Monday, March 8, 2010

BACK HOME AGAIN

Home again!
I have had a quick trip around Blogland to try to catch up with you all and see what you have been up to while I was away. I'll pop back tomorrow to leave some comments and have a chat.                                                                                                         
We've had a lovely holiday and I have lots to tell you about our short stay at the beach.


Oceana is a lovely place to stay. This is the view from our front balcony looking down on the pool area.

Straight ahead is the beach.

We were on the 6th floor.

After breakfast the first morning we headed for the beach.


As you can see there has recently been quite a bit of erosion of the sand from the very high tides but the lovely white sand still stretches away forever in both directions.

We changed our plans for a swim in the surf when we encountered these all along the beach.

Bluebottles !
Here's a better photo of one.



They have an air-filled sac up to 8 centimetres in length, usually with a single, long, blue main fishing tentacle hanging underneath.


That long blue tentacle can really hurt if it wraps around your leg as you swim! 
(Stings - treat with warm water or cold packs if heat doesn't help )
There were lots of them so no surf for us that day.

But as luck would have it further along the beach we happened upon the Queensland Surf Titles.



We found a good spot to watch the action and really enjoyed the spectacle.




 Then it was back to the pool


for a bit of this.

(No! They're not MY hairy legs !!)

More about the Surf Titles tomorrow .

Cheers

10 comments:

  1. Looks lovely, except for the bluebottles!

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  2. Wow it looks really lovely and warm.....Im wishing for warmth...... glad you had a great time - so glad the legs weren't yours otherwise I would have jetted over to you with my wax machine!!!! **Kim**x

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  3. Could have been a bit of work for Kim there! Ooh, I'm so chuffed they're not your legs as well Helen. panicking a bit there! :)
    Well I'm really pleased that you had a great time. I surely wouldn't go in the water if I saw any of those horrible bluebottles. Travellling around Blogland is certainly opening my eyes to nasties that you all have! Glad we don't in the UK.
    We're all interested in your holiday so I hope we'll see more pictures. That beach certainly looks lovely. Glad a good time for you all, love Suex

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  4. Welcome back M'lady!

    Here in England bluebottles are justharmless flies. I saw huge jellyfish on the beach when we lived in Ireland, with purple veins, strangely pretty.

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  5. Looks like you had a 'grand' time Lady Helsie. All that sand and sun is making me rather envious. Those bluebottles are pretty strange looking creatures. I've not heard of those before! Don't think I'd like to meet one. Ros

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  6. It's a tough life really. I do hope the Oceana realised they had a lady of such esteem gracing them with her presence last week!

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  7. Welcome back Helsie! That resort looks beautiful and very fitting for My Lady and My Lord! I won't go into water either if the jellyfish are out and about. I'm hosting our BUNCO group on St. Patrick Day so I may be a little busy and not able to post everyday until that is finished. Off to make my lists so I don't forget anything.

    Teacup Lane (Sandy)

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  8. Wonderful that you had a lovely break. Obviously you did not get the deluge the rest of Qld got - so lucky.
    Been to many a Surf Carnival, as all 3 daughters and ex-hubby were involved in the sport side of Surf Clubs, one daughter is even a National Medallist!!!! in our home-grown IRB racing

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  9. Beautiful scenery, looks like you all had a wonderful time, except for the bluebottles, they look like what we call jellie fish, i think they are very neat to watch but only if i am not in the water, i hear the sting can be terrible.

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  10. What a beautiful beach, and thank you for the warning about the bluebottle picture because I was able to avert my eyes whilst scrolling quickly past. Here, bluebottles are insects, you see. Big fat flies. I didn't look at yours but the comments suggest they're sort of jellyfish. Maybe I could have looked then, but taking no chances.
    Ahhhh... it must have been soooo lovely to sit on a beach in the sun!
    I hope the food and drink were good too.

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