Sun, surf and sand!

It's an odd thing.  I live not more than a 10 minute drive from the beach.  Have done most of my life.  And yet, the number of times I've actively gone to the beach in the last decade, I could count on one hand.  And it's possible that the last time I went to the beach, I was in a foreign country.

There's a few reasons for my lack of beach-going.  One is that I'm not exactly known for my swimming prowess - I know enough to make sure that if I do go swimming, I won't immediately drown or anything like that, but I'm not a very strong swimmer, so prefer to stick close to shore (or go to a pool).  The other is my fair skin.  In a climate like we have here in Perth, it's pretty much constantly sunny, and can get very hot.  Which usually means that venturing outdoors for any period of time with little or no sun protection ends up with me bright red.

So, today being a public holiday in Western Australia, and the weather being fine, sunny, but not too scorchingly hot, I suggested to my mum that we take a drive down to Cottesloe beach and look at the sculpture exhibition down there.

Sadly, when we got down there, the traffic was so bad that the streets were almost doubling up as a carpark (since there didn't appear to be any available parking anywhere).  So Mum and I decided that we'd turn around and go home, to try again another day, and next time use public transport.  Especially since Transperth were apparently putting on special shuttle buses from the nearby train station down to the beach front.

So that it wasn't a completely wasted journey, I suggested that we pull in to Scarborough, where we could have a wander about and go and get some lunch at one of the many cafes and restaurants in the area.

Clock tower in the middle of a large roundabout.

Scarborough beach now has an amphitheatre.  It's really nice to have somewhere shady to sit on the beach.  This shot is from the street side of the beach.  I didn't end up getting a shot from the beach.

It wasn't too busy at the beach.  And the flags to indicate the safe swimming area were really close together. Not that people seemed to be paying much attention to that.

 

The shoreline has been eroded a bit thanks to some stormy weather a few weeks back.

Foaminess!

A rather deep footprint.

The only standing sandcastle spotted (although it is surely only a matter of time before the sea reclaims it).

Jellyfish (probably), washed up on the beach.  Or as Acci's suggested, it's whale snot.

This pair of Surf Life Savers appeared to be having fun zooming round in their boat.

I just love the colours we get here.

Next stop, Africa!

Hmm...wandering along the shoreline in jeans is not the best idea...

After we brushed ourselves off, we wandered up to a cafe for lunch, then went home.  While not the adventure we'd set out to have, we still had fun!