Road trip, from Byron

I got to my secret cove a little before low tide this morning. It's Riki tiki tavi's cove, one of the places he hides out, out of reach of the British frigates, impassible at certain times. The ocean has changed, so it's harder to get to, I didn't trust it at all at high tide and when I came back the outer beach was all gone, underwater now, and you could only get to the cove with significant wading and clambering. Inside, it was still quiet, shaded, excellent. Two hawks landed, each on a tree on each side, and one called and screed, a high pitched keening, to the other one, who cleaned her tail and paid him no mind. Eventually he came over to her branch, still singing. They were close enough to me I could see his mouth move.  I got out of there, took a swim before the sun got too high, and got back to my hostel in time to shower before breakfast.

I've managed to get a sunburn on my first day, which is inspiring me to move on today, as an alternative to spending five hours on the beach again, but I've been slow to move out. I read in the hostel and tried to download things, and then I've been doing the big loop trail up to the lighthouse, so I suspect it will feel a bit like evening before I really leave.

But the trail can be done with clothes on which lets my burn heal. It is hot though. Off the Eastern most point in Australia lookout, there was a pod of dolphins. They were basically resting, slowly swimming parallel to the coast, then turning out a bit to see. It's not every day you see a pod of wild dolphins off the furthest point in the country, though from where I live, it basically could be.

It was either here or Noosa I first really saw the Pacific, high points you know so you can see the turquoise of the shallow water, and the deep blue of the deep, and the purpling of the rocks underneath, the ice milk color I associate now with Alpine lakes where it churnes up close to shore. When I saw it like that, at the time I didn't know it could be like that, so clear the color changes when there's clouds.

When I went swimming this morning it was early and empty enough there were fish.