Mobbed!

Tuesday 20th December 2016

We fully expected a good start to the day and had made an important investment.  We had bought a body board for the waves we had anticipated at the beach this morning.  The waves last night looked good, probably because it was windy.

This morning wasn't so bright, in fact it was cloudy but we still went to the beach. 

We had great fun.  The waves were just right and they brought us all the way onto the beach.  Surfing, proper, is beyond me but body boarding is within my grasp!

It wasn't sunny enough for sitting on the beach so we dried off and went for an aimless drive up the coast.  We got to Wallagoot Lake which is another large salt water lagoon.  As we drove down the quiet lane we got excited because we drove past a mummy and joey kangaroo about 5 yards away from the road.  We basked in our contentment and had lunch by the lake in perfect tranquility.

These were some kind of cormorants on the posts but we saw black swans and a pelican catching fish about 10 yards away.  We decided to walk along to Turingal Head where the sea meets the lagoon.  Within a short distance I spotted a large kangaroo standing still on the road about 15 yards away.  We weren't quick enough with the camera but it was certainly as big as Janice.  Her attempts at a 'skippy' clicking impersonation may not have helped much and it hopped off into the bush.  We were cock-a-hoop to say the least about seeing a roo down by the billabong.

We carried on our walk, it started raining.  We still carried on to the beach at the end.

This was seriously secluded.  A pity it was raining.

Whilst retracing our steps I couldn't believe it when we saw 11 kangaroos in a field next to us.  They all stood still like statues.  It's probably not a good tactic if you don't want to be hunted but it was great for us to watch.  They were of different sizes and one by one they moved away.  The photos don't show the scene very well but at least we got some.

By the way I think this number of kangaroos is accurately described as a mob of kangaroos.  Having struggled to find kangaroos in the wild we had found them without looking intentionally.

Back to Merimbula at the end of the afternoon.  I took the opportunity to have my hair cut.  I often have interesting conversations in foreign barber shops.  This one was different.  The girl who cut it had been a personality donor, she couldn't manage any conversation beyond how short I wanted my hair.  

Here is my new hair cut.  You probably can't tell the difference.

By 4pm the sun came out and we had a couple of hours by the pool at the hotel, perfect.

A night in followed.  We have abandoned Australian TV other than some news reports.  We borrowed a DVD and settled in for a quiet night.  I forgot to mention that we had some Aussie mince pies.  I am undecided about the quality, the pastry was firm and the mince was a bit over boiled ( in my humble opinion).  I will have to do some more sampling.