Merry Beach

We're back! We came home a couple of days earlier than planned because I managed to do something nasty to my back and was in agony. Plus the forecast for Saturday said we'd be copping at least 35 degrees C (95F) and I stop functioning in anything more than 28 degrees. So there didn't seem to be much point in hanging around only to spend a large part of our one remaining full day going for a drive in the air-conditioned car just to keep me sane (we'd done that once already).

I didn't take very many photos, I'm terrible at remembering to take my camera with me which is one of the reasons Adam bought me a Nokia N95 - because I always remember my phone - but there's no mobile phone reception at Merry Beach so I wasn't carrying it around and besides, cameras and sand in close proximity make me nervous.

Every morning we had a major drama with David over getting ready to go to the beach. He didn't want to go, he wanted to stay at the tent while we all went without him, he refused to put sunscreen on, we were all so mean and unreasonable (ah, the joys of an anxious child)....and every morning he came into the water and was in raptures. "THIS ROCKS!" he whooped with glee on the second day as we dove into crystal clear perfectly gentle surf, just right for hesitant kids and overheated mothers. He also memorably announced to us "The beach is wet! And very wavy!" I'm keeping that one filed for future reference.

David on our first day discovering that the surf is actually pretty fun

The water was fairly chilly and Caitlin doesn't have much insulation so she ended up spending a bit of time amusing herself on the beach while the rest of us swam and by the time I was prowling with the camera she'd had enough of being cold.

Caitlin making sand angels

Tom had the best time, he didn't want to come home. He headed off into the surf without the slightest hint of fear. As he drifted down the beach away from me and towards one of the rips (otherwise known as an express ride out to sea) I called to him to come back and stay with me. "It's OK" he said "it's just the current in the water." Um, yes, that would be what I'm worried about.

Happiness

Tiredness

One lunchtime Adam was making the sandwiches and let Tom have free rein with the fillings, he chose lettuce, tomato, devon, ham, salami AND chorizo. And thus the 4 meat sandwich was born. He was pretty disappointed when we ran out of chorizo.

Our campsite

We were a fair bit back from the beach behind the office and caretaker's residence but we were a mere stone's throw from the pool (which I completely failed to take a photo of) and we had a little bit of a view of the beach.

The view from our tent

On Thursday it was stinking hot and my back was killing me. I don't really know what I did to it but I think it must have had something to do with having Tom and Caitlin in the surf with me on Monday out at the point where the bigger waves were breaking. They were hanging onto an arm each as we ducked under breaking waves and I guess I managed to pull a muscle. After a couple of days of swimming laps in the pool before breakfast and then surfing for a couple of hours before lunch I'd managed to get it really nice and sore. I ended up with my whole back and half my abs cramping up. We went for a surf on Thursday morning which was blissful...for a while. The water was very cold, crystal clear and gorgeous, but COLD. Wasn't doing those sore muscles any good at all. By lunchtime I was in serious pain and the heat was making me even more miserable. We went for a drive down the coast to do some exploring and avail ourselves of the air-conditioning in the car. There are some absolutely gorgeous little and not so little beaches down past Bateman's Bay.

Guerrilla Bay



Broulee

On our way home today we found ourselves driving though the edge of a very intense storm, hail too. We could barely see the car in front of us.

Through the front windscreen it looked like this



But out the side window there was this

Weird.

Now all that remains is the washing, the tidying up, the putting away of the camping gear and I have a buggered back and can't do anything useful! Thank gawd Adam is so utterly awesome and will look after the worst of it without me.