Off the wire
• Over 900 L.A. schools to reopen as email threat deemed "not credible"  • Roundup: Job creation in S. Korea slows down, jobless rate unchanged  • URGENT: Chinese President Xi delivers keynote speech at World Internet Conference  • S. Korea sets 2016 growth outlook at 3.1 percent  • Commentary: "Shared and governed by all" only way for Internet to get out of "Hobbes Jungle"  • Xinhua China news advisory -- Dec. 16  • Aussie gov't asks businesses to fund Great Barrier Reef restoration projects  • Lao gov't begins registering foreigners, issuing temporary work visas  • Male-dominated boardrooms to end by 2018: Aussie Institute of Company Directors  • Roundup: S.Korea lowers inflation target by 1 percentage point for next 3 years  
You are here: 　 Home

Surfing Santas break world record at Australia's most famous beach

Xinhua, December 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

A group of 320 surfing Santas in Australia have set a new world record at the nation's most popular beach in a display that is quintessentially an Australian Christmas.

As the Aussie Christmas carol by Lesley Sabogal goes: "Christmas where the gum trees grow, there is not frost and there is no snow. Christmas in Australia's hot, cold and frosty is what it's not," locals flock to beaches and watering holes to cool off over summer.

Sydney's famous Bondi Beach became a sea of red and white late Tuesday, and 320 jolly surfers donning Santa costumes set a new Guinness World Record for a mass 30-minute surfing lesson to help raise awareness for mental health issues.

"It's good, it's awesome, a lot of people, a lot of fun, a lot of energy, (it's) exciting," one surfing Santa told the BBC.

The group organising the surf lesson is also responsible for "Fluro Fridays" where surfers dress up in colorful and outrageous outfits to help break the stigma of mental health. Enditem