Even though last week’s trip to Bondi beach for the annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibit was a tad grey, rainy, windy, muddy and just generally bad weather for beach going, I was certainly not disheartened.  I think with two trips to the beach this weekend, I more than made up for a little spring rain.

On Saturday we took a recommendation from one of the well tanned Cobblers Beach goers and decided to head to a northern beach.  The general consensus of most Sydneysiders is that north is the way to go for the “nice” beaches.  They all seem pretty nice to me, but it is true that heading north gets you longer stretches of undisturbed sand, and beachside cliffs that aren’t built up with condos.  Even though it took one train and two buses to get there, Dee Why beach was worth the trip.  Yes, it’s called Dee Why, but that is not at all unusual when you consider the names of so many other things Australian.  It must mean something and it sure is easy to remember.

The lengthy stretch of sand was occupied by many sunbathers, surfers and even a rowing competition, but there was still plenty of room for us.  But what I enjoyed the most was not relaxing on the sand, or even watching the shirtless rowing teams, but walking through the tide pools that were just a few steps away from the rock pool full of boisterous children.  You wouldn’t think that on such an active beach, accessible tide pools would be teaming with life, but these were so full of countless clams, snails, crabs, urchins, anemones, fish and seaweeds of various shapes and sizes that it was practically an aquarium.

Today we went to Balmoral Beach, a beautiful family friendly beach in a posh part of the northern Sydney harbor.  We arrived early for our stand up paddle surfing lesson.  I first saw a paddle surfer in Hawaii, gliding gently through calm waters under a beautiful sunset.  Since I’ve always had what I call a healthy fear of water, this meditative form of surfing seemed like the perfect one for me.  It is somehow both easier and harder than it looks.

Paddling forward, turning and even standing up on the board is fairly easy, but within a few minutes you find your knees wobbling and feet cramping under the stress of constantly micro-adjusting against every twitch the board makes in the wind and waves.  You discover after a few dunks into the water (which was a very friendly temperature today) that you don’t actually need to do this.  Flotation devices are very good and staying afloat and human beings are actually quite good at balancing on two feet.  After all, we do it every day.

I now have odd cramps in my ankles, a bit of rash from belly crawling onto the board, my sinuses have been cleaned out a few times with fresh ocean water and I have one or two crispy spots where the sunscreen wore a little thin, but I do plan to go back and see if I can master a few more waves.