Creek to Coast

This adventure happened a few weeks ago now, which just shows how slack I have been lately.

Upon finishing a final draft of my PhD, I found myself with lots of free time and a very good mood.  The draft is currently being read by my supervisors and the people I've written about for final feedback, and they have indicated I'll have only minor revisions before I submit.  So, yay!  To celebrate, Andy and I drove a bit north for a picnic.


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Bluewater is a creek and a suburb, about 30 minutes north of the city.  It's like a small town -- it has a school and a scout hall but not much else happening.  But who needs organised excitement when you have natural beauty?

Andy and I had never been up to Bluewater, and we thought we should remedy that while there is still water around.  The creek itself wasn't so exciting.  We visited two parks with swimming access, and neither was more than waist-deep.  But the water wasn't too cold, so in we went.  We utilised some picnic tables to chow down on olives, hummus & crackers, and leftover baked beans.  Then we spied the "Bluewater Urban Forest", which is just a fancy name for a fitness loop.  Upon seeing some of the playground-meets-workout equipment, I got excited and run to climb up.

I noticed just in the nick of time, however, that something was not quite right about this climbing thingie, particularly the top rung.  On closer inspection, I noticed this guy:

Neither Andy nor I are snake experts, but Andy was fairly certain that the small head and bright belly was an indication of deadly-ness, so we steered clear.  (We got home and googled and realised that it is a common tree snake -- harmless.)

We admired some flowers and gum trees, and that was pretty much Bluewater.

So we drove over to the other side of the highway to see what Toolakea Beach had to offer.  Answer: even less in the way of organised excitement, and a saltwater version of the natural beauty.

The tide was low, so lots of little crabbies were out, running around like mobs and then promptly burying themselves when we came too close.

It threatened to rain on us, but luckily we stayed in front of the interface until we got home, tired but glad we had explored a little bit more of the place we have lived for years now.