Tag Archives: beach

Wednesday Wander – Praia da Falesia, Portugal

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So, where have I wandered to today? You might be forgiven for thinking these are the red sands of outback Australia or the Arizona desert, or even some sort of Martian landscape. In fact, I’m only a couple of hours (by plane) from home this week – this is Praia Da Falesia on the Algarve, Portugal.

Praia Da Falesia is one of the longest beaches in Portugal, stretching over six kilometres from Vilamoura in the west to Olhos de Agua in the east. Falesia means ‘cliff’ in Portuguese, and these wind and water sculpted shapes are a dramatic backdrop to blue water and sunbathing.

The Algarve has been attracting travellers for millennia, with Roman and Moorish ruins along the coast testament to the civilisations who came and went. It’s the southernmost region of continental Portugal and the name Algarve comes from the Arabic Gharb Al-Andalus, which denotes its position west of the Iberian Peninsula.

The sands really are those magnificent shades of orange, ranging from almost cream to dark umber, brilliant against the blue sky. The photos almost don’t do the colours justice – it was breathtaking to see for the first time. We spent several days on the beach collecting shells, swimming and relaxing, our hotel just a short walk away. Portugal was a place of orange blossom and warmth, delicious seafood and friendly people, and history stretching back for thousands of years. I loved it, and look forward to going back for another visit one day.

Thanks for coming on another Wednesday Wander with me – see you next time!

If you enjoyed this post and want to read more, you can find me on Twitter @AuthorHelenJ,  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Plus my latest book release, A Thousand Rooms, is now available on Amazon. Visit my Amazon Author Page to see more.

 

 

Wednesday Wander – Sanur, Bali

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sanurThe winter weather has been pretty cold and dismal of late, so I thought I’d wander to an island paradise, at least in spirit. This is Sanur, on the Indonesian island of Bali.

Sanur is located on the opposite side of the island from busy Kuta and, as I remember it, is a much more relaxed sort of place. The beaches are long, the water shimmering, the view one of purple mountains and a cloud-hung volcano. We didn’t stay at Sanur – rather, we were staying in another part of the island but, on the day we visited, red-sailed boats dotted the water, the sun shone, and the wind off the water was warm.

Apart from being Bali’s oldest beach resort area, Sanur is also home to the oldest Balinese artifact, a pillar in the Blanjong Temple inscribed with the story of a Javanese king who visited the island in the tenth century. I didn’t get to see the temple, but plan to visit next time I’m lucky enough to wander to this lush green island.

balinese-figure-1Thanks for coming on another Wednesday Wander with me – see you next time!

If you enjoyed this post and want to read more, you can find me on Twitter @AuthorHelenJ,  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Plus my latest book release, A Thousand Rooms, is now available on Amazon.

30 Day Writing Challenge – Day Twenty One – Everybody (also, A Wednesday Wander)

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It’s day twenty one of the 30 Day Writing Challenge, and today’s prompt is: Everybody.

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The beach near my old house in Australia

It’s also Wednesday, which means I’ll be taking a wander. However, in line with the prompt, this wander will be slightly different in that I’ll be trying to answer a question that just about everybody asks me, once they hear I’ve moved back to England from Australia. And the question is: Why did I leave Australia to come back here?

The short answer is: because my husband’s work brought us over here. But there is more to it than that.

Melbourne and the Yarra River

Melbourne and the Yarra River

In the UK, Australia seems to be sold as a sort of dream destination, an island paradise with white beaches and blue water and a cruisy outdoor lifestyle, where wages are double or almost triple that for the same job in the UK. The people look the same, speak the same language, the cities are comfortably cosmopolitan and it’s just sun, sun, sun all year round. People cannot believe I would leave such a place to come to a small green island that, according to some, gets more than its fair share of rain.

A beach in Wales I used to visit as a child

A beach in Wales I used to visit as a child.

Don’t get me wrong – Australia is a fantastic place. I lived there for seventeen years. My husband is Australian. Our daughter was born there. I have a great deal of love for and fond memories of both Melbourne and Sydney, as well as all the other places I visited. It’s a beautiful country and a lot of people who I love live there.

