If you needed a reminder that nature does not care about your beach vacation, look no further than Sydney. Leah Stewart, a 34-year-old teacher, is proving she is tougher than most after surviving a brutal shark attack at Coogee Beach almost two weeks ago. Her brother, Joshua, dropped an update on a fundraising page confirming she is out of critical condition, fully awake, and remembers the entire encounter in detail. She is already back to seeing her daughter, August, showing some serious maternal grit.

Make no mistake, the physical toll is heavy. Stewart had to have one arm amputated, and her remaining arm has severe tendon and nerve damage. She currently has zero use of her hand and is looking at a long schedule of surgeries and grueling rehab. But instead of folding, she is fighting to get back to her kid, proving that family motivation is a hell of a drug.

While Stewart is busy recovering, local authorities are realizing that the ocean is currently a giant, unlocked pantry. Waverley and Randwick councils have had to shut down Bondi, Tamarama, Bronte, Clovelly, and Maroubra beaches multiple days in a row. Bondi got shut down Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday because great white sharks decided to show up uninvited.

Drone footage from the Drone Shark App has been circulating, showing great whites and tiger sharks chilling right off Bondi. It turns out swimming in the ocean right now is basically volunteering to sit in the middle of a marine buffet. The local authorities are doing what they can, but you can't exactly reason with a swimming buzzsaw.

The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries reported that their tagged shark listening stations are lighting up. They tried to play it cool by saying this is 'not an uncommon occurrence' for this time of year, but tell that to anyone who was planning to go for a dip.

Marine biologist Rob Harcourt, a regular swimmer at Bondi who apparently has nerves of steel, explained that the sharks are just following the food. Huge schools of Australian salmon are migrating up the coast, creating 'big balls of salmon' right off the beaches. These fish are fat, juicy, and packed with calories, making them the ultimate fast food for migrating predators.

To make matters more chaotic, Professor Culum Brown from the Macquarie University Fish Lab pointed out that most of these coastal visitors are actually juvenile sharks. While the adult sharks are way out in the deep ocean, the teenagers are hanging out by the beaches during late autumn and early winter because they are predictable like that.