Expotition To The Sand

[kerravonsen]

Yesterday D and I made Plans, brought about because I had bought my Monthly Met card, and realized that because there was no longer a Zone 3, it meant that I Could Go Anywhere! And I remarked that it had been a dream of mine, with this Power Of Public Transport, to catch a train, take a train-line I'd never gone on before, and Go To The End Of The Line!

So we did.

We looked at the map of the Trains, and a Melways, and assessed the interestingness of various end-of-the-lines. The one that we decided on was Sandringham, because it had a beach. D planned to go swimming, but I initially didn't because I was hoping to go shopping in the city after our Expotition (because I didn't get everything done yesterday) and I didn't want to be lugging around wet bathers. But D offered to take my wet bathers home with him when we parted ways, so I grabbed a bag and put in bathers and a towel.

We started a little later than planned (my fault), but D is not an impatient person. His attitude is that there's nothing in the bible which requires one to be prompt, but a lot of places where it admonishes one to be patient.

We finally made it out the door; walked up to the corner and waited for the bus. The bus to Mitcham Station came, we caught it, we went onto the platform, we waited for the train. The train came, and D found that he didn't like sitting backwards, so we swapped (I don't have any problems with going backwards on a train). Conversation ranged from the nature of crossovers, to Indonesian customs, to the requirements for morpheme-generating software. Richmond station. Change platforms. Wait. Train arrives, and this was a nicer train, with better air conditioning. Looking at passing scenery, and discussion of same. Perking up when we first saw the sea. North Brighton brought on a discussion of the tendency of counties and provinces in Indonesia to split (in order to get more government funding).

Sandringham.

Meandered towards the beach. Paused to go into a guitar shop, because D is considering buying a guitar (for himself or daughter #1), because his is back in Indonesia. On to the Rotunda, drink out of the water-fountain there (which is designed for people who are taller than me; the basin is too wide). Wandered along a path above the beach, then went down to the beach and changed in the public loo there.

The sand was sooooooooooooooooooooooooo hot! And so slippery my feet sank right in and I could hardly walk. (Note to self: buy thongs so I can walk on a beach without burning my feet the next time I go to a beach) I had taken off my sandles because I didn't want to get lots of sand in them. Made it to the water. Phew!

The water was lovely. It has been sooooooooooooooooooooooo long since I've swum in the sea. The waves! The salt! The wind! The sand! The bits of shell! The coolness of the water! Wheeeeeeeeeeee! So I'm very glad I'd decided to bring my bathers after all. I duck-dived and picked up bits of broken shell and sea-polished glass. Not sure what I'll do with them, but they were nice.

After a while we got out, and found it was after 2pm. We had lunch at a fish-and-chips shop (that also being part of the tradition of being on the beach: there must be fish-and-chips!). Then we caught the train back to the city, parting ways at Richmond, while I went on to Flinders St.

It was about 3:45 by the time I got there, and about 4pm by the time I got to the bank, and it was apparently shut. So I thought I'd do some of my other errands instead, and started looking for the Collins St A&R, and discovered the Collins St Dymocks on the way, and was seduced by the Book side of the Force. And found a book I'd been looking for all week! Yay! Then I continued on my way, and completely failed to find the Collins St A&R. By this time I was footsore and weary, making very slow steps back down Collins St.

And by the time I got home, I realized I was going to take something else from the day. Y'see, though I'd put sunscreen on, I hadn't put enough on, not in enough places. So my shoulders got sunburnt. They are all red now, and I feel like a glowing little coal.

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a wonderfully adventurous expotition!

[kerravonsen]

8-)

I am definitely going to stay out of the sun tomorrow, though!

[communicator.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a brilliant day out, well worth a bit of sunburn.

[kerravonsen]

It was a brilliant day, but my light sleep last night and the pain I still have this morning isn't so sure about the sunburn. Aussie sun is very fierce. However, I'm grateful that my face isn't sunburnt, just my shoulders.

There's a song from my teen years, "Sunburn", that's going through my head:

Brown as a berry but you can't lie down
Better let yourself cool down.

[linda-joyce.livejournal.com]

Brilliant day out, but it feels so strange to read of sea bathing and sunburn when the sky out side is grey and the temp only just above freezing with snow forecast. Isn't the world a wonderful place with such contrasts in it.

[kerravonsen]

The thing that is boggling my mind is that I got to the beach using public transport. When I was a child, the beach we always went to was a lot further away from where I lived, so I always associated "beach" with "hard to get to".

Sandringham

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

The Red Bluff Cliffs! The cycle path along Beach Road (which now goes all the way to Port Melbourne)! Head in the opposite direction and you get to the Old School. The Rotunda where my grandfather used to play the trombone. The Yacht Club. Beach Road (now Trevor Barker) Oval, home of the Sandringham Zebras, which I used to watch every other Sunday in winters gone by. (You can also go into the hotel and watch the sea or the sun set while eating a counter meal.)

Re: Sandringham

[kerravonsen]

Ah, is that why the path was divided, with direction arrows? It was a cycle path?

Re: Sandringham

[hawkeye7.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is the cycle path.

[ancientcitadel.livejournal.com]

Sounds like fun. Today was a nice day for the trip. It's been years since I went to the beach. Oh well, might have to get around to that before summer is over.

Finding a book you've been looking for is always good.

[kerravonsen]

Finding a book you've been looking for is always good.

I'd looked in three different shops and had given up, because I didn't know where else to look, because I hadn't known this shop existed.

[ancientcitadel.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of book stores in the CBD, including a few specialty ones.

[kalinda001.livejournal.com]

That sounds lovely. Swimming in the sea can be so much more interesting.

[kerravonsen]

Yes! The waves! (Not that these were much waves; the beach I went to as a child was a surf beach, the waves being much bigger and more interesting) Jumping up and down with the waves! The ripply sand (which was interesting, my childhood beach was much smoother under water). Yes.

[jhall1.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you had a great day.

When you said that you were going to the end of the line, I wondered if you'd be finishing up in Perth about three days later, but it evidently wasn't that line. :)

[kerravonsen]

Naw, just within the limits of my public transport ticket.

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Yay seaside!

[kerravonsen]

8-)