Loved this post of my daughter, Elizabeth's, on facebook today and as this is our family blog/album I have asked if I may share it with you...
"""It was freezing! Even the wet sand was toe numbing. The day almost ended before it started when Caleb skinned his knee and cried for a solid 5min. Went combing along the beach, found some cool crabs in a couple of rock pools, David filled another one up (note to self: never ever step in a yellow rock pool) and then we found a little patch of hidden beach to go paddling in.
I can't explain how much energy they burnt off! They were running and shouting and throwing and digging and pushing and shoving and laughing and laughing and laughing non stop for 3hrs. Then we came home and David tore the end of his big toe off. I'm still trying to work out how I'm going to wash the sand and salt off him.
I've been intrigued with this little patch of coast lately. Just a few hundred meters down the beach (in both directions) and there's kilometres of fine white sand and clear green waters. They're beautiful clean beaches, they've won national awards. But they're so...stereotypical.
And then you come around the corner to this Point and it's so dissimilar that it's like visiting a foreign country. Even the sand is different, it's courser and studded with thousands of shells. There's reef everywhere, in the water and out. There's remnants of rocks all along the beach and little caves washed into the limestone cliff. I'm sitting on the beach here but looking 20m to my right and there's surf smashing against the reef, filling dozens of rock pools. And another 80m beyond that, I'ld be standing on a massive hill looking down on the bays and islands.
And it's quiet! I've never seen more than half a dozen cars in the car park. So when you do actually stumble into someone you can't just walk passed them (like you would on the street), you do the neighbourly thing and greet them and ask them if they had any luck fishing or tell their kids where to find a rock pool with crabs or fish in it.
It's untouched enough to confront you with..this sounds cheesy...the majesty of nature... the spectacular force of the waves, the echoes of them breaking all around, the way the sun light bounces off the water, the clean seabreeze (blowing in fresh from Antarctica) hitting you full in the face. It's timeless. And it grounding.... it's been here, doing its thing, ebbing and flowing and eroding away for hundreds of years and no matter what problems I have today, it'll be here doing it's thing for hundreds more. I really needed that today. I think we all came home tired but reinvigorated. And tanned.
Oh! And some of the rock formations! I'm the first to admit...it's "just" a rock, right? But when you see them through a childs eyes... there's one near here that has the same profile as a naval gun ship. Then a little further south there's another one that reminds me of a pirates cog in full sail. And a couple of km down the coast, there's one last rocky, reefy formation waaaaay off shore.... I'm pretty sure I spent the first 15 years of my life thinking it was a rice barge like the ones I'd seen as a kid on the river in Bangkok."""
Hope you enjoyed Eliz's words and photos as much as I did,
Have a great weekend
Sue
xxx
"""It was freezing! Even the wet sand was toe numbing. The day almost ended before it started when Caleb skinned his knee and cried for a solid 5min. Went combing along the beach, found some cool crabs in a couple of rock pools, David filled another one up (note to self: never ever step in a yellow rock pool) and then we found a little patch of hidden beach to go paddling in.
I can't explain how much energy they burnt off! They were running and shouting and throwing and digging and pushing and shoving and laughing and laughing and laughing non stop for 3hrs. Then we came home and David tore the end of his big toe off. I'm still trying to work out how I'm going to wash the sand and salt off him.
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| it runs in the family |
I've been intrigued with this little patch of coast lately. Just a few hundred meters down the beach (in both directions) and there's kilometres of fine white sand and clear green waters. They're beautiful clean beaches, they've won national awards. But they're so...stereotypical.
And then you come around the corner to this Point and it's so dissimilar that it's like visiting a foreign country. Even the sand is different, it's courser and studded with thousands of shells. There's reef everywhere, in the water and out. There's remnants of rocks all along the beach and little caves washed into the limestone cliff. I'm sitting on the beach here but looking 20m to my right and there's surf smashing against the reef, filling dozens of rock pools. And another 80m beyond that, I'ld be standing on a massive hill looking down on the bays and islands.
And it's quiet! I've never seen more than half a dozen cars in the car park. So when you do actually stumble into someone you can't just walk passed them (like you would on the street), you do the neighbourly thing and greet them and ask them if they had any luck fishing or tell their kids where to find a rock pool with crabs or fish in it.
It's untouched enough to confront you with..this sounds cheesy...the majesty of nature... the spectacular force of the waves, the echoes of them breaking all around, the way the sun light bounces off the water, the clean seabreeze (blowing in fresh from Antarctica) hitting you full in the face. It's timeless. And it grounding.... it's been here, doing its thing, ebbing and flowing and eroding away for hundreds of years and no matter what problems I have today, it'll be here doing it's thing for hundreds more. I really needed that today. I think we all came home tired but reinvigorated. And tanned.
Oh! And some of the rock formations! I'm the first to admit...it's "just" a rock, right? But when you see them through a childs eyes... there's one near here that has the same profile as a naval gun ship. Then a little further south there's another one that reminds me of a pirates cog in full sail. And a couple of km down the coast, there's one last rocky, reefy formation waaaaay off shore.... I'm pretty sure I spent the first 15 years of my life thinking it was a rice barge like the ones I'd seen as a kid on the river in Bangkok."""
Hope you enjoyed Eliz's words and photos as much as I did,
Have a great weekend
Sue
xxx
I loooove the ocean!! It's so healthy for the kids to have that contact with the ocean. They look so beautiful!! Lovely post Sue!
ReplyDeleteI have decided to quit the blog so I have posted my last post. I may be back in the future but now it's too busy to keep up with facebook and everything else. Thank you for your visits and comments. Wishing you a lovely weekend!
Those photos of the boys at the beach are just lovely, Sue. They look like they are having a ton of fun. I just love the beach and look forward to going there each year even if it is only for a week.
ReplyDeleteThanks Elizabeth. Beautifully written. Wonderful memories with the boys having heaps of fun. Water and kids go hand in hand.
ReplyDelete