Enter sandman: the cleaner raking 50km of Sydney’s famous beaches into morning neatness

Michael Weeks mechanically rakes Sydney’s Bondi, Bronte and Tamamara beaches, ridding their sand of rubbish and dirt. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

Michael Weeks occasionally brags about his job. Who else, he reasons, gets to drive a $100,000 machine while watching the sunset on some of the world’s best beaches?

He has a point. The evening we meet at Sydney’s Bondi beach is unseasonably warm. A man glides along the esplanade on a skateboard pulled by five dogs and, on the sand, volleyball players leap, couples linger and swimmers emerge from the water until well after sunset.