Sun Deck

The weather contrast here is huge.  It can blow and take the roof off down the way but then it gets so calm you can hear the talk from 200 metres.  The word back from the Doc's is that Debbie has bone density issues ie she is not as dense as she needs to be.  Three serves of dairy per day is the golden rule which has not been happening.  There is also stepping up the weight bearing exercise. On the diet front we have found cheese wrapped in prosciutto.

April Bikini

Cheaper if you wrap it yourself

Striped Sun

Walking with Wine glass

Luna Lava

2018 and 2019 saw a Kilaeua lava lake drain down into some old fissures. Today we saw where the lava had found its way to the sea.  Last year we saw an eruption from the deck of our ship and it was the reddest red you can ever see. Today we were on a beach which was the blackest black you could ever see.  A number of times we ignored dead end signs just so we could see what was at the end.  The black sand beach was created very quickly like with in a year. It used to be a thriving boat marina.  The picnic tables have been consumed and buried under tons of black not to mention  the houses. There is a declared volcanic zone where you can get cheap land for a reason but you take your chances.

Black and White

Crash

Hot Barbecue

Proper beach day

Hooray. Spent three hours being entertained on the beach by various parties and there were not many dogs  around as well. The attached film has proof that I can swim between the groynes albeit with snorkel and flipper assistance.  The 2nd part of the film depicts bikini girls A and muscle man B and mimicans C ( Is that a word?).  The water was clear but no large fish to report. We did set a new record in the water tennis with 75 consecutive hits.  It has been suggested that leaving comments has become more difficult. So if a few comments could be left then we can test out if it is the blogger end or the user accounts that may be reading this blog.  There have not been any comments for a couple of months so I need to see if there is a problem at this end.

minute shells

Sublime Beach - NOT

Earlier today I spied the Blue Boys in the bath.  Always entertaining.  The weather was hot but not too hot. The warm breeze was there but just enough to cool if you were wet.   We should have known as we were exiting the side gate, as it is a white gate but it had a black tinge. A covering of small bodied insects.  When we got down to the beach this had multiplied big time.  The only place was to be in the water.  We played some beach tennis in the water. We had our couple of travelers in the water.  Originally I was intending to try a swim out to the wrecked Ozone. One year ago we got there and it was swarming with kids.  This morning I looked out and there was a van with six kids carrying snorkel gear. It is not supposed to be holidays yet is it. Today is the 9th of Dec that can't be school holidays yet.  I remember primary and secondary being at school until the week before Christmas.  I guess the wreck isn't going anywhere, except molecule by molecule.

Blue I

Blue II

Bugs 1,000,000

Wet Warding

Superb Beach Day

The temperature was no more than 23° but without a breath of wind it makes for the ultimate beach day.  It was cool early in the morning. We got organised around 2pm and stayed for three hours. The amazing thing was the call of the rays. We wandered into the shallows and two rays came towards me. The smaller one was going to nibble my toe when I flinched then he thought this seems to be attached to something much bigger.  I had no camera then but I took some surface shots later however the rays had moved on.

Sheer calm

Bottom dweller

Beach Walk

More like a wilderness walk and only a kilometre from our front door there is an area that is totally deserted. We did see foot prints but the only people we saw were on the sea doos.  This is quite a rocky walk in places and we dodged plenty by walking thru the shallows. The access point is nasty but I timed this for low tide and on the way back we took the low road as the tide allowed.  There were many formations and critters being exposed including the most red looking lava rock I have seen.

Kelp

Crustaceans

Some where only we know

Lava Rock

Hot Rocks

back to civilisation

Beach Lunch

We grilled up some toasty sandwiches with lamb and ham and took them down onto the beach for lunch.  Now we couldn't do that previously.  I also ventured into the water, not all the way in but there were others who swam as well.  There was also a big clean up going on with trailered quad bikes being used to haul barrels etc off the beach. In the past we have carried them up to the top.  Ships lose all manner of stuff as they go past.

Literally only a toe in

McDermott's

Went back to the secret beach I found and around the bend was a sandy cove more easily reached at a lower tide.  This was small but all sand and no sea grass.  You can't bring much down the steep track, as it was Debbie had an A over T moment but it was ok as her new phone cushioned the blow. We got some distant house shots as well as the Coryule house because the gate was open this time.

Coryule

Opal Waters

Shell Fish

Sheraton Grand

After an hours drive we made it to the Gold Coast. We saw the aftermath of the games with the Athlete Village being dismantled as well as the beach volleyball stadium. Not quite as good as Melbourne (222 medals) compared to 198 this time.  The hotel here is huge. We have been out to the beach for a short half hour fix and hard to believe but the water has been declared warm and not by me.

