Rumor has it that every seven years, a “mystery beach” shows up near Bondi. Lying between Australia’s Bondi and Tamarama Beaches, Mackenzies Bay is generally just a tiny, beautiful, rocky inlet with no sand to speak of. That’s all changed, though.
While the waves aren’t perfect, they’re popular for bodysurfers and the occasional surfer. Here’s a look at what the bay usually looks like.
Over the last few weeks, the rocks have been covered in sand. A new beach has appeared, and the locals are ecstatic about a new place to swim–and a place to take their dogs.
Although dogs have been banned on most of the beaches in the area, dog laws are a little fuzzy on the new beach. According to The Daily Telegraph, it’s not patrolled and the rangers have been lenient with dog owners.
The seven-year-beach isn’t actually a seven-year-beach. It’s thought that the strange phenomenon might be caused by a series of smaller swells. “Sand builds up in small surf, if it stays small it just keeps being dumped there,” said Bruce Hopkins, Waverley Council Head Lifeguard. “It’s big surf that pushes the sand away. June was the last really big one, which destroyed a lot of the coastline.”
Mackenzie Bay, just north of Tamarama, is temporarily Mackenzie Beach.
Since June, though, there’s been no swells of any real size. According to a professor named Rob Brander at the University of NSW, it isn’t simply swell size, though–it’s long term weather systems, too. “Patterns of swell direction have a lot to do with it, but the amount of sand on our beaches is also linked to longer-term climatic cycles,” he explained. “During a La Nina phase we tend to get more storms and bigger waves so our beaches erode. During an El Niño event, there are less storms with smaller waves and the beaches recover.”
