Early morning walk along the beach…

We missed the sunrise by about an hour. Being winter I cannot prise myself out of bed in the dark. But when we arrived at the beach by 7am it was still a beautiful sky. The sun tingeing the clouds with apricot and turning the ocean to molten gold.

Of course we had our cameras with us and it was a perfect morning for a beach photo opportunity. So much activity. People walking, running, surfing, playing. All ages enjoying the sun while it is out.

I wonder if he is going to catch anything for breakfast. The seagull looks on in anticipation…

The surf is pumping and the wind whips the spray off the top of the waves in a frenzy of foam. It is a good day for the surfers.

When I downloaded these photos I noticed the dark shadow in the wave. I wonder if it is a dolphin.

I took photo after photo of the ocean as it crashed endlessly, trying to catch that moment as the wave peaks and the light shines through in an iridescent green. Most of the shots I missed. These 2 above were the closest I got to what I was trying for.

Walking north the sharks teeth outline of Surfers Paradise is shrouded in the misty ocean spray.

At the top of the sand this patient pooche guards its masters clothes.

He looks a bit woebegone…

This area is the patrolled swimming area and in the distance is the surf life savers yellow hut and vehicle. It is school holidays and the life savers are on patrol from 8am to 6pm. every day. There are dangerous rips in this ocean and every year unsuspecting tourists are dragged out to sea. It is only the vigilance of these dedicated, volunteer life savers that only a few lives are lost each year and they are usually people who swim outside the flags that denote the patrolled, safe areas.

A lovely morning to build sand castles with the help of  Mom and Gandma, but keep an eye on those waves…

The tractor has been along the beach grooming the sand ready for another day of fun for the tourists.

Time to turn round and head back south and home for breakfast.

The fisher man is still trying for that catch…

One last look back.

The sun is well up now and we go back to where we left our bikes.

They are still there next to this bench that shows the detail of the shape of a surf board. (Jude is looking for benches with unusual detail for July bench series. Couldn’t resist showing you this one…)

Home we go for breakfast…

*****************

I am also joining Jo’s cyber walking group this week. Being Wednesday I am a bit late for last Monday, and a bit early for next week (Sorry Jo I’m not following the rules too well… )

Another day of snakes, birds, kangaroos, dingoes and all sorts of creepy crawlies

A top attraction on the Goldcoast is Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. A fascinating collection of Australian wildlife. With hundreds of animals and birds, the Sanctuary is home to one of the largest  collections of Australian native wildlife in the world. Established over 60  years ago, the Sanctuary has attracted millions of visitors throughout its  history and continues to provide opportunities to see and interact with Australia’s  amazing wildlife.

We always take visitors here as Australia has such an unusual collection of native animals. It is a full days outing. It all started when the Sanctuary was established in 1947 by beekeeper and  flower grower Alex Griffiths, who began feeding the region’s wild lorikeets to  prevent them from ravaging his prized blooms. The feeding of the colourful  lorikeets soon developed from a local curiosity to a popular tourist  attraction.. The lorikeets still come for their morning feed and if you arrive at 8am when the park opens you can help feed these colourful, cheeky birds.

Entrance to this part of the sanctuary is FREE. You can watch, or for a small donation you are given a plate filled with a syrupy mixture and the birds land all over you.

The lorikeets land every where. Can you see them on peoples heads?

But mostly they land on the plate of nectar

The lorikeet feeding is just the start and I consider this attraction well worth visiting.

•  Buy your ticket on line and you only pay $33, the normal adult price is $49, a saving of $16. Go here to check out the prices, times and daily activities.
• Check the activity times and build your day around them.
• A small train circles the park and is a good way to save energy.
• The food is very expensive and very basic. If you can, take snacks with you.
• Do not miss the free-flight display, I think it is amazing.

