Cirrus@Austlit

'From the cliffs, the sea looked beyond dangerous. There was malevolence in the white-blue mess of its face. In the smacking of its waves and the lurch of its current. Up close, from the tideline - after I descended a long set of salt-stained stairs - it was even harsher. Not only did the waves seem larger. and the current wilder, and the gritty slope where the ocean met the land steeper than I would have believed feasible: the sense of danger was intensified by the immensity of the sea's sound. The cliffs behind the beach reflected the crashing of the water, and the curve and height of the rock amplified the noise into a numbing roar. Water broke, crashed and flew up the angled sand, before sucking back into the blue murk with hungry speed. ft felt impossible that a beach could be this unsafe.' (Introduction)