Spring beach walk

After a long, cold and wet winter, spring has arrived! And, contrary to what you normally see in the Netherlands, the weather agrees with the dates on the calendar. – Well, at least if you think of it in terms of the infamous Melbourne Weather, which changes from one minute to the next.

Making the most of this change, Willemijn and I decided to make use of the sunshine together, and to go for a walk along the beach in Beaumaris.

After we had dropped the kids at their Saturday morning Dutch lesson, we went on down to the beach, or rather to Beach Road. Parking the car we did the Melbournian thing and got ourselves a nice cup of coffee from a local cafe before heading out on our walk.

Crossing the street we had to watch out for all the cyclists who use this road for their Saturday morning activities. Beach Road is one of the most famous bike routes here in Melbourne, and there are hundreds of bikers. Some of the alone, most in small groups, all of them enjoying this picturesque and relatively flat (for Melbourne standards) piece of road.

But this stretch of beach front not only attracts the two-wheelers. It’s also popular among strollers, joggers, runners and dog-walkers. (I should know. I have run on this road a few times myself.)

The road is a few meters above the beach and covered with bushes and trees, with footpaths winding their way through them. Once in a while you get a quick glimpse of the waters below.

Luckily the vegetation is so dense that once you leave the road behind, you quickly forget that you are more or less still in the middle of the city. It’s almost like a short vacation.

The beach itself is rather segmented and not very large. This is not the spot where you would find your typical sun-bathers and beach-volleyballers. This is for the walkers and the sailors. And all the nicer for it.

All in all we spent an hour and a half out in the sunshine. Where we started with winter jackets (mostly due to the cold wind), we ended almost in T-shirts.

…and with big smiles on our faces. Spring is finally here!