Paradise perhaps

Late yesterday afternoon Dave and I loaded the Girls up and headed out to the beach for some fishing, hiking, photographing, relaxing, romping and eating. I was excited because I finally got to take my new boots out for a spin. Don't laugh, it's not *that* sad!

Dora and MatildaLily were excited because, well, pretty much just because they're dogs


How spoiled are we? When we drove up there was - GASP - another car close by! We looked around but couldn't see the people who belonged to the car so decided to stay anyway. Yes, we truly considered going somewhere else. Tilly was worried that she wasn't getting out of the car RIGHT THIS SECOND, I mean, c'mon, we'd slowed down, we must be there!

I know, it's a luxury to have a beach to yourself - except here it feels more like a right :) At least if you're a local! Anyway, turns out that it was one of our friends out for a spear and he left very soon after we arrived. Happiness is having a beach to yourself as far as you can see.

While Dave got all his gear organized for fishing, the Girls and I headed off down the creekbed for the first time. Never could explore up beyond before as there are all sorts of pricklies, sharp rocks and other rough terrain that I didn't want to subject my bare feet to. Those days are gone, Baby! Now I have boots I can go anywhere. The dogs loved snuffling around in the new area, but Til's attention span is still pretty short so she turned around and trotted back to her dad after about 20 minutes. The sun was very bright and pretty hot once we got out of the breeze, so Dora and I took some time to smell the flowers before heading back to the beach

Back at the car I found Tilly in the back on their mat. She does this for no apparent reason every time we go somewhere. Just jumps in and hangs out for a few minutes before bolting out like the nutter she really is again

Dave tried to take the opportunity to have some quiet fishing time, but the dogs had to make sure he was OK out there

I really must remember to switch my camera to video mode next time as his gesticulations to try to shoo them away are pretty flippin' hilarious. I still don't understand why he doesn't want them helping, they're so quiet and calm

Eventually he gave up and walked his line back to shore. The fishing stuff was still out there, I guess, coz he went back out later to wind it back in. I don't really get the whole fishing thing so apologies if you have no idea what I'm talking about here



We came prepared to have dinner on the beach


and enjoyed sitting around, watching the Gulf

A beautiful hawk type bird landed just out in front of us for a few moments before winging away down the coast

Both Dora and MatildaLily become very well behaved around the bbq

Always so optimistically living in hope



Til thought she might have a better chance if she backed away a little bit

While Dora went with the Oh Look How Pitiful I Am approach

Neither gambit worked too well, so they resumed the ol' How Close Can We Get and How Hard Can We Stare Before We Get Told Off For Begging tactic



Tilly kept double checking to make sure she wasn't missing anything from Human 2

They both stayed vigilant, even during clean up - yes, those dark patches on my knees are from doggie slobber. A big reason why I don't wear good clothes when we go out with them...


Such a great way to end a busy day...