SYDNEY, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Australia's southeast coast was battered by gale force winds and giant waves on Thursday, with authorities warning the public to use extreme caution in coastal areas.
Sydney's world famous beaches were pummelled by waves over 6 metres high, while damaging gusts of above 100 km/h drew a severe wind warning from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).
"We've got a severe weather warning for the damaging wind along the coastal strip and then we've got a hazardous surf warning as well as a damaging surf warning out," BoM duty forecaster Helen Kirkup told Xinhua.
Kirkup said that the unusually severe weather was due to a deep low pressure system moving up from the southern ocean, along Australia's island state of Tasmania.
Putting authorities' advice aside a few brave surfers at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach paddled out to face the monster swell.
Conditions were predicted to worsen into Thursday night bringing swells of between 7 - 8 metres, before winds eased into the weekend.
