Visiting Bondi Beach for the first time, New Zealand Herald reporter Samuel Sherry had been excited to check out the iconic white sands. But his jaunt across the ditch quickly turned into a harrowing ordeal. Here’s how it unfolded.
When I went to one of Sydney’s most popular tourist hot spots on Sunday, the only danger I thought about was the rough surf.
A few hours later I would be back reporting on one of Australia’s most horrific tragedies.
It was meant to be a quick trip visiting friends over the weekend. Saturday was my first time in Sydney and I hit some of the top tourist spots almost straight off the plane.
The second day was all about beaches.
The mercury was sitting at a scorching 30C and I was excited to join the thousands of tourists and locals at Bondi, to cool off.
Arriving around lunchtime, the streets were teeming with people ready to swim or check out the shops.
When I finally made it to the beach, I understood why it was so famous, with white sand, clear water and the sun beating down.
The surf was slightly more aggressive than I thought it would be and I was careful not to swim outside the flags as I didn’t want to end up on Bondi Rescue, which I think I saw being filmed when I arrived.
However, returning to the beach later that evening was a completely different experience, one filled with horror, shock and anger.
As reports broke of two shooters opening fire at Chanukah By the Sea, an event to mark the Jewish Hanukkah festival, I was called back to the beach by my boss.
I was unaware of the horror I was about to see, as it was later revealed that 15 innocent people had been killed and many others were injured.
I arrived on the south side of the beach near the Bondi Icebergs Club where people were panicked and confused.
The beach was a sea of blue and red flashing lights and the streets were a ghost town.
After making my way to the media point at the corner of Wairoa and Warners Aves, people were up against the perimeter trying to make sense of what had just happened.
I spoke to members of the Jewish community who were almost lost for words. They were devastated at the loss of people they knew, including the Rabbi who led the event.
Members of the community continued to mention they felt let down by the Australian government and they had been saying something like this would happen.
They also stressed the community will come together to make it through this event.
Other members of the Bondi community were shocked by the events.
One man said he usually walked his dog on the beach at that time and had a call from his son telling him to stay away because “they’re shooting people”.
Elsewhere, people took to their cars to ferry people to safety, including an English tourist who had been in the country only a couple of weeks.
She had been hiding in a Woolworths Metro for about an hour before people came in asking for doctors and nurses to help those wounded.
The phrase “this sort of thing doesn’t happen in Australia” was repeated by those I spoke to and it is clear the wider city has been deeply impacted.
Many said they knew someone who was down at the beach at some point that day or had already heard first-hand accounts of the shooting.
Life around the city appears to have returned to normal right now, but the events of December 14 will stay in their minds.