sweltering Australian Open Tennis final this summer - Sydney invented a brand new type of sport. A craze that for two days at least, was sweeping the Harbour city: Shark Fighting!

In early February there were two near-deadly shark attacks in our fine city, two days in a row. One was actually in the harbour, against a navy diver who was believed to be involved in a counter terrorism exercise. If anything, having live sharks in the harbour will arguably protect our battle ships against USS Cole type attacks better than anything the navy could possibly come up with. I don't see Al Qaeda wanting to fight sharks anytime soon. The diver punched the shark a couple of times and escaped needing surgery to his thigh and hand.

The very next day Sydney's iconic Bondi beach was the target of a daring dusk attack which left a surfer with a horribly wounded arm, and he was rushed to hospital. As the attack happened at 7:30pm, i.e. well past "beer o'clock" for Aussie film crews, we unfortunately have to assume that the Bondi Rescue documentary crew had already gone home and it won't wind up on next season of the hit show.

So, take that Paris, Tokyo, New York and London - we invented a new sport this summer!