Another Wander Down Wollongong Way

As I keep bringing up, Wes is in the process of selling his townhouse down in Wollongong, which is why we've spent so much time down that way. We used to go there every week on garbage night, to clear things out. A couple of weeks back, we headed down again to meet up with the cleaning crew he'd hired (which turned out to be a woman and her son and was rather a bust).

While they set to the task of eliminating dirt and dust, we set to the task of eating lunch, taking a walk and generally being good for nothing tourists on the beach. As per usual, I got a lot of use out of Wes' camera on the occasion.



When we first set out, we had no idea where we were going. Wes suggested that we head to the beach and just wander from there, so we went first down to the breakwater. We wandered around for a while, exploring the area (or rather, I explored and he looked on musingly as I ooh'd and aah'd like the tourist I am).

Various boats and dingeys in the harbor.

Wes got in a bit of sun while I looked around the rocks.

One of the local pools. It has a general swimming area, a lane pool and a rock pool for the runoff.
All three are (pretty obviously) saltwater pools.

When we had had our fill of the breakwater, we went a bit further down the beach. This part of the actual shoreline is mostly rocks and shells, without much sand. There are a lot of little man-made rock pools for people to swim in a bit more safely, however, and the shelf is higher here, so the waves aren't quite so rough as on the surfing beaches.

Watching waves (and ships) come in.

Wes took over the camera for a bit while I looked for cool shells.

We decided that we wanted to walk down that way, go around the small headland, and get to
the North Shore beach. It didn't really work out as planned. We encountered sandflies.

They are not fun. Do not walk through a swarm of them. It sucks.

The edges of the rock pools are concrete, so they break the few waves that
come through rather nicely.

After our little encounter with the sandflies, Wes and I thought it might be a good idea to go around on the road to get to the other beach. We climbed up the cliff face to the street above the beach and walked from there. Not surprisingly, we had a rather nice view along the way.

Tell me that that water isn't inviting. I dare you. 

One of the rock pools from above.

The footpath along the road had some other (semi) surprises in store for us as well. We stopped at the memorial park overlooking the harbor, which still houses canons from decades ago. Of course, they're all blocked up now and the various doors and bunkers are sealed off, but they're really quite neat to look at.

The ranges for targets in the area were labelled on that chart.

We also saw these funny little birds. They sort of resembled purple martins,
but I have no idea what they are.

Check out the wheels!

We got to the beach just in time to see some kids taking their surfing lessons. They were between probably eight and fourteen years old, split into several different groups. It's amazing how adept some of them were already; I was quite impressed.

Eventually, Wes and I retired to a beach cafe to people watch out of the sun (and the very, very harsh wind). There were a lot of people of all ages and descriptions out and about in the beautiful weather, so it was quite interesting as far as people watching goes.

You'll see more of these guys later.

Wes ordered fresh coconut milk while I had a mixed fruit smoothie.

My pulled pork (with apple cole slaw) sandwich and chips.

Wes' seafood fettuccine. 

After we ate, we came across the gentleman and his huskies from earlier. They'd come into the cafe courtyard where the dogs could get some shade and he could get some coffee. We struck up a brief conversation with him as I snapped photos of the dogs. They were really friendly and kept trying to investigate the camera (and me).

Keira, the little female of his group, had heterochromatic eyes (and a super sweet personality).

One our way back from lunch, we took our time and explored a few more little beaches along the way. Wes was craving chips, so we wandered along until we came to another food stand. The cleaner hadn't called yet, so we were in no hurry to get back just yet.

I suck at skipping rocks, now. I need to relearn how to do it.

Another failure of a throw, but a gorgeous photo! Look at the sky!

Wes is much better at it than I am. I think it's all in the stance.

We found this pathetic, half-buried (and very dead) seagull. It was sad.

This dog also found the seagull.
And rolled all over it.

It was hilarious.

At long last, Wes finally found the chips he was craving. We took his bounty out to a bench and settled down to relax and enjoy. Unfortunately, the seagulls in the area had the same exact idea. As we were sitting, relaxing, they gradually closed in around our bench and stood there, waiting for leftovers or handouts.

At first, they were more interested in this couple than in us.

That is ... until they left.

Soon, we became the sole target of their attentions.

Eventually, the cleaner called to let us know she was finished and that we could come back. We left the seagulls behind to go back to the townhouse and get the keys from her.

Sorta.

One of the seagulls followed us all the way to our crosswalk, a good fifty meters away from the bench where we had been sitting.

Thankfully, the little beggar didn't follow us home.