B Is For Beaches

Spiky Beach, East Coast, TAS

I love the beach, oceans, water and waves. Just drop me off at a beach in the morning (with some shade and some food, of course) and pick me up at sunset, and I’ll have had a perfect day.

Here is a beach we actually did get to have a swim at

on our generally cold September holiday. Forster, NSW

The eastern-most beach we've been to -
Wategos, just below Byron Bay lighthouse

I can watch the waves all day. Their individuality fascinates me. Their formation, cresting, then tumbling. How each waves is different while still recognisably part of a pattern. How the inner lift of water can show the sea floor. That incredible moment when the water arches over just before gravity wins.

Western-most beach we've been to -

Cape Naturaliste, W.A. Those waves were huge!

I like to watch surfers. I admire their skill. They also give scale to the size of a wave. And they give a legitimate excuse for watching waves. If you just watch waves, well, you’re a bit barmy, right? But if you watch surfers, well, that’s okay because it’s following a sport!

I like to walk along the beach, idly beachcombing, seeing what treasures the waves washes up, and just as quickly reclaims.

I get impatient with sunbathing (besides, I boil like a lobster, and it’s dangerous!) and I don’t always feel the urge for a swim. I love to snorkel, if the opportunity presents itself. My ambition is to snorkel somewhere where the water is warm enough to not wear a wetsuit, but without the dangers of stingers & jellyfish.

Coolangatta Beach, Queensland
While this isn't the most northerly beach I've been to, it's the only photo I had.
It's from our September trip, and the weather was lousy. We still went walking on the beach. Beaches. All of them. Between Brisbane and Sydney. Oi.

I want to live by the beach, on a small cliff (to keep my place safe from rising sea levels from global warming); but the way the property prices are, I don’t think I ever will. So, I visit, and take lots of photos.

One of the most southerly beaches we've been to on mainland Australia
- Castle Beach, near Cape Otway, VIC.
Wilsons Promontory is probably further south. It's on our 'must visit' list.

A Whale Of A Time

I'm having a whale of a time!

Yes, that grey blob WAS a whale, so very close to shore - maybe no more than 200 metres. But the weather was so awful, as it has been every day, that photos just don't come out well in the grey light, in the rain and wind.

We waited to see the whale breach, but it didn't. So I consoled myself by taking lots of pictures of waves. What a surprise!

And in the cool evenings, I do get a bit of knitting done. In fact, I think I'll have to knit like crazy to make myself a jumper really quickly, it's been so cold. Global warming? Bring it on!