May 23 - A Day at the Beach

Today in the Sydney area there is a light drizzle of rain, but yesterday was brilliant sunshine so Lyle and I decided to drive to one of our favourite beaches.  Soldiers Beach is a super place to walk.  The beach is flat with a wide expanse of sand which at low tide is just great for walking.  Not only that, many times we can walk here without meeting a single other person. This was the case yesterday.  As you can see in the following picture, we had the beach to ourselves. The picture shows the wide stretch of sand with a small dark speck in the distance.  Lyle took the picture and the dark speck...well, that’s me!

Sue on the beach

This next shows me in front of the sand dunes on the beach.

Sue in front of sand dune

The parking lot for Soldiers Beach is at the top of a cliff and is a popular spot, especially for workers who take their lunch break here to sit and watch the waves.  Unfortunately this high parking area means a walk down a reasonably steep stairway to the sand.  I tend to struggle with this.  The several sets of steps are punctuated by little platforms and there is no marking to show where the top step of each set begins.  Add to that the drift of sand that sometimes blurs the definition of the lower steps.  I am constantly wearing my heel against the back part of the step going down and stubbing my toe on the way up.  I often feel for steps with my feet and the toes and heels of my shoes are nearly always the first part of the shoe to show wear.

The next picture shows me coming down the stairway to the sand of Soldiers Beach.  As I always do with steps and stairs, I am holding on to the handrail.

Sue on steps

The last picture is the view of the cliff and the parking lot in the distance, taken from the beach.  In the center of the picture you can see the top of Norah Head lighthouse which is some distance behind the parking lot.

Norah Head Lighthouse