When you visit a place, do you explore a place or do you just pass through?
One of the beaches I often surf at, or walk along, often has vanlifers parked in the carpark. They come, stay the night, have a swim and some breakfast, and off they go. It amazes me that they don't wander around the corner and up the beach a little, to where the real magic is. Knowing this, I tend to make sure I explore at any spot I visit, assuming there are delights around the corner I might just miss.
Some of you might have seen a few sunrises I posted on Threads this week. That's where I'll begin - with sunrise, at a beach on the Great Ocean Road. I've marked it on Pinmapple, but not exactly - to find the exact spot, you'll need to use your curiousity. To be honest, I had lived on this coast for years without knowing this place existed, because I was just as guilty of not going around the corner as anyone else, choosing to surf and go home instead. Admittedly, this is tide dependant too - the safest and best times to walk along Great Ocean Road beaches is at low tide, so keep that in mind if you go exploring.
The Great Ocean Road has some pretty awesome coastline you can't see from the carparks, or the roads. If you're just driving and pulling in for a quick look, you're going to miss a LOT.
On this particular morning, the easterlies had brought up a lot of seaweed, particuarly the pink and white stuff, clinging to rocks. With the morning light, it made for a really pretty sight indeed. I spent a lot of time looking at the tendrils of kelp and being amazed by it. There were a lot of rocks and shells too, that the seaweed had anchored too.
I was pretty stoked to happen across this little guy. I think he's a nankeen kestrel, quite common here. I wondered if he was sick as he let me get quite close.
The cliffs glow at the best of times - but sunrise and sunset are particularly beautiful. They just glow, the layers of clay and rock creating beautiful patterns. There's been a lot of landslides or cliff falls of late, but no danger as yet here, though the soft clay does wear away across time.
I love the relative solitude of this beach. Whereas Torquay can be hella busy even at sunrise, it's quieter here - I saw six walkers, which was more than I'd see in the old days, but I felt a little more peaceful with no one around. In summer, of course, it's a lot busier. I was headed to a beach that's actually in the next town over from Angelsea, quite a hidden beach really as you have to get down a side road to get there. On one end is a tunnel that goes through a cave, which is super cool. You kinda walk over the top of it, which I do here, dangling my feet into the tunnel below.
But some of you have seen all this before - it's my favourite walk at the moment so I may have shared it once or twice, though every aspect and every day is kinda different, where you spot a new angle or a new view. I like places that bring something new each time, and I'm definitely not sick of this walk yet.
Today was something super amazing, that I'd never seen before - a shield limpet! Honestly, I'd seen the shells hundreds of times, but I had no idea what creature they belonged to. The poor guy had been washed up with the seaweed and was warming up in the sunshine. He's kinda gross but really cool at the same time. I had to flip him over and google Lens him to find out what he was. His flesh was so black, like he was a real creature of the night, not a rock pool dweller - it was inky black, midnight black.
AFter a while I thought I'd better get him into a rock pool, and that's when the true coolness happened - he came alive, moving his snail like feelers around and happily moving through the water, cooling down from the morning sun. I don't know why he couldn't move across the wet sand but boy he seemed happy to get back in the water again. I reckon I spent fifteen minutes just amazed at him.
But the real treat for me is swimming in the natural rock pool. It's deep enough and long enough to do laps in, and I can never understand how people walk past and DON'T go in. Even if the air is a little cool the water is warm at this time of year. Another guy was swimming there too - he had run up the beach in his swimmers to do laps and must do it intentionally. The early morning low tide is just perfect for it.
After a few laps I walked back up the beach, being like a kid looking at all the debris washed up. There was certainly a huge pile of seaweed - I did think about collecting some for the garden but there was too many people around and I was feeling a bit knackered after my walk!
There was certainly enough to entertain me - bits of coral, shells with creatures still in them (some of which I tossed back into the sea), rocks with all kinds of kelp clinging to them, and even the different kelp in general. I did nibble on some sea lettuce in the rock pools, and now I thought I should have taken some home to dry for nourishing broths, but I didn't think of it at the time.
Maybe tomorrow.
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