So, 0500hrs this morning found me sat on the balcony watching one of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen in quite some time. As you can imagine the number of photographs I have of it is borderline ridiculous. In my defence, every single photo is slightly different, and in the space of an hour, it went from a gorgeous pink and grey toned sky, to vibrant yellows and golds as the sun popped its head up over the ocean. The way the light danced over the rolling waves of the incoming tide ensured some pretty spectacular images in my opinion. There is a tree directly opposite the apartment, and whilst you'd think it would hamper the scene, I think it enhanced it and added something quite magical to the picture as a whole. There were people sat on the beach watching it too, although I can't be sure if they were on their way home from a damn good night out or if they got up especially to see the day dawn. I'm not a morning person, but give me a fabulous sunrise and I'll be mesmerised watching the different colours streak across the sky. I won't move until they are replaced by brilliant blue skies and the occasional fluffy little white cloud.
After the rather spectacular start to the day, it was only right we hit the beach. The soft white sand was warm beneath our bare feet, and squeaked as we made our way across it. The Life Guards had been out and placed their flags ready for the day and me being a little on the paranoid side was most insistent we stayed between them. Easier said than done. The rip/undertow was incredibly strong and for a weakling like me, difficult to keep upright. Thankfully Si kept hold of me like you would a small child. Which was just as well, because the waves were freaking massive!!! After getting barrel rolled several times, and coming up spluttering each time, much to Si's great amusement, I decided I needed to grip on a little harder, and each time I got ducked under, I popped back up shouting to Si, it's ok, I've got you!! My eyes screwed shut, hair hanging limply over my face like seaweed, desperately trying to ensure the bikini was covering everything it was supposed to be covering. In the main that was only mildly successful, but there were a lot of people who were having the same problem with their swim attire. Except the ones that were wearing thongs. They already had a wedgy so that was one less thing for them to be concerned with. Thong bikini bottoms, are, in my most humble opinion are not a good look on anyone who is over 6 stone soaking wet. There were a lot of ladies who were three times that and they caused a little bit of sick to come up into my mouth. It wasn't just me, it was way too much for Simon's delicate eyeballs as well if the gagging sounds coming out of his mouth were anything to go by. I guess I should take my hat off to them for clearly not giving a single shit what they looked like, and maybe it's pure jealousy on my part because I have never felt that comfortable in my own skin.
The rip was dragging us way outside of the flags and we had to get out and walk back up the beach to get back between the flags. To make sure the life guards knew I was there I thought it prudent to get close to a lady they wouldn't be able to miss. You know the type, tall, Amazonian, long blonde hair, massive boobs etc. That way if I lost hold of Si and got whipped out to sea they would, in theory, see me. I am a genius. The water was just a perfect temperature, add to that the hot morning sun beating down on us and it's fair to say I was in heaven. Not literally obviously, I'm going straight to hell as I'm a little ball of pure evil. The waves were so strong my legs went to jelly from the sheer effort of staying upright and it's fair to say it knocked the stuffing out of me. I was impressed with how long I managed to stay in the water but decided getting out before I couldn't get out would be a rather good idea.
Getting out was easier said than done for my wimpy wobbly self, and it took a great deal of time and effort. That said, the whole thing was totally worth it, and despite being exhausted I was on top of the world. Once I was safely in the beach, Si returned to the water and was soon happily diving through the waves like bloody Flipper!
The wind picked up considerably, and as such the waves increased in size, and barrelled into unsuspecting paddlers and waders. That was mildly amusing to me from the safety of the beach as you can imagine. Si got out a short while later and we stood in the sunshine drying off, although the breeze was making it feel much cooler than it actually was . The UV factor was already at 6 and it was still early, around midday It was predicted to get up to 12 which was extreme. You can really see how people get serious sunburn in the breeze, and by the time we returned to the apartment about an hour or so later, we both had white sunglasses outlines on a pair of very red faces. It's just so attractive.
