Today Lisa was feeling much better but we didn’t head up to the forests, instead the poodles got a well-deserved beach walk. During term time they get walked practically every day, but this holiday their walks have been less frequent. So they were hankering to get down for a run. Walking down towards the beach the water looked strange, huge glassy patches could be seen in-between the more expected slightly rippled surfaces:
We decided to wander southwest, due to the crowds that were milling about in the other direction. That way the poodles could stay off the lead without us worrying about who they might start to worry. I’ll be honest and say that beach walking, along the flat and mostly featureless coast that is on our doorstep, is not all that exciting. Lisa loves the sound of the ocean and just seeing the water but I like vistas, plants and animals in case you hadn’t noticed:
We were however lucky to come across a pair of White Bellied Sea Eagles, they were far off but we spied them in time to stop the poodles haring after them. Watching them take off was pretty cool, it was just a shame that they headed away from us otherwise I would have included that image. Lisa used to, and maybe still does, stress a little that they might see the poodles as a tasty treat and carry them away:
After a while I started wandering closer the dunes, looking at the plants and hoping to spot a reptile. But there was no such luck, I even ducked inland a short way to check out the above freshwater lagoon. Closer to the water’s edge it was probably tiger snake heaven, and being bare foot I decided to keep a safe distance. Somehow Lisa managed to convince the poodles to stay with her on the beach as I went on my little detour:
After approximately three to four kilometres we stopped to give the poodles a drink before turning round to head back. There are no rocky headlands on this coastline and the dunes behind the beach are open to the full fury of the wilder storms. Monitoring has shown that they are slowly being eroded away, at a greater rate in some parts than others, and the long term threat from sea level rise is pretty real here. For now however we will continue to enjoy what we have got:
The only other birds we spotted were Cormorants. We saw them flying over the ocean, bobbing about on the water, and the above three were drying out their wings on the beach after diving down for a feed. Some species of Cormorants have been recorded as diving up to 45m, using both their feet and wings to propel them down to those murky depths. Here the water is no deeper than 6m for a long way out, making it ideal for me when I go snorkelling:
On our return there were still lots (for our beach) of people. They had not come down for the usual swim, body board or fish, instead they came to check out the whale carcass. It was spotted early yesterday morning, and has since then been slowly drifting to shore. A number of large sharks have been seen gorging on the blubber, from which the oil that was being released was what was giving the water that glassy look I mentioned before:
Back home we could hear more regular vehicle traffic than normal, with an occasional plane and helicopter also made an appearance. So after two to three hours I snuck over the dunes to have a look to see what was going on. The carcass was rolling back and forth on the shoreline. People were getting up close to have a picture taken, as the shark spotter helicopter flew up and down the coast. One good thing that has come out of this is that the sharks have had a good feed, which will keep them content for a while, and I’ve heard they have also been able to tag a few of them:
Sandbagged 