Good judgement was shown by the pilot in turning back to the beach instead of pushing on over the city to reach Bankstown. Good airmanship skills were demonstrated in a near perfect approach and touch down. There will be a few armchair critics who could not have pulled off that landing. How many of us have practiced a forced or precautionary landing in the last six months, especially if we are flying multiple types with different glide characteristics. There was probably more damage done to the gear legs dragging the aircraft through the soft sand than from the actual landing.
Again well done the pilot and I agree with Pinky, time to give the thread a rest until there is an official comment of the cause of the engine surging, which is of greater interest than the current thread drift.