And it wouldn't be complete without filming yourself to impress your followers on social media.

The trend, apparently started by some pre-teens posting on the video app Tik Tok, has arrived in Wollongong, with reports of written-up and smashed plates discovered at natural sites including Bushrangers Bay and Flagstaff Hill in Wollongong.

Read more: Warilla man recalls moment his truck plunged off Cambewarra mountain

It's something of a cheap ripoff from the Buddhist philosophy that nothing is permanent, and letting go of their attachment to problems can help people overcome them.

Problem is, it introduces more permanent foreign elements to an environment where they shouldn't be - shards of smashed crockery in nature reserves or popular pools.

Anthony Spicer-Laesk, who is from Canada, said he and his partner were enjoying the serenity at Bushrangers Bay on Saturday when they were disturbed by the sound of smashing plates. A woman was smashing plates while a man filmed her.

They told him the exercise was about "letting go" and they would clean up. But when the couple returned the performers had gone and there was still plenty of crockery left behind. They cleaned it up themselves.

"Needless littering because of sheer laziness is infuriating," he said.

"'Letting things go' ... into the ocean, is the part she left out. It really rustles my jimmies that people would go to the extent of creating trash in a designated nature reserve.

"I just hate these trashy trends, people so self absorbed in impressing and entertaining people they may never know just for attention. Meanwhile the world is going through a climate crisis and ocean pollution is a huge part of it, to blindly contribute to it because of laziness is aggravating."

Wollongong engineer Ben Potter said he found a smashed-up plate near the lighthouse, down towards the old women's pools, early in April.

"It's sad to think that people still have such disregard for our environment," he said.

We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.