A day at the beach

Today is my last day here in Perth so I decided to spend it on the beach.   Perth boasts some of Australia's best beaches, many of which are ideal for swimming during the warmer months (i.e. now).  Perth's beaches are on the open ocean and there are several sections along the kilometres of coastline that are patrolled and/or have lifeguard stations. 

Perth's beaches are LOVELY, but a bit on the modest side.  You won't find Western Australia's biggest and best surf, most spectacular rock formations, or most colourful tropical fish in Perth, but you will find beautiful beaches in an elemental sun-sand-water sort of way.

I started my day at Scarborough Beach which is said to be one of the more "built up" sections of Perth's beaches.  There were a few more people here today than when I was here the other night for sunset but and really, "built up" here doesn't compare at all with Miami or the Gold Coast!!

After enjoying the ocean here for a little while I decided to go for a walk.  Part of the time I walked along the beach and part of the time I walked along a trail that has been built through the dunes that border all along the beach.  Dune regeneration is extremely important along this section of the beach and has been highly successful - in part because well marked pathways have been set up at very regular intervals in order to accommodate all the beach visitors.

After about 4 kms I thought it was time to stop walking and simply enjoy hanging out on the beach again.  Now I was at Floreat Beach.  It's a slightly 'quieter' beach than Scarborough Beach but it does have a lifeguard station which I wanted for when I went swimming again.

And now it's my last night in Perth and Susan is preparing me a wonderful meal of lamb and salads.  Tomorrow is a travel day for me and since there is only one flight per day direct from Perth to Canberra (and it comes with a lovely price tag too) I am on one of several flights that have a stop-over in either Adelaide, Melbourne or Sydney  I have a 2.5 hour stop-over in Adelaide, and combine that with the time changes and I will be spending the whole day travelling - leaving Perth at 8:00 am and arriving in Canberra at 6:30 pm.

Despite spending several hours at the beach today I didn't see any sharks or for that matter even hear the shark alarm go off (which I have to admit I was hoping would happen - without anyone being hurt of course!).  I just checked the shark alert website though and one was spotted just off one of the beaches where I was walking - but this morning instead of this afternoon (shucks).  Thankfully there haven't been any recent attacks on any Perth beaches but there has been a significant increase in sightings over the past few months.  And it's not just white pointers that are being spotted. There are hammerheads, tiger sharks and other species too.  Locals (and scientists) will tell you there's little doubt that there are more sharks of many species close to the coast.  No one can say for certain why this is happening but the idea about an ocean heatwave forcing sharks into cooler waters near the shore certainly sounds plausible.