It's warm It's warm

St Leonard's Ride

Just got back from another ride. That makes two days in a row but we are taking advantage of sunny weather. This time it was a flatter 28km ride.  We brought some lunch to have on a secret beach then got some close encounters with the Pelicans because we stopped at a fish cleaning station. So they got all excited but we had nothing for them.

Excitement

Dive Bomber

Sea Grass

We had the formal handover of keys to the Taylors after they gave our new house the thumbs up. (Otherwise they wouldn't have got the keys. haha) We were driving back via the Jetty Road which was blocked by a boat. A very large boat of the two hulled variety. It was stuck trying to get past trees and signage and other street furniture. A sign on the side mentioned Geelong Wildlife. We went for a stroll down to the Dell and found these balls of dried sea grass. We now have one in our back garden.

There are truckloads of dried sea grass

Gumbuya Water Park

We think we went to this place around 25 yar ago.  It has been totally demolished and rebuilt as a modern amusement park.  There are four doors in a central intersection. Mind you two of those doors go to the same set of rides.  We had a look in there but did not try any rides.  The water park is the main feature with two gynormous climbs up to some water slides, which we did three times.  Also the lazy river has a set of rapids which i have not seen before.  The day was ideal at 27 degrees and mid week and a school day so no queues.  The lockers are a pain and the bread rolls were a bit chewy.  However the water park is of a high standard.  I haven't mentioned the Wildlife trail which wasn't bad but the water park is the main attraction.

Boomerango

Bucket Drop

Think Pink

Philately

I have a number of projects but they have been severely interrupted due to prepacking. Tonight I was given a stamp collection and some stamps are still required to be removed from their envelopes.  These stamps have been on the envelope for 20 and 30 yar.  Frank Ostenreid was a WWII German veteran who was captured and sent to Canada for the duration.  There are still envelopes here with stamps on them from Canada.  Now I just have to separate them.

The Official Photo

New home 

Warm Water Soak

Collendina Report No 2858

Hot Day at the Van.  Temperature on the beach today was 38° but we still gave it a go.  We were cooler than the plover man who was setting up an exclusion zone just short of first rock. We saw him going back later in the afternoon with a heap of nesting huts. Hot heavy work.  We spied out some low tide rock pools that might work for a spot of snorkel. Not so much today as some weed was clogging things up.  I used a waterproof camera and when I unloaded just now there were shots from Hamilton Is, from St Malo  and somewhere else I've forgotten!

St Malo bikini

Collendina bikini

Roll out the Green Carpet

Took a ride down to Williamstown for a warmish 40 km return trip. Along the way there was a crew renewing the green cycle lanes. I always thought this was a type of paint but they sweep the surface clean, roll on a layer of glue then shovel green glint onto the glue and spread it around before it drys out. They come back in a couple of hours and suck up the residue.  The beach had a few people, although a school group was hogging half  of it. I spied a potential snorkel location but you would want high tide.

How Green

Not many shelters

Gloucester Reserve

Collendina Report No 7833

Got the bikes going for a short 20km ride to Barwon Heads.  Just on the corner  up from the pub an old weatherboard house has been revealed. Ancient scrub has been removed and a huge block with  a U shaped cabin was underneath.  It will be another beach view development.  We spent the afternoon on the beach in ideal conditions. We saw off Wide Charlie (container) on his way to Adelaide and Goliath (cement) off to Devenport. We've been on the beach so long we can even name the ships.

Cabin House

Wide Charlie

Plover Season

Wild Wadi revisited

We checked out Wild Wadi two years ago and it hasn't changed but on a 47 degree day floating around the pools is the place to be.  These floaty rides have water jets that take you up up up then you slide back down again. The creepiest thing is the feet fish. Our timer clock did not start counting down so we sat in the fish for 45 minutes, now my feet are a bit sensitive because they have lost a layer of skin.  We have retreated indoors for the 1:00 to 4:00 pm time slot. Tomorrows  forecast is 48 degrees but we are out of here.

7 Star Athlete

Need a date

Aussie Day Anniversary Day

We had so much action yesterday we were calling that our anniversary day. But today is officially it. We have made it to Wanaka. I am blogging from our deck here at the apartment. I can look down the lake and see Mt Aspiring. Just over the way is the Rob Roy. There are four glaciers up above there. We found the Pandora store in town and filled the last place in the bangle with a silver kiwi.

Aussie Day

How can you tell?

Whitehaven

This is a squeaky beach like the best of them with the very fine mica.  I can see why this beach is one of the best 10 in the world. Even though it was Bourke St it is still a good thing to do despite being outnumbered by school kids. Just keep walking and you can leave them all behind. Another approach to this is to camp right at the beach and watch all the day trippers disappear. Don't leave any food for the goannas.

Picnic lunch provided

Your Go Anna! campsite prowler