Once we'd changed and slapped on some sunblock, we rumbled up the beach path towards tne main drag to get a refreshing drink. We noticed the lifeguards had moved the flags to a different part of the beach as it was deemed too dangerous to swim where they were initially. Within the hour the safety flags had gone completely from our end of the beach and were replaced by the red no swimming flag.
We'd worked up an appetite splashing around in the waves on the beach so we went to a little cafe on the Esplande and had fruit toast and tea. How very British. The toast was ok, just nowhere near enough butter. We agreed it would have been better for them to have bought the pack of butter out with the toast, and left it on the table for us. It was a bit dry and really tough going when we got to the last piece. Similar to when you do the cream cracker challenge and you just don't have enough saliva to get them down your neck. It was so bad we had to order another drink to wash it down. The hardships are real here!
We decided to rumble on, going further up the beach towards Broadbeach. The swimming areas were all being shut down and there was just the one remaining open. As you'd expect with just the one swim area being manned, it was very popular with the beach goers. As a result of the ombination of massive waves, vicious undertow and lots of people, almost every lifeguard was right down on the waters edge, keeping an eye on the swimmers. One lad had already got into difficulties and had to be bought into shore by a life guard on a surf board. It was impressive to see in action, and they made it look so simple. I thought for a while he was just waving to his mates, but when he was taking longer to surface, I began to tthink he wasn't waving after all. It appeared that his mates and the lifeguards were having the same thoughts. Shortly afterwards there was a blasting of whistles and the life guards deemed the water to be too dangerous to swim in and they shut the beach. Trying to get people out of the water was a task and a half. The whistles are very difficult to hear over the roar of the waves, also the wind was blowing in off the ocean and carrying the sound of the whistles up the beach and out of hearing range for the swimmers. I say they shut the beach, what they did was stop everyone going in the water for their own safety. You still had odd idiot thinking they knew better, but in the main the majority of people took the advice. Given the size of the waves they would have been seriously stupid to have thought it was a good idea.
We were really pleased we'd managed to get in before the wind picked up, as I would have been gutted to have missed the opportunity. With the entire beach now displaying signs that it was closed, people just went in up to their ankles. It certainly didn't stop anyone enjoying the Sunday sunshine and little kids playing in the sand and running around letting off steam. The beach was the busiest we'd seen it, and the hoards of people with their trollies dragging along behind them didn't decrease in the slightest all day. The beach is accessible to all, which is bonus, and there are lots of places you can stop along the esplanade to either relax under a shady trees with a picnic, or take advantage of wooden loungers up off the beach to catch some rays . BBQ 's are plentiful along the way too and the delicious smells of a variety of foods wafted up our nostrils. Oh lord, we were hungry again!
There are E-Scooters and E-bikes are lying about everywhere and they are really popular with all ages. You hop on, sign on via the QR code and sign off when you're at your destination. The pathway from surfers to Southport is long, wide and flat and there is a constant ringing of bells to let you know when there's a bike or scooter approaching. Add to them hover boards and the occasional moped and it's a little chaotic on a busy day. We also saw a lot of little dog pushchairs, complete with sunshades, and portable drinking bowls, the poor dogs didn't look that enamoured with the whole situation, but I guess it was better for them to be in their pushchairs than walking on the hot pavements.
We were heading back towards the apartment, and I decided that I would take advantage of the pool. Nice little pool, lovely and clean, and getting in it was bloody freezing, obviously, I soon got used to it and began doing my exercises. Once they were done, the sun was still warm enough so I took advantage of the sun loungers surrounding the pool. I had the whole place to myself, and it was divine!! so I stayed there until the sun went behind the furthest highrise, and I began to feel a little cool as the wind was blowing a hoolie! Some lovely supper was whipped up in next to no time, and we had a lovely chilled out evening watching and listening to the waves lashing at the beach. Perfect day indeed.
Much Love
x
Comments