Wednesday 16th November - Another try at Pearl Beach

Wednesday 16th November - Another try at Pearl Beach! Just like last week, Di dropped me off at the Pearl Beach cafe on her way to Zumba. This time Tash brought Toby to play group for the first time.  I went straight for the swimming  pool pausing only to pick up some shells and some of the biggest oyster thieves I have ever seen.  For the uninitiated, the oyster thief (Colpomenia peregrina/sinuosa), is a very strange brown seaweed that grows in the form of a hollow sphere. Imagine a fist sized half-deflated football bladder, and you have roughly what I was looking at.  I also found a 5 cm abalone shell. A lovely deep red with a row of holes along its edge. At the pool I found that the tide was up too far to venture onto the rocky platforms beyond it.  Probably just as well given my performance last time I was here. So instead, I sat down on one of the benches, modestly turning my back on the world and deftly changed into some swimmers and a neoprene sock.  Clutching waterproof camera and goggles, I shuffled, seal-like across to the steps and swiftly entered the water.  You may remember that last week I had found an exquisite sea slug.  No such luck this time, but instead I retrieved a large whelk-like shell from the bottom. On getting it out, I realised it was occupied by a large, red and hairy hermit crab with whom I played for a while, taking photos. I reckon it's called Pagurus sinuatus. I amused a young family with his popping in and out of the shell.  It was, however, surprising how soon he "acclimated"( a neurology-based word), to me. ie, when he'd shot back in a few times, he became used to my touch and didn't retreat so readily.  I had a leisurely swim around the pool walls, looking for anything interesting but only saw a patch of the fan like seaweed Padina and more of those sponges I saw last week. So I got out and redressed just as a pair of pretty girls and an even prettier photographer turned up to do a photoshoot, draping themselves on the railings and benches but unfortunately not on me! Still, being a keen observer of all sorts of beautiful marine organisms, I naturally took the opportunity of studying these migratory types. The photographer and I exchanged admiring and knowing glances - do I still have it or what?  No, just kidding, we were both toting impressive looking Nikons  and I was impressed with her lens and she was probably curious about my ringflash which I attach to my macro lens for close up shots.  She looked as if she wanted to chat but was far too busy arranging her shots.  As I retraced my steps to the cafe, I came across the group once again, modelling madly in the sand dunes and at the edge of the sea. They had a little tent for the girls to change in. So then it was my usual flat white and some banana bread whilst I waited for play group to finish. Tash duly appeared with baby Toby in a push chair and a rather jaded Ollie running free. He is often sluggish at this time of day and really loves his midday nap. Tash's friend Amanda, a charming Irish lady was there too with her super-son Seamus and baby Setanta. Seamus always wears a superhero suit to playgroup. We chatted awhile and Amanda mentioned that she had a sea kayak that Di and I could borrow, maybe for a paddle around Patonga, where it is always calm water.  Sounds like a fun idea.  Di arrived at about 12.30 and we set off home to have lunch and then to service a family emergency.  Will had locked his keys in his Ute at Tuggerah, about a half hour's drive away. The plan was that Di and Tash would take the spare keys and Toby and drive up and visit the shops whilst there. More fun when, a couple of hours later, as I babysat Ollie, I was amazed to see a taxi pulling into the drive. They had returned with the sorry tale of the Subaru's clutch going on WoyWoy hill. They never got there and Will was still stranded. By now, however, he had got a lift to work in Wyong and had scrounged the loan of a spare van until tomorrow. They had had to leave the car in a lay-by and phone for a taxi to bring them home. Later, Di and I did a bit of shopping at Coles, which is only a couple of hundred metres down the road from us, and I made dinner (a smoked cod and prawn risotto) after which Di and Will went off to retrieve the Ute keys and and for clever Will to coast the stricken car down into the comparative safety of Gosford. In the evening, I got emails from OCR inviting me to mark two papers this January.  I had to fill in two electronic forms to accept and send them back.  What a busy day!