"craters"

If you say this word among my old surfing buddies, they will smile proudly & then shake their heads. 

Its a word we used to describe dry sores we developed on our legs mostly, but also arms. We gathered, after a while, that they came after surfing at a place we knew as Point X. 

It was a handy walk from our local break at Merewether into what is now known as Glenrock Nature Reserve. When the swell had too much north in it for The Rocks or Ladies to break well, small groups of surfers would quietly go south. Point X was never a great quality wave, it was at best an ok break with an average ride. I'm suspect the secrecy, novelty & the walk itself created an appetite for surfing. 

But Point X had a catch. It was a mere 200 yards away from Newcastle's largest sewerage outlet to the sea. You could literally see a steady stream of pure sewerage belching into the sea beyond the shorebreak. On the beach little poo bombs waited to stick to your feet, & thousands of tiny pieces of flotsam lined the tide mark. When you were out in the lineup small squares of paper would floated passed. I'm not sure why we never avoided the place on health grounds, but no, we would go & surf there without the slightest concern. Amazingly none of us developed any health problems, except for craters. Any small cut on an arm or leg would grow a rock hard circular scab with raised edges. They looked just like extinct volcanoes, about the size of a ten cent piece. Luckily they never oozed or erupted. We'd proudly show our mates, just giving them a brief look would get a reaction. "Ooh good one" or "thats huge". May be they'd show their best or ask when you last surfed Point X.  

Nowadays, the "shit farm" has grown and is surrounded by razor wire. Back in the day, if there weren't any workers around you could walk over and check the settling tank contents. Too dangerous now, apparently. And the pipe's gone, well its hidden. Dug in below the sand it extends quite axway out to sea. You can tell where it is because the water is different colour and its surrounded by small fishing boats.