December 4. Day 339. Sandy Claus

Days like today where the mercury is going to be up around the 40 degrees mark, any Queenslander with the opportunity and the brains seeks out the beach.
We love a bit of sand. We love lying on the sand, we love burying ourselves (or our nearest and dearest) in sand and we love building a sand castle. And of course we love diving and washing it all off.
By 9am this morning the crowds were already gathering at the city beach at South Bank and the action on the sand was hotting up (figuratively and literally).
Just metres away behind a barricade near the Surf Club there was mega sand castle building going on.
A team of sand artists was hard at work building one of the most amazing sand creations I have ever seen. It doesn't get much more Aussie Christmas than this.
I only hope that when they were done for the day they got to join the amateur sand artists for a dip.

October 7. Day 281. Bombs away

The calendar might still have summer a couple of months away. The thermometer says otherwise. Once the mercury passes the 30 degrees mark it is officially pool weather and today was the ceremonial opening of the 2012/2013 swim season.
Some of us (that would be me) likes to sneak into the water gradually acclimatising each little bit before eventually immersing myself in the water. I am officially a sooky la, la.
The boys take a rather different approach. Here is Charles in action. Mr O might as well laugh because he was about to be swamped by his Dad and the take no prisoners approach to pool entry.
Might as well make the most of it. Isn't it always the way that the heat arrives the day before school goes back?
Roll on Christmas holidays.