Emu Beach, Albany Western Australia

Clean and Pristine, how all beaches should be.

Sorry I haven’t been on here for a while Beachcombers – it’s been raining.

We did take a short trip down to beautiful Albany though and surprisingly enough (Albany is known for it’s rain) we had two fantastic sunny days right in the middle of winter. Ever the optimist I did book our chalet right on the beach, and as the weather was perfect we went for our 30 minute Beachcombing Australia walk.

Here’s where it get’s even better – there was absolutely no rubbish to pick up! I just want to applaud Albany in Western Australia for it’s clean beach. It is a rare sight these days. Plenty of seaweed – but that’s natural.

So to the people of Albany, Western Australia – Keep up the Fantastic Effort! And a special thankyou to the lovely staff at Emu Beach Chalets, we will be sure to stay again.

After the Storm

I went to Quinns Beach last Sunday after our huge storm here in Perth. It reminded me of Melbourne beaches the way the seaweed had built a wall between us and the sea.

No treasure again folks but two full bags of rubbish. I forgot my camera on that day so went back again with my friend Pamela and her kids the next day to take some photos.

This is all the seaweed on our lovely beach. I can’t imagine going in there for a swim now !

 

There were lot’s of Sea Sponges dead and washed up on the shore. It’s so sad but at least for once it was nature and not us causing the chaos.

Jindalee Beach – 04/06/2012

Not much to report today beachcombers. No treasure at all.

But plenty of trash. Obviously the boofheads of this world found our beautiful beach over the weekend and had a party there. We picked up almost three bags of Canadian Club and Corona bottles.

If you’re going to party clean up your own mess!

Jindalee Beach – 28/05/2012

Well today we went to a different beach. It’s a new one around Jindalee with a beautiful new wooden staircase leading down to it. There’s a cafe being built up at the top which due to my caffeine addiction I can’t wait for. Although I must admit I do have mixed feelings about it.

You see, when we got down to the beach there was hardly any rubbish. It was wonderful! I honestly picked up less than half a bag. As much as I look forward to the cafe I am worried it will lead to tonnes of thoughtless people littering this gorgeous beach.

And as for treasure we found  a little sand castle mould with my son’s idol Lightning McQueen on it – He was chuffed.

At least someone in our family is really happy with our treasure finds!

The Family Trip – Claytons Beach

Still deciding it’s future…

This time I was successful in getting my hubby to come along too. I was so happy as another pair of eye’s meant more chance of finding something great.

We walked up in a pretty non eventful way and just before turning around
I found buried deep in the sand a boys size 16 shirt. It was QuickSilver and in pretty good nick considering it was obviously there a long time. I have a thing for surfwear – it makes up the majority of my wardrobe. But it’s expensive so if it fits I’m keeping it! I shook off what sand I could and put it in a plastic bag before placing it into the treasure tote. Turns out I didn’t need to as we didn’t find anything else. So far it’s had three washes and is still sandy so I can’t decide what to do with it.

Halfway back hubby came up to me saying ‘I just found the jackpot’. I thought he meant treasure. Turns out he had found a hypodermic needle. Why is that so great? Because it means we could get rid of it before (hopefully) anyone gets hurt by it. People leaving those things around make me insanely angry. I now only go to parks that have the rubber ground stuff instead of the sand for that very reason. Just a couple of weeks ago in the paper there was a story about a three-year old girl who stepped on one in a park in Wanneroo. I can’t imagine the trauma this poor family is going through right now.

Just as we were leaving I looked near the rocks by the stairs you climb to leave. I thought I had found another awesome shirt but to my surprise when I picked it up some car keys dropped out. I couldn’t believe it as we go on Monday mornings and usually just like on this occasion don’t see anyone. I looked out to sea and could see two surfers looking at me. I waved and put the shirt (and keys) back nicely – I hope they don’t think I was trying to rob them! Maybe I should have some little cards made up saying “I’m sorry I disturbed your stuff I thought it was discarded, yours sincerely good-natured beachcomber”….

Second Trip – Quinns Beach

This trip was excellent. For starters, I found a five cent piece at the bottom of the stairs to the beach. My first real money treasure!

Ok it’s not much – but when you have a family and a mortgage and are saving every penny even the little wins mean something.

This time I bought a bigger rubbish bag. Once again I didn’t start picking any up until the trip back. I figured our walk should stick to these rules:

• Short walk, 15 minutes up and 15 minutes back.
• Never pick up rubbish on the way up, you’ll just be carrying it longer.
• Have a minimum 2 plastic bags and one ‘treasure tote’ bag. One bag for rubbish and one bag to wrap treasure that’s a little manky.
• Be discerning about what we decide treasure is, if it can’t be re-used, recycled, sold or donated it’s trash.
• My son doesn’t pick up anything – trash or treasure he points and calls out to me.

On this trip we found a huge amount of drink cans. I pulled the ring pull off of each one as we have a jar at home we give to the scouts for their wheelchair making drive and then put the cans in the trash. Once I remember to by myself one of those big striped canvas bags and a can crusher I’ll start having a separate bag for the cans so I can cash them in. Until then it’s trash can fodder.

At the end of this trip all I ended up with is the five cent piece. Still went straight into the money jar though.

Our First Trip – Quinns Beach

Well our first trip to the beach here was interesting. For starters, it turns out that my son is pretrified of the waves. Most of out walk was me carrying him promising him he is ok.

I was thoroughly disappointed to see the amount of rubbish everywere we looked.

About half-way through our walk I noticed some plastic bags tied to the fence. Knowing it’s a dog friendly beach I figured it’s a reminder to pick up your doggy’s poo.

That’s when I had the idea. Instead of teaching my son the fun game of looking for treaasure, I should be teaching him the responsible game of cleaning up our environment.

I grabbed one of the bags and continued our walk. Once we got to the point of turnaround (15 minutes in) we turned around and I started picking up the rubbish on the way back. I filled an entire rubbish bag by the time we were half-way back.

Near the end of the walk my son found this Seahorse Mould – He was stoked! For a two year old a simple mould like this to make pretty things in sand is enough. Maybe next time we’ll find more.

Our first find.