Another Day in Paradise

Brian has had a few long weeks at work, so it didn't take much convincing for him to take Friday off and explore some different beaches.  Besides gorgeous scenery it was nice for us just to hang out together!

I had bought a book about a month ago that has all of the bush walks in the area mapped out.  Several of those lead to the sea, so we thought we'd head for a few of those.  Big Rocky Point was supposed to be wonderful, so off we went.

We drove through the bush on a tiny, sandy road, all the while glad for our 4 wheel drive.  We saw lots of massive spider webs (and spiders), spotted a Wallaby, and had two Kangaroos bound across the path in front of us.  At this point I decided to get my camera out of the bag, so naturally there were no more Roos to be seen!

We walked down a small path from the car park and were not disappointed.  Big Rocky certainly gets it's name honestly!  We hopped across a small stream and some rocks to an "island" that I'm certain would be inaccessible at high tide, which was coming in quickly.  I was glad we didn't bring the boys.  Nathan hates loud noises and the waves were crashing in very loudly.  Trying to get the boys across the rocks would've been difficult as well.  The views were certainly worth the work!



See, crashing waves



After walking around there for awhile, we decided to search for Samurai Beach.  We have heard very good things about the beach but hadn't been able to easily find it, and probably for good reason - it's the only "official" nude beach.  We actually had to pull into the Resort Park and ask how to get there!  It is only accessible by 4 wheel drive and was right next to the Resort Park.  It was marked by a very small sign. No worries -  kept on our clothes! 

Interesting side note, the beach has a head nudist.  While I find that funny in and of itself, one of the people Brian works with was originally in the RAAF and his commanding officer was said head nudist.  How do you salute him without giggling?

All the nuders on this beach were retired gentlemen - not exactly the kind of people you want to see naked!  Here are some carefully framed pictures!



Seagull dining amid the foam

Flowers blooming in the dunes

 After a quick bite for lunch we headed off to Kingsley Beach.  Nathan's class is taking an excursion there at the end of the month to look at the rock pools.  We wanted to be able to warn him if it was very wavy, which it is.  They will be going at low tide, so at least the waves will be a bit away!

This doesn't do justice to how high the water was crashing



One of the many rock pools



Rock pool facing the beach

 After climbing and being out in the sun we headed back to the house for a quick clean-up before heading to St. Philip's for assembly.  We knew Nath was getting an award and wanted to make sure we saw it.  He was awarded for excellence in reading and writing.  We have been making a big deal out of the writing part.  He has worked very hard most nights at writing and it has clearly been paying off in our minds.  We were glad to see that his teacher was noticing as well.

We had already decided to head back to Birubi Point after dinner to catch the sunset.  Sadly, the clouds started rolling in, but we decided to head out anyway.  What's the worst that could happen - I don't get great pictures?  We're still able to hang out together at the beach!  When we first got to the beach there were a few big black clouds.



Still pretty though

Will contemplating the sea

 It even rained a bit on us, but we decided to stick it out.  I'm so glad we did!



Simply beautiful







Finally the sun began to set.  We had enough clouds, but not so many that there was no reflection of light.



Incredible





My favorite sunset picture ever



Thanks to my cousins Josh and Stephanie for their recent blog post about not leaving as soon as the sun has set!  I would never have gotten the above shot without that tip.  The colors were truly that amazing - I promise I haven't added any red!

I love the black clouds with the red on the bottom

Fairly soon after that we packed up to go home.  Here is about the last shot I got as we were leaving.



Lovely colors over the dunes



I'll try to get a post up about Brian's surf lesson tomorrow.  I promise it won't have a million pictures like this one!