We had a great day and the weather was perfect. Here is a gallery of some of the animals and birds we saw…

Koala

Baby Koala

I’ve got my beady eye on you

Albino Dingo

Turtle

Sulphur crested cockatoo

Barking Owl

Big eyes

You can get up close and personal

Another Koala

Tasmanian Devil

Echidna

Water dragon

Feeding the pelicans

Save your legs

Python, carpet snake

Wedge tail eagle

After a full day of wandering around the sanctuary and being absorbed in the native wild life of Australia what better way to end the day than go down to the beach and with a bottle of wine and cheese and crackers watch the sun set.

Perfect way to end the day

As we watched a fisherman wandered over the rocks to cast his line into the surf. Within minutes he had a bite and after a struggle he pulled up a good-sized trevally.

Our entertainment, watching the fishing

 

Great catch, trevally caught from the rocks

 

The sun sets slowly in the west

 

The lights slowly come on in the hi-rise apartments

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stop Press : Burleigh Beach is Australias 4th best beach

Burleigh Beach looking south

Millions of travellers from around the world have voted on “Trip Advisor” travel website for their favourite beaches in Australia and Burleigh beach came in 4th with neighbouring beach down the road at Coolangatta 6th. (click on the tripadviser link to see all the fabulous beaches chosen around Australia. It will give you northern friends some thing to dream about…)

Barbara Messing, chief marketing officer said the beaches chosen had received “the highest level of praise” from travellers.

I feel so lucky to live in such a wonderful part of the world.

 

 

 

Wild, wild ocean

Surfers Paradise

There has been a very deep low building up off the coast for the past 2 days.Our normally mild blue ocean has been whipped into a frenzy of waves and foam. The spray from the top of the “white horses” breaks and waves like a mane. It is totally mesmerizing to watch it in this mood. Crowds of people line the shore with cameras and Iphones capturing nature in all its savage glory. No surfers are out today the ocean would pulverize anyone silly enough to try to compete for a ride.

It is not often our ocean gets this angry. A few years ago we had a tsunami warning. It didn’t develop, but that day crowds of people rushed to vantage points to watch what would happen. I was not one of those people… This time no tsunami warning, just very wild weather.

Wild ocean waves

 

Coolangatta

 

 

Blogging lessons resumed, I hope…

Computers can make life very difficult. What an understatement…

I had agreed to show some of the members of the Retired on Line computer club I belong to, what blogs are, and how to get started with one.

I enjoy blogging and find it is a great way to share your travels, photos and memories with friends and family Then it is a big bonus when you start to connect with other bloggers from all over the world and follow what they are doing. I have become addicted to the blogosphere and the first thing I do, as I have my morning coffee, is to check the bloggers I am following and see what posts they have put in over night. I hoped to pass on some of my passion for the blog world.

Well I find the WordPress programme quite easy to use and thought it would be just as easy to show beginners how to get started. I found that teaching a subject is not as easy as using it. Unfortunately the internet had an agenda of its own. It went slow, it refused to connect, it sulked and my plan of walking one of the members through and presenting him with a new blog complete with post at the end of the hour did not happen. I did manage to show them where to find help through the excellent WordPress help and forums pages and have suggested that we try again and have another hands on session.

So thank you to you patient friends. It really is easy to get a blog going and if you follow through on this WordPress link and if you have a better internet connection,here is another link you can follow http://learn.wordpress.com/ I look forward to following you on your new creations in the blog world. I am here to help so just give me a call….

Trying to look as if I know what I am doing…

Members of “retired on line” ROL

Burleigh beach

When I got home I went for a walk along the beach.

Burleigh beach

New header…

I have changed the photo in the header to a panorama of Burleigh Beach.A sort of farewell gesture. I had found another unique feature of WordPress that allows you to change the header as often as you feel like it, so tried it out for size. What do you think of it?…

10 more sleeps in our own bed….

Learning curve put into practice

I am now going to download some photos of our beautiful Burleigh Beach and will time how long they take….

Looking South to Burleigh Heads National Park.

Surf life savers keeping an eye on the beach goers.

Sun dappled walkways through the bush.

View from the walkway north to Surfers Paradise.

Walking along Burleigh Beach at sunset.

What a difference, that only took 5 minutes to download.

This is a beautiful part of the world and I hope you enjoy the photos Jack and I have taken.