Sawtell Beach Gems

Well, I guess the universe is trying to teach me something about my whole trip-planning mode; today was a lesson in letting go, and I'm listening. We had loosely planned this whole road trip around being in Bongil Bongil National Park at a certain date and time to attend an award-winning tour about Aboriginal weapons and bush tucker.  We pulled into the park and waited with a number of other people, but the ranger guide never showed.  Although I was bummed because I had really been looking forward to this activity, the rest of our day ended up being so enjoyable I can't muster up any complaints.

Once almost an hour had passed and it was clear there was no chance of the ranger's appearance, we made the 5 minute drive into the cute little town of Sawtell and had a quick picnic lunch before heading to the beach.

Not a bad Plan B on a whim.

someone was excited to be at the beach...

we spotted lots of these teeny little jellyfish globules in the sand

pretty coral covered rock

Tidepools are an endless supply of wonderment, and today was no exception.

Sam found this awesome banjo shark

hey little crab!

eagle-eye Alex spotted this octopus, and we also got to see it squirt ink!

But the real highlight for me?  These AMAZING starfish that looked as if they are adorned with batiked Celtic knots.

Honestly, have you ever seen such gorgeous sealife??  They were all over the place, and each one had a different color scheme.  So lovely.

Sawtell Beach reminded me a lot of my all-time favorite beach at Yuraygir National Park, especially with the crabs that come up from holes and push out these perfectly round little balls of sand.

And on the walk back, I caught a sweet moment of brotherly love between Jackson and Alex...

...and caught Kenyon during a rousing game of Fall in the Sand While Stomping Through the Steep Parts

We stopped for a long time and chatted with a father and son, learning as we watched them capture sandworms to use as bait.

The father dragged a bag of fish parts back and forth over very shallow water to attract the worms just beyond...

The son's trained eye would spot the little feelers of the worm coming up through the sand, and he reached down to hold a little piece of fish directly above it...

And voila!  Sand worm.

This is a fine art, and was far harder than it looked--the boys and Sam tried repeatedly, even with finding a worm and having their fingers right on it, but were never successful.

And me?  I stayed on the chatting/photographing end of things, not wanting the knowledge that these massive worms live right under the sand in the very area that had only very recently been deemed tied for the esteemed award of Annie's Favorite Beach.

Epic, epic day, despite that darn ranger being a no-show.  Now I need to start researching the logistics involved with constructing a wall-length batik starfish aquarium back home in Denver...