HE learned how to navigate conditions while surfing the notorious breaks at Lighthouse Beach, but now Max Milligan is preparing to call Bondi Beach home.
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The former Tacking Point Surf Life Saving Club member has moved to Sydney after accepting a role as a lifeguard at Bondi.
"I grew up five minutes away from Lighthouse Beach my whole life and I was down there all the time surfing and training so I gained a pretty good knowledge of the water from a pretty young age," he said.
"Hopefully coming down to Bondi I can use that knowledge I picked up."
The former MacKillop College student clocked on for his first shift at Bondi on Wednesday (September 30) knowing that crowds will soon flock to the state's most well-known beach.
But he's looking forward to the test.
"The scale of it is 10-fold compared to Port Macquarie," he said.
"Town Beach might get a couple of thousand on a busy day, but at Bondi it can be up to 30,000 people so it's a big challenge."
While crowds provide their own challenges, Milligan said the different layouts of beaches in Sydney also provided other difficulties of their own.
"The beaches down here are pretty dangerous because a lot of them are closed with cliffs and rocks so we've done a bit of practice with rock entry and exit points like cliff rescues," he said.
But he said the position in Sydney came about after an "enjoyable" 2019-2020 summer where he was rewarded as the Port Macquarie-Hastings Lifeguard of the Year.
"I really enjoyed my last season back at Port lifeguarding and I was in a lot more of the action and realised how rewarding the job can be," he said.
The best part of the job are the rescues because it's really satisfying knowing you've used your skills to help save someone.
- Max Milligan
"When I saw this job open up, I thought it was the perfect place to go if you want to make a difference."
While lifeguards can face some "wild days" at Lighthouse Beach, Milligan said it was a good training ground to learn from.
"It all prepares you for what you could be thrown into down here," he said.
"The best part of the job are the rescues because it's really satisfying knowing you've used your skills to help save someone.
"Once I start getting in the action down here and making rescues I'll start to really enjoy it."
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