Harold Holt disappeared off Cheviot Beach which is part of a very treacherous bit of coastline. I had my own little adventure at the next bay to the west.
Anyone wanting to fish there had to wait till the tide was almost fully out before they dare move out to the edge of the rock shelves. There was then a twenty minute period when it was safe to fish before the rising tide proved dangerous.
One day , at what should have been the safe interval, I descended to the rocks and found, to my surprise, that the rocks, which should have been dry, were dripping wet. I climbed up on a rock pinnacle about two metres high to get a better view and, almost immediately, I found myself waist deep in water. Without any warning and with no sign of an approaching wave the water depth had risen at least three metres. Had I not been up on the rock pinnacle i would have been carried away, not only by the onrush, but also by the backwash. Like Harold Holt I would have disappeared without trace.
That was the first and last time I attempted to fish that beach.
Cheviot beach had an additional danger. The rocks were honeycombed. An approaching wave would simply disappear under the rock shelf. How extensive the tunnels under the rocks were could be gauged by the air hissing out of crevices and little spouts of water erupting about 30 metres back from the edge of the rocks.
Anyone washed under the rocks would have no chance of getting out and that is probably what happened to the PM.
R.I.P. - Every time I drive over the Phillip Hughes Bridge on the Pacific Highway at Macksville I think of the wonderful young swashbuckling cricketer with the world at his feet. A sad day for Australia.
