The great fish glided quietly around the outcrop of ancient, barnacle-encrusted rock and tracked back towards the shore, following the coastline south, around the cape. Moving majestically, the fish swept its powerful tail from side to side as it swam along the easternmost edge of Australia, past white-sand beaches and rocky headlands fringed by rolling hills, rainforest and sleepy holiday towns. It was hunting, invisible below the surface, camouflaged from both predator and prey. Beams of morning light penetrated the Pacific, dancing across the dirty-grey dorsal fin, but the enormous shark merged with the darkness of the ocean deep. Seen from below, its white belly blended with the sun-dappled surface.
At Seven Mile Beach, a lone fisherman stood in ankle-deep water, casting into the boat channel. An olive-green bream darted…
