Friday 18th November - relaxation and a late visit to Pearl

Friday 18th November - Relaxation and a late visit to the beach The weather was better today.  It didn't rain at all and the sky gradually cleared throughout the day.  The temperature also gradually rose from about 18 degrees first thing to about 28 degrees by the end of the day.  I stayed in for most of the day.  I was aware for perhaps the first time, that my knee was not  feeling uncomfortable.  It still doesn't feel quite right, but it is definitely not hurting.  So I'm hoping  that this is the end of it.  Tash and Di took Toby out for a long walk around the shops after lunch and I stayed at home and baby say Ollie who had a long sleep so I had an easy time of it and took the opportunity to bring my Blog up to date (it had "broken" at the end of October and only recently seems to have been functioning normally again). Anyway, Tash suggested that we have an evening trip to Pearl Beach to give Ollie a run out.  I was pleased at the opportunity to get a bit of exercise and the chance of a swim in my favourite "aquarium". We arrived there at about 5.30 and walked along the beach to the swimming pool. We set up camp there and I got Ollie going with some sand castles before getting changed for the pool. Tash sat with Ollie and Toby whilst I went into the pool. I explored the sides and right down at the deep end I found an Aplysia type sea slug. I tried to photograph it with my Olympus Tough but the light and turbidity were against me. After a while I gave up and Ollie joined me for a splash in the shallow end. He was confident and fearless. We had fun and then we both got out and dressed before returning to the beach with Tash for some rock scrambling and looking at rock pools.  It sudde ly occurred to me that these pools were crystal clear and may well give me better views of the sea slug.  So I went and retrieved it from where it still remained just under the surface at the deep end.  It seemed to love the pool I put it in and was soon zooming around it's new environment. I set up the video on a mini tripod and took some excellent footage of the slug crawling along. At about 7.15 we packed up and went home where Di and Will were well into the dinner.  Will phoned his Mum tonight and arranged for us to go up and stay next weekend.