Bonfires are pretty much a summer and beach trip tradition. You might think they're easy to throw together in a few minutes, but making a bit more effort will turn a mediocre bonfire gathering into one that you and your friends will fondly remember.

In the war against sand, humans can never win. And the sooner you square yourself to the fact that going to the beach is an inherently messy process, the more you'll actually enjoy going to the beach.

There's still one month till summer, and if you've been listening to your more sun-sensitive friends at the beach, or had to go out to buy aloe on one too many occasions, it might have occurred to you to invest in a beach umbrella.

Follow your intuition on this; a beach umbrella is a great investment in your skin's future. But you may have also noticed that at least once a weekend there's someone running down the beach, chasing an open umbrella that has caught a strong breeze and is suddenly on the lam.

Is there anything better than digging your toes into the warm sand on some beautiful, exotic beach? Well there is if that beach is riddled with hookworms that hope to burrow into your feet and make their way to your small intestine. If you do a lot of travelling to warm, humid locales, here's how you can avoid these nasty little things.

Before you have kids, the beach is easy. You amble down with nothing but a towel and a bottle of water; maybe you bring an umbrella and stick it in the sand with the ease of Zeus tossing a thunderbolt. Sun protection is a big hat and a dab of sunscreen. But once you procreate? Hannibal crossed the Alps with less effort and gear than it takes to get kids to the shore.

The beach would be the perfect place to spend a day if it weren't for all that sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Fortunately, there's an easy way to prevent sand from getting on, inside and around things you don't want it going near.

A beach picnic always sounds delightful but, unless you want soggy sandwiches and a mouthful of sand, some planning is required. After a life of living near the coast, I have developed a successful strategy for keeping sand out of my food and mouth.

An Australian teen was recently hospitalised after a mysterious swarm of creatures seemed to bite his legs and cause serious bleeding. While the incident has produced some shock and awe, there's no reason to get too worked up about it.

Earlier this month, a child in the US died a week after apparently aspirating water while wading with his family. The media has called this a case of "dry drowning", also called "secondary" or "delayed" drowning, in which a person initially seems fine after inhaling water but then dies hours or days later.

You've probably heard that you're supposed to urinate on a jellyfish sting, or perhaps pour alcohol on the affected area before scraping the stingers away. But a recent study suggests most of those home remedies, including the golden shower, don't work. And some of them can actually make things much worse for the victim.

When you go to the beach, you want a blanket that's easy to clean off, can fit everyone, and won't blow away in a little wind. With just a little work, you can turn an old sheet into a blanket that does all three.

If you're heading to the beach this summer, mind the wildlife. Jellyfish stings are awful. This handy graphic shows you how to treat the wound if you find yourself stung by one.

It's hard to keep an eye on your valuable belongings at the beach or park, especially if you're by yourself. This simple trick disguises your stuff as something nobody would ever want to steal.

Sharks don't really like the taste of people, but their poor vision and the splashing of beachgoers can lead to sharks confusing you for a tasty snack. Here's what you should do if you see a fin and the Jaws theme starts playing.

This winter is rather chilly, so you're probably daydreaming about summer and hitting the beach to party. This playlist will help fuel those daydreams and get you in the mood to have fun this weekend despite the cold.