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| The perfect city beach? This is how an Australian describes the ethos: 'From a high-rise office in downtown Sydney or Perth you can be basking on golden sand within 20 minutes and back at your desk before the boss even notices. Madras, in south-eastern India, was rebuilt repeatedly as its trade grew in Victorian times. On one such occasion, the British Governor came up with a radical plan for countering the oppressive heat. If there were a beach in the heart of the city, he argued, it could act as a 'lung' that would let in some cooling air. He found that by channelling the longshore currents, amazing volumes of sand were liberated that formed the base of Marina Beach, an enormous artificial beach which even today is still growing, the ideal place for strolling but sadly not for swimming as the strong currents prevent it.
Bondi, in Sydney, is the ultimate urban beach, filling an almost mystical role in the affairs of the city. In the 1950s, as successive waves of immigrants - Greeks, Hungarians, Cockneys, Lebanese, and Sicilians - arrived to make a new life, their first port of call was Bondi, where they immersed themselves in the hallowed surf. Not until completion of this baptismal rite did they feel truly Australian. By the standards of other beaches, Bondi is not particularly big - just a crescent of sand backed by local shops. Yet on a hot, busy February weekend, as many as 100,000 have been known to squeeze on to Bondi - a supreme example of Australian beach worship.
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