Foreshores Beach

I tread in the shadow of shipping containers piled to the sky. Slimy sand oozes between my toes. Acidic waters singe my skin. My ears cannot escape the constant thunder of trucks passing behind and planes above.

I’m at Foreshores beach. Squeezed between Kingsford Smith Airport and Port Botany, it’s Sydney’s most polluted. The only spot to be given a ‘very poor’ rating by a government report ranking cleanliness of NSW beaches and swimming sites, indicating a high susceptibility to faecal contaminations from sewage overflows and therefore unsuitable for swimming. A few years ago it even turned orange. Still no one knows why.

Picture: Brett CostelloSource: News Corp Australia

You technically are allowed to swim here though as long as it hasn’t been raining recently – a little surprising given Sydney’s overprotective rules and regulations. That’s better than the Cooks River on the other side of the airport. One of the most polluted waterways in Australia, it’s been closed to swimmers for over 80 years due to a regular influx of rubbish, industrial toxic waste, and sewage from more than 150 overflow points. From early on in the colonial years, once Sydney Harbour was chosen as the more suitable place for white settlement, Botany Bay quickly became the industrial heartland, the river’s side especially exploited for both its water resources and dumping grounds. 

Milica didn't seem to mind.

In all honesty though, the beach is nowhere near as bad as the river. Without the industrial shipping backdrop and surround sound of roaring engines it would actually be quite pleasant. Shell-layered white sand dunes merge with light blue crystalline waters. Unleashed visiting dogs frolic on the shallow shore. The fact it borders an airport even gives it a sort of novel charm as pelicans depart and land in tandem with jumbo jets in the distance.

That’s not to say I’ll necessarily be back here any time soon, with much better options nearby still to explore, but it definitely isn’t as bad I was expecting. I don’t know - maybe I just came on a good day.

Total Count: 9/160