Blown off!

22 October 2006, Sunday - North Stradebroke Island

We started bright and early on Sunday, and arrived at Cleveland's jetty in 3 separate cars. But we squeezed into 1 Toyota Prado which Leo droved and parked on the ferry. Once the car is lined up like toys on the ferry, we went up to the second deck to catch some sea breeze.

The sea breeze was more like a typhoon! We nearly got blown off the deck!












We couldn't stand the "assault" for long so we "took shelter" in the ferry's second deck for some tea and coffee. Though the ferry was fairly large, the "breeze" caused some real havoc in the seas. The ship was rocking like a cradle! Lucky for us, good conversations took our mind away from the swaying...









After a rocky 45 minutes ride, we arrived at North Straddie. First stop, Cylinder Beach - to check out if we could take a dip in the ocean. The fine sand, the blue sea and clear sky was so inviting! But we were put off by the gusty winds, the choppy sea and cold water.












Though we were put off, a lot of people aren't. Quite a number of gutsy youths braved the cold water to surf waves. The only difficult part is getting to the waves. There's also a couple of brave uncles who stood on the rocks to cast their lines into the sea.












After more than half hour's walk, we decided to get some morning tea. We drove to a lookout and brought out our home-made goodies. There were chicken wings, braised eggs and raspberry cake.












Next stop, Main Beach. We tried walking out near to the edge of a cliff, but we took several steps back to avoid being blown off the cliff. Taking pictures in this windy condition is challenging to both the photographer as well as the photographee... keeping our hair in place for a pretty pose is quite impossible.
























After getting blown left right and centre, we decided to hide and tame our hair. Our grumbling stomachs drove us in search of Straddie's fresh seafood. We wanted to get some oysters and prawns, however the shells were all sold out so we were left with prawns to go with our fried rice.









We found a "calmer" spot to have our lunch. After fulfilling our stomachs, we couldn't resist the paper tree's invitation to "lounge" on it's wide spread branches. To lounge on its branches requires certain level of skills and nimbleness. But, all of us passed the test and have soon climbed up the tree like monkeys.


















We also decided to relive our childhood days and try our hands at the playground.












We also tried to be a gymnast....












a can-can dancer....












and a treasure seeker...









We came back to Main Beach to explore further. It was another cliff and this time, we really got blown off... Esmond's cap (actually, the cap belonged to David) was blown off, down into a deep descending cliff, never to return... (sorry David!)












Last stop, pipis picking. Leo drove the 4WD down to the beach, all the while searching for "puffed up shadow" - signs of pipi activities under the sand. And we were not disappointed. A small area "produced" more than 5 kilos of free fresh live pipis. We packed them in a bag and drove towards the jetty, waiting for the ferry to bring us back to the "mainland".












It was one hour before the ferry arrives, so Leo decided to "fly" his model plane while Esmond, Rachel and ML decided to get some desserts for everyone.

We not only came back with ice creams, we also came back with a dog! This dog followed us and even raced us to the jetty! Halfway up, it saw a tap and hinted that it wanted a drink. After lapping up and quenching its thirst, the race continues...












Finally, the ferry arrives and brought us back to the mainland, signally the end of our second family outing.