A perfect holiday

 As a birthday gift to myself I recently had a holiday at my favourite place, Caloundra on the beautiful Sunshine Coast. A classmate and I had planned a class reunion while there as most of us had left school 60 years ago and many of them had retired to the coast. 

One of the beautiful features in the main street.

I had heard on the news about the fact that the ocean had broken through the uninhabited part of Bribie Island so it was interesting to view the aftermath. As 40,000 or so people had moved to the area from the southern states there were only four units available at Bulcock Beach where we usually stay and we ended up staying in a unit across from Happy Valley where we could see the ocean from our front window…only there was hardly any water 😳 Further down the Esplanade I used to look over at Bribie Island and think that I could swim there as it seemed so close but now you can actually walk over from Happy Valley as you can see in the above photo. So much sand has been dumped there that boats are no longer able to go out to sea and fishermen have to go elsewhere to fish.

To get a better view of the results of the breakthrough (click on the link to see the changes) on Bribie Island we took a cruise from Pelican Waters to see the damage up close. I believe the ocean has now broken through an area of about 1000 metres and there are trees everywhere that used to live on the land. It is amazing the changes that a couple of cyclones have made.  

Another change I noticed since my last visit to Caloundra in 2018 was the fact that I didn't see as many seagulls as I usually did ...

...as they seem to have been replaces by ibises which I believe are also called 'bin chickens'. 

I took an early morning walk along the Esplanade each morning and already the Council workers were busy emptying the bins, washing down the pathways and working on the sand to get rid of any nasties such as syringes. 

On the weekend a few enthusiastic rowers did some racing in their boats. I am not sure what they are called. They couldn't go too far as the sand behind them stopped them from going out to sea. 

This is what the Pumistone Passage looked like at 6.30am most mornings. So tranquil. We used to stay in one of the units in the photo which were right on the water but the unit has now been sold and is no longer a holiday rental. I think that is the case with lots of holiday rentals unfortunately. 

My classmate and I got on well and she read a lot while I took several walks each day. Our class reunion was very enjoyable and it is always interesting to see how we all have aged as we are in our mid seventies now. I thought the reunion would be our last but the others want to keep going so we will see what the future holds. 

All in all it was a perfect holiday.