Where do you think you'd reach if you swam in a completely straight line from a Sydney beach? The answer is more surprising than you might first guess.

Launch into the waves at Bondi Beach, paddle in a straight line for a very, very long time and, all things working in your favour, you'll reach southern Chile.

Australian beach views from "Beyond the Sea" by Andy Woodruff. The brighter ends of lines show their point of origin, while the continent name on the map is the destination of those beach views. Credit:Andy Woodruff

Do the same from Dee Why, just 16 kilometres north of Bondi, and you will eventually come ashore in Mexico.

It gets more unexpected: jump into the Indian Ocean near Ningaloo in Western Australia and you will meet Yemen, by which time you will have earned a well-deserved rest.