Dolphins!

A few years ago I recall seeing dolphins in the ocean near the beach, but I got extra lucky one morning on this stay. I set off on my morning constitutional along the beach at around 5.4am and the sea looked particularly pretty with the sun glinting off the really quite bright blue sea. I set off northwards along the beach. I often concentrate on the waves and sand but this time I cast my eyes further afield and was rewarded with the sight of dolphins!

They were a few hundred metres away but easily recognisable and were gently heading south. I decided to walk along parallel to them and turned around. Miraculously my camera that had not worked a few minutes earlier came alive and I was able to TRY and take some shots. As my camera is just a point and shoot though, I took 70 odd photos in the direction of these lovely creatures before they became too far away to keep attempting shots. A few shots have the odd fin visible but an extraordinarily high number were of the sky. LOL. This group had 4 dolphins, one of which was a youngster going by its size. A further two dolphins could be seen even further out.

I decided to turn around and got about halfway back to where I started when I looked to the waves and saw two dolphins no more than 10 metres from me in the first breaker. As it was a relatively high tide, the dolphins were in pretty shallow water and a few times I saw them squiggle pretty hard keeping going rather than getting grounded! I turned south again and followed these two for quite a while before they speared off eastwards and into deeper water.

These two provided such delight - there really is something mesmerising and uplifting by these wonderful beasts. For the most part they just glided, surfacing occasionally and sometimes blowing water out of their blowhole, so I mostly saw just their fin, however they were that close you could see the jagged edge of the back of their fins and their smooth grey skin . One in particular turned towards me through the wave and then turned south again, getting lifted up by the wave and highlighted by the sun through the water (see below). The two even raced around each other when they must have found some tasty little fish.



By the time I left the beach an hour and a half later there were quite a few people on the beach and I could see another couple of dolphins a few hundred metres north, doing their job of mesmerising more people.

Sunrise Sands

In high tide, the sands are often a small sliver that is well used and churned up from previous days feet. But the sands come into their own when the tide is low and receeding.

Wet and shining the sand takes on the hue of the sky like this marvellous blue and pink image. Mother nature is such an artist! In the early light the drier sand takes on a perwinkle blue - purple hue. As the sun gets higher the white-beige sand of a normal day appears.

Spring Blossoms

I found some lovely flowering shrubs on the walkway. No idea what they are (some kind soul that knows their gardening might like to let me know!). There was no strong scent and they didn't bring on any hayfever symptoms in me. They're lovely to look at, don't you think?

A Child's Piece of Beach Art

Queensland holidays had drawn to a close and the busy state of the beach reduced substantially. But the morning following the close of the holidays I came across this little piece of beach 'art' that a child must have created before they left.

Leaves, shells and twigs were used - the twig created the form with the shells and leaves resting upon it. The top white shell had a hole near its top and had been threaded onto the stick giving its height and keeping it in place.

A nice little piece of art to find on my morning walk.

Sunrise from the esplanade

This day I went down to the beach pretty early - the light was dim and everything I passed - houses, gardens, grass had lost their colour. As I approached the beach from the Esplanade the sun lit the light clouds in the sky with a rosy glow and this tree had a wonderful outline against the colorful sky.

A place to sit and contemplate

Dotted all along the foreshore are fixed tables and chairs and at most smaller entrances locals have added some chairs under the trees, so there is plenty of opportunity to sit and contemplate life, the universe ... and everything!



Or you can just watch the sun play on the water, the waves and the people. So relaxing.

Another visit to Woodgate

Just back from another visit to beautiful Woodgate!

The early spring weather was beautiful - not too hot, not too cold. A few cloudy days and one with a little rain, but for the most part, days that started cloudy soon cleared to warm sunshine. It was great to be able to throw off the winter layers I've been used to at home and wear ONE layer of light clothing!

Lots of posts and pictures to come :)

The beach and holiday skies

Although its been a few months since we were there, I hear that Woodgate is looking quite lush with recent rains and the kangaroos must be thrilled with all the green lawn grass to nibble!

The beach is beautiful though regardless of if has been wet or dry and it goes for miles in either direction from our little entrance ...

To the north:

To the south:


Notice how the beach is almost empty (albeit at an early hour). Only one other walker can be seen in the distance to the south. I'm looking forward to our next visit so that I can walk it again and enjoy the fresh early morning breezes and hear the gentle waves lap the beach.