Saturday was a lovely lazy day, starting with meeting an old workmate for brunch. And would you believe, I drove all the way down to the jetty, jumped out of my car, took two steps then stopped dead. "Um, this isn't actually where the Shearwater is," I explained, embarrassed, before getting back in car and heading back up Harbour Drive to the real location of the restaurant, where my friend was patiently waiting. Okay, my excuse is that it's 10 years since I've lived there and the old memory isn't what it used to be!

After that we explored the city centre, and had our astrology charts done at a little alternative shop - the same one where I had my belly button pierced years ago. What I didn't expect was that the astrologist would plug our birthdates and places into a computer, and analyse the charts produced. I guess it beats the old days where you sent your info off and then waited a fortnight for the results! It was just an interesting juxtaposition of technology with the arcane. He recorded the sessions onto a CD, too, so that we could take them with us. I'm going to transcribe mine this weekend as there were a lot of dates mentioned.

Later in the afternoon we headed back down to the jetty, bought icecreams then took a stroll along the breakwater to Muttonbird Island.



Muttonbird Island, taken from the headland on the southern end of Jetty Beach:

You can just make out the masts of the boats in the harbour marina.

The marina, looking back from Muttonbird Island:



And this is why we got soaking wet on our walk along the breakwall!



Looking south from the island, across Boambee Beach:



And looking back to Jetty Beach, with the sun gilding the water:

There's a breakwall on the seaward side of the harbour, too, resulting in a very calm surf at Jetty Beach. It's a good beach for families with young kids.

The path up Muttonbird Island is really steep but for the first time ever I made it all the way without having to stop for breath. Which could have something to do with the fact that it's the first time I've done it as a non-smoker (13 years this month!).


Took the opportunity to take a photo of the Deep Sea Fishing Club, which sits on the Boambee headland opposite, and where we later went for dinner:



Up, over the top and down the other side, to the easternmost point:



We were hungry after the trek up and back, so we drove around to the Fishing Club for dinner. By the time we came out it was full night, although the full moon stopped it from being totally dark. It also cast a silver path across the sea that was truly stunning. I tried to capture it but didn't do a good job - shutter stayed open for a couple of seconds and it was blowing a gale on the headland, making it hard to keep the camera steady. Still, it made for an interesting effect with the taillights of a car at the bottom.



Last little bit tomorrow night, it's already past my bedtime. :-)