Long sandy beach with islands.
A lady walks her dog on the sand on a clear warm day.
Nothing beats the feel of the warm sun on your skin.
V.J’s Weekly Challenge:Waves
beach
February Love Me Challenge – Love 4WDing on beach
Thanks Paula Light from Light Motifs ll for February Love Me challenge
2. Love 4WDing on the beach
We often go away on holidays up the coast to a place you can get a pass to drive on the beach. When there is hardly anyone there it is quite spectacular. Sand for as far as the eye can see. I love the feel of being windswept and close to nature. You have to pick when you go as it’s no fun when there are too many people are around. The sand gets mushy and you can easily get bogged.
Driving onto the beach 
Footprints in the sand 
Dolphin Pod 
Seeking shells
#Poetry – Flip Flops Fashionista
A multicoloured beach towel draped off her suntanned shoulder. Her trendy looking sunnies made her look that little older. She gently poured the sunscreen on her glistening skin and laughed at how the fake tan sure made her look so thin.
Haviana’s are her flip flops. She walks onto the sand. She quickly flips them off, and holds them in her hand. It’s going to the beach she says. It’s the way we do it now. All about the swimsuit and a bod that just says wow.
Now you might think I’m shallow but I’m young and fun and free. Youth don’t last forever so on the beach I’ll be.
For Ella
BY DEE GRANT 2020
Dingo at my window
Dingo at my window. I watch you chase seagulls on the beach.
It is such a rare opportunity. Dingos here generally are out and about when there are no people around. They are still wild which is why I have the window up a bit.
#Poetry – Cusp of summer
(with ausio) I love a good summer it’s a signature event. We watch Bondi Rescue and hang near the air vent. It’s an Australian way of life much like barbies and beer, but on the cusp of summer you may well need to fear. Cause there’s nothing reliable when you’re in this space. One day hot then it’s cold. It’s all over the place. You pack up the doona given it’s November and all, and then shiver and shake as you walk up the hall.
Now don’t get me wrong cause we’re getting well prepared, the sunnies are out and no thought has been spared. We’ve checked that the beach gear is right to go, and the weather more reliable…shouldn’t be a mo. Day light saving kicks in so a bit of a lurk, you can go for a swim once you get home from work. In the meantime have that brollie and doona at hand, cause you don’t know what’s coming…in this great southern land.
This is todays little rhyme. On the cusp of summer Sydney goes through these topsy turvy days. One week with icy blasts from the south pole, thunder storms, rain. Today it’s hot and humid with a warm wind.
Photo of Bondi Beach by Larry Snickers from Pexels – People Running in to the Water
#True Story – Keep an eye on the tide
It’s a ‘rip snorter’ of a day. We’re up the coast at a small beachside town getting a bit of ‘R&R’ with a few of our friends.
Up ‘this neck of the woods’ you can get a 4WD permit to drive on the beach so that’s the go for today. This beach goes for miles and miles. It’s such a pretty spot with a few islands dotted off the beach. The 4WDs are ready, the fishing rods are loaded up, there’s the ‘barbie’, some beach chairs, and some ‘trashy mags’ for those of us that just want to chill. Let’s go!
Thus the adventure begins. You know what they say though, ‘the best laid plans’….aargh. We get on the beach and it’s like ‘bloomin Pitt Street’. There’s 4WDs everywhere and the sand is so mushy from all the tyre tracks. It’s like bouncing up and down on a jet ski as we drive along. So annoying. Should’ve gotten up at ‘the crack of dawn’.
It was great to catch up though. Haven’t seen everyone for ages. One friend’s ‘stoked’ on catching a flathead. Another mate pulls in his line and traipses further down the beach to see if he can ‘get a piece of the action’. Meanwhile, the rest of us relax over a good read and soak up the suns rays.
Now anyone that has spent a bit of time on the beach knows you need to keep an eye out for changes in the tide. You wouldn’t want to get caught out if the tide comes in too far. You might not have room to get the car off. We start to head off. Then the worst happens. Our car gets ‘bogged’ in the sand.
The sand is deep and loose and the car can’t get any traction. The tide is coming in and the longer I look the less sand there is. Waves are getting closer and closer as the high tide approaches. I can see just a narrow stretch of beach left to be able to exit. Still the tyres spin deeper and deeper. By now my mind is reeling. I’m seeing a king tide coming in and us being swept away.
‘I’m not grabbing at straws’ here but maybe I’m just ‘being a bit of a drama queen’. Come on, ‘get a grip’. What about some positive self talk rather than ‘losing the plot’. What’s the worst that could happen?
- Rip snorter – extremely good
- R&R – rest and relaxation
- This neck of the woods – here
- Barbie – BBQ
- Trashy mags – magazines with gossip and unreliable news
- The best laid plans… – some plans don’t succeed
- Bloomin Pitt Street – busy, Pitt Street is one of the busy main streets of Sydney
- The crack of dawn – early, before the crowds.
- Stoked – very happy
- Get a piece of the action – get some success
- Bogged – stuck
- I’m not grabbing at straws – there is some truth to it
- Being a bit of a drama queen – panicking, overly emotional
- Get a grip – get some self control
- Losing the plot – out of control
A parade of beach umbrellas
It’s a ‘cracka of a day’ today. The sun’s shining and there’s a brisk breeze blowing lightly across the water. Spring’s just a week away. I’m sitting here telling off a couple of seagulls intent on sharing my lunch. Oh that’s so mean I say to myself, surely you’ll give them a ‘tasty morsel’? Yeah well I’m not so sure. That’s because I can see a bunch of them huddled on the wharf to get away from that chilly breeze. If I give them even a hint there’s free food it’s ‘every man for himself’. They’ll come flying over squawking and arguing with each other which will just ‘do my head in’.
I love being at this small coastal town. It is a place of natural beauty. It’s still one of those small towns where the focus is on relaxing with nature rather than going to the movies or shopping. There’s ‘bugger all’ shops here so absolutely no temptation. Today I am by the river. Its a lazy day watching the sun sparkling on the water. Boats bob up and down on their moorings, and the bushland stretches along the waterway until it hits clear blue sky. There’s a bunch of black swans taking advantage of the low tide as they fossick among the sandbanks.
My husband and I have been coming up from Sydney ‘off and on’ with our friends since some of the kids were ‘little tackers’. It’s a pretty relaxed lifestyle here. Well that’s until the school holidays. On the holidays ‘every man and his dog’ decides to ‘set up shop’. Then you’ll see a parade of beach umbrellas scattered along the sandy beach. In the bay there’ll be recreational fishermen all out on their boats. Then there’s a regular treat as pods of dolphins leap out of the water much to the delight of tourists.
Sometimes we would cruise up to the river and go water skiing on the lakes. When, if you got there early enough, the water would be like glass without a single ripple. Now that’s a great time to water ski. I remember the squeals of joy when the kids would get on the donut attached to the back of the speed boat we used to have. What a treat. So many fond memories. ‘Don’t think this place will ever grow old’, well ‘not in my books’.
A parade of beach umbrellas
footprints in the sand
local koala
