A panorama I took when W and I were at Nelson Bay last month. Took a while to stitch as Photoshop didn’t like the similar islands in the back and thinks they are one!

The weather wasn’t very nice when we were up there. It was actually raining when we got to the beach but cleared up when we got to the spit. It turned out to be pretty nice after all – we took a ton of pictures and climbed up the sand dunes. I went knee high in the water and lost a thong, and strangely enough the sea threw it back up on the beach when we headed back so I didn’t have to buy another pair. But I ended up buying another pair anyway, they broke two weeks ago!

Hope you had a lovely Easter; I spent most of mine playing video games and lazing about.

We stopped at Coff’s Harbour for the night just to break up the long drive. When I wandered out in the early morning the surf was drenched in sunlight and looked a lot different from when we arrived late at night.

Then we made a pit stop at Byron Bay, to the lighthouse where I once visited more than ten years ago.

Isn’t the lighthouse gorgeous? I think it had a little repaint since the last time I saw it :)

This here is the most easterly point of the Australian mainland:

And after drinking in the view it was a long hike back uphill… my dad is more in shape than I am!

There’s just something about endless blue skies, or the sea, that rejuvenates the spirit.

[Post title: Blue Skies; Ella Fitzgerald]

Finally made my way to La Perouse on Australia Day (26th Jan) as we had a day off from work. Been wanting to go there for a while as I saw some photos of the place by some very talented local photographers and thought that I should check it out.

When I got there I realised I should have brought my snorkels and fishing pole, there were plenty of people chilling out on the little ‘island’ with a few eskis of beer and fishing the afternoon away. I haven’t fished in a while and perhaps that’s something to add to my list of things to do next month. It was a lovely day for it as well, even with liberal application of suntan oil I am slightly burnt from my day out.

Was a little amused that a lovely Greek man that ran a cafe there directed me to the nude beach! I am fine with topless sunbathing in enclosed areas but I draw the line at full nudity. What’s the protocol on nude beaches anyway? I think it wouldn’t be fair to go to one with clothes on while everyone is naked!

Jo rang and the first thing he said to me when I mentioned that I was at La Perouse was “Are you at the gay beach or the straight one?”

There were some locals harvesting fresh sea urchin under the bridge and I went over to say hello. I’ve had some sea urchin roe before when dad was here and can’t really stomach the thought of eating it straight out of an urchin on an empty stomach so I had to politely decline their very generous offer to share!

Also met a lovely little aborigine boy who was standing on the cliffs and saying hello to everyone who walked past, and told me to have a nice day. He was so adorable and I wished I had a picture of him. He had the cutest smile!

And then I made my way to Bondi to join the tens of thousands of people who decided to do the same thing and spend Australia Day on Australia’s most famous beach.

I wish Summer was endless. There are so many beaches here all up and down the East coast that I have yet to explore!

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On a different note, should I buy an underwater casing for my Canon G11 (~A$300) or spend A$100 more on one of those all-weather compacts from Olympus/Panasonic? I have been sitting on this for ages and can’t decide – much as I’d like to bring the G11 out to water it’s easier if I had something smaller I wouldn’t need to worry about? But G11 takes amazing pics.