Alexandra Headlands

Andrew and I are taking the boys to the coast every chance we get. I think it's starting to sink in that our four years here are nearing their end and the chances of us living this close to the ocean again are slim.

We wanted to spend the day in Tangalooma but we slept in and missed the early ferry so we didn't think it'd be worth spending all that money just for a couple hours on the island. As we hurriedly got dressed, I suggested we check out Maroochydore instead.

For a little while now, I've been wanting to find sea glass but the beaches we normally go to are so clean and free of debris, it's just not the right place to look for sea glass. Since the weather wasn't good enough for the boys to play in the ocean anyway, I thought we might try somewhere new.

We ended up spending our day at the Alexandra Headlands. We stopped there because I had spotted a surf competition and wanted to check it out, but when we got down to the beach area, we were so drawn to the rocks that somehow, we decided not to check out the surfing after all.

The area was great for the boys. It was so open and there was no one else around. Occasionally, people would walk by but for the most part, we had the place to ourselves. The boys went from tide pool to tide pool, looking for sea creatures and other treasures.

As the boys zig-zagged around, Andrew and I followed slowly behind. I was just as amazed with the creatures in the rock pools as the boys were. It was so cool to see little hermit crabs scurry around in the water. We eventually found bigger crabs, too!

Then, out of nowhere, I spotted a piece of sea glass. I wasn't really expect to find anything on my first day of hunting but when I did, I squealed. It was exhilarating.

Then, I got hooked. I walked around slowly with my eyes glued to the ground. It was hard to focus on anything because there was so much sea debris for my eyes to sift through. Millions of tiny seashells were scattered along the tide lines and along the rocks. Looking for sea glass is addicting.

The boys had other things in mind though. Andrew got this idea to climb the side of this cliff. Caleb, our little monkey, decided he also wanted to climb and got up this rock before Andrew could get down to help him! Andrew actually had to grab Caleb because he managed to scurry up the dirt path to that lighter patch of rock as well.

Around noon, we had a picnic lunch on these rocks. It was the perfect spot because the cliffs behind us provided a bit of shelter from the wind, but we were still close enough to the ocean to enjoy the breeze and the view.

Afterwards, the boys joined me in looking for sea glass. Nathan's actually really good at spotting those little gems and ended up finding some really nice pieces.

Caleb wasn't as interested. He had a hard time understanding what exactly we were looking for so he decided to make "snow angels" instead.

The boys decided to climb up the cliff one last time and as they neared the top, I looked out to the water and realized the tide was starting to come in. I knew we wouldn't be in any danger but it was probably time to start packing up. Andrew decided they would climb to the top and come back to help me with our stuff but we only had a couple bags so I grabbed all our things and headed towards the stairs. 

Half way there, it started to rain but instead of letting up like a couple hours earlier, it just kept pouring down. Talk about good timing.