A Day at the Beach

Dot and I met up with Emily and Greg and Rebecca and Max three days ago at Broulee on the NSW South Coast. It is a beautiful spot with glorious beaches, quaint villages, impressive headlands, and nearby mountainous scenery as backdrop to rolling green hills. This, and the next few posts, deal with these dimensions and the things we did together for the few days after Christmas.
On the first morning we all headed for the beach which, like all in the locality, was clean and sandy. It was also crowded by Australian standards as the first picture shows. That's me in the middle -suitably attired.

The first thing we did was to erect the beach house we bought with us. The picture shows Emily, Greg and Beck trying to fathom out the construction process, while Max looks on wishing someone would take him to the water with his body-board. I joined them to supervise the process and install some order as the third picture shows.

When we first arrived, by the way, we were pleasantly surprised that the beach was pristine. The day before, the high water mark was strewn with the corpses of bluebottles of the kind shown in the fourth photo. These jelly-fish come with a long poisonous tentacle attached and pop like a gun when one treads on them. The previous night's storm must have swept them away to our great relief.

Max, who is now a good swimmer, had lots of fun with Greg's body-board and caught several good waves which propel the rider fast towards the shore. Beck and I also used this piece of equipment to advantage. In fact, I spent a wonderful 90 minutes in the moderate surf trying to stay upright as the waves crashed towards shore. I had to duck under several of the bigger ones to avoid being tumbled about by the conditions. In between the breaking waves I was able to float on the surface or swim outwards a little.

After this, Max decided to dig himself a pit in the sand in which he could sit and cool off. Alas, he didn't factor in the rising tide and a large wave swamped his pit and virtually cemented him in place amidst much mirth. It was quite a struggle to free him, but much easier to clean him up. All he had to do was go back into the surf and the sea did the rest.

Later in the day we went for a long walk along one of the local beaches, posing occasionally for photos and to jump up and down on expired, but still deadly, jelly-fish. The animals themselves may be barely alive, but their sting can still pack a punch. So footwear was needed for this task.

The final picture shows the stream separating Broulee from Mossy Point, which had some fine beach houses. This was the farthest park of our joutney in the evening sunlight - the end to a perfect day.

AS