A Brief Sea Change

When my husband turned 40 back in June, his parents, brother and sisters all put in to give us a couple of nights away at a Bed & Breakfast while they looked after the kids. We were free to take it at any time so we decided to wait until the pleasant weather of early spring. And as Andrew was the birthday boy, he got to choose the location. He decided he'd like to go to a beach-side Bed & Breakfast, so last week-end we dropped the 3 kids off with his parents and set off to Port Elliot, on our South Aussie coast by the Southern Ocean.

It was the first time we've been away by ourselves without at least one of the kids since February 1994, which was a year before Logan, our 13yo was born. We did get to go on a lovely flight and stay in Hobart for 2 nights in 2004 while my sister looked after Logan and Emma, but as Blake was still only 7 months old, he came with us, of course.

We did lots of good, rugged coastal walks along cliffs. I was thinking about the kids and took these photos of danger signs, thinking they'd be amused. Some of the pictures are so descriptive, you really don't need to be literate to get the benefit of them. Maybe it's true that a picture speaks a thousand words.

Why write, "KEEP AWAY FROM THE EDGE OF THE CLIFFS" for example, when this sign does the job so much more effectively?

And then there's this one!

I hate to say I missed a wonderful photo opportunity when we were hiking up the Bluff in Victor Harbor. It was very steep, and I thought, "We already have plenty of good coastal photos so I'll leave the camera in the car." But on the way back down we came across a very bold echidna out in the open. He was quite content to keep grubbing about while we walked within about half a foot of him! Andrew even ventured to reach out and touch his needles, and he curled up quickly into a little ball. Still makes me want to kick myself when I think of how I missed showing the kids and putting a photo of him on this blog.

All I can say is that if I ever come across another nonchalent wild echidna I'll definitely take his photo, but as it's the first time it's ever happened to me, I don't fancy my chances. Oh well, we live and learn.

I got a few other nature photos; mostly sea birds like this shag.

This fellow is a Pacific Gull. He very kindly posed for me.

These are just common coastal seagulls, the type who screech and flock around anyone who they see has any food. In my teens I used to live near one of the beaches of Adelaide and there were always plenty. We don't get any at all up in the Adelaide Hills, so whenever I'm by the coast and see some, it brings back memories of my past. I wondered if they're anything like the American seagulls I read about.

We saw this pet rock. Nothing like getting the shot of the echidna of course, but I still thought it was quite cute. How could anyone resist a request like this. So I obliged....

....and this is what we saw.

Now that we're back, we settled back into normal routine pretty well straight away. It probably takes more than three days and two nights for a proper sea change, but it was a wonderful break from routine just the same. (I wonder if they'll do the same thing when I turn 40).