'I didn't know I was bitten'

Shark attack victim Mick Bedford with his mate Lee Cummuskey at the Albany Hospital the day after being attacked.

A surfer who survived a shark attack near Walpole on Sunday has revealed he was attacked so quickly he didn’t know he had been bitten.

Michael Bedford had surgery on Sunday night to repair deep gashes to his right leg after he was attacked while surfing at Conspicuous Cliff beach, 15km east of Walpole.

Mr Bedford, from Walpole, had 300 stitches in the leg and sustained minor muscle damage.

As he recovered in Albany Hospital today he was struggling to come to terms with the vicious and sudden attack that could have claimed his life.

His friend Lee Cummuskey, who was surfing with Mr Bedford just minutes before the attack, was again by his side as Mr Bedford described his terrifying ordeal.

"I am just contemplating being here – life," Mr Bedford said.

"I haven’t thought about it but I probably will some day. I am not going to stop living. I don’t know why it hit me, I was probably in its way."

Mr Bedford said he gave his two children, aged eight and 10, a hug when he saw them and had "a bit of a cry".

Mr Bedford fended off two attacks by the shark before being rescued by his friend and a group of fishermen.

He was about 150m from shore when onlookers were alerted.

About eight people used Mr Bedford's surfboard as a stretcher to carry him a couple of hundred metres along the beach and 300m up a steep climb to the car park.

He said there was a "story to be told" about the surfboard, which had also been bitten in the attack, and thanked those who had helped him.

"I am eternally thankful," he said. "I am extremely lucky. Thank you, whoever you guys were.

"I pushed the shark. I was underneath it, but it must have come back around at me.

"It happened that quickly I didn’t know I had been bitten."

Mr Bedford’s brother-in-law, Michael Smith, is caring for Mr Bedford’s children at Mr Bedford’s Walpole home.

Mr Smith said the children had spoken to their mother about the attack and were in good spirits.

"His wife Lizzie is taking everything in her stride," Mr Smith said. "She was definitely in shock. You don’t expect that on any day.

"You would want to be a pretty tough shark to stop him."

Barry McRae was on the scene as Mr Bedford was being helped by onlookers.

He described the situation as "a little tense".

"The guys were a bit hyper and understandably so because their mate had just been chewed on by a shark," Mr McRae said.