London

London

Yet, there was always a part of me that longed for mist and green grass and ancient buildings. For cold Christmases and tiny villages, rain-soaked high streets and cool mountains. A part of me that never quite felt at home among the brilliant sunshine and blue water. I remember coming back for a visit to the UK just over nine years ago. We were flying over the coast heading towards London and I looked out of the airplane window. The sun was just rising and I could see the Thames like a silver ribbon, winding inland. My husband leaned over to look out as well, then said to me, ‘How does it feel, coming back here?’ I watched the green landscape unfold beneath us and said, ‘Like coming home.’

If you enjoyed this post, you can find me on Twitter @AuthorHelenJ,  Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Plus my latest book release, A Thousand Rooms, is now available on Amazon.

 

 

Wednesday Wander – Manyana Beach

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manana-2My wander this week is to Manyana Beach, on the NSW coast south of Sydney, Australia.

I visited Manyana many years ago with my now-husband. I think I’ve mentioned before that he’s Australian, and likes to surf. On this particular trip we were driving north from Melbourne to Sydney, a drive that takes seven hours or so if you head straight up the Hume Highway inland, or one or two days, depending how often you stop, along the winding coast road.

At the time we were living in Sydney, and had been in Melbourne for Christmas with his family. We’d decided to drive back up to Sydney in time for New Year’s Eve so set off a couple of days before. For some reason, even though we knew it was high summer, school holidays and the magic week between Christmas and New Year that pretty much everyone has off work, we didn’t book any accommodation, confident that we’d be able to find somewhere in the many towns and hotels along the route.

Haha. We spent our first night on the road sleeping in our car, parked in a grocery story car park near the beach. It wasn’t the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had, especially when we were entertained by the local youth frolicking nearby, one girl squealing ‘I’m in a trolley!’ as they clattered past the car around 4am. Still, we were younger then so, after an early morning dip in the ocean, we hit the road once more, although with firm instructions (from me) that we were to find somewhere nice to stay that night.

And we did. The last remaining room in a small bed and breakfast, patio doors looking across a paddock lined with gum trees, curious horses wandering up to have their noses scratched over the wire fence. A place where the friendly owners told us about the time they swam with whales as they fed us an excellent home-cooked breakfast. To say it was a step up from the previous night’s accommodation would be an understatement.

And then we went to Manyana. I sat on the sand with my book and parasol, while hubby-to-be surfed the blue waves. It was idyllic, the beach almost deserted, the weather splendid. We left in the afternoon and headed north, arriving in Sydney that evening. I can still remember driving over the Harbour Bridge as the sun was setting, relieved to be almost home.

manana-1And now I sit in a different home, halfway across the world, writing my Wednesday Wanders. Thanks for coming with me – see you next time.

#BlogBattle – Coconut – Blast From The Past

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IMG_2039It’s that time of week again, when bloggers across the web post their response to Rachael Ritchey’s Blog Battle. This week, the prompt is ‘coconut’, and I had grand dreams and a wisp of a story about being at the beach, with the song ‘She’s Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts’ floating around in my head. However, a snot monster has also taken up residence in my head, leaving me down for the count when it comes to anything imaginative, so the story has come to nothing as yet. But I didn’t want to let another week go by without at least trying to participate, so here’s a passage from my latest book, Hills And Valleys, which in some ways is similar to what I was trying to come up with.

The story so far: Our heroine, Alma, after a tragedy in the otherworld of Ambeth, has come to her grandmother’s house in Wales for the summer, hoping to recuperate and forget all about Ambeth. But Ambeth, it seems, has not forgotten about her, a display at her local library holding an unwelcome surprise…

She shook her head, running her finger across the row of plastic-covered book spines, scanning the titles. Selecting a couple that looked interesting, she tucked them under her arm and moved around to the other side of the shelf, squinting a little in the bright sunlight coming through the long glass window. There wasn’t much there – just some large print books and a selection of encyclopaedias. Oh, well. As she wandered across to the other shelves, her attention was caught by a display on a concertina-style board in the middle of the room. The heading announced ‘150 years of Entertainment’, while underneath in smaller letters it read ‘Courtesy of the Historical Society.’ Intrigued, she stopped to have a look.

Black and white photographs and old concert programs were pinned on the board, along with informative captions typed on small pieces of paper. Alma tilted her head to read the faded playbills, amused by the variety of shows on offer. She was particularly taken by a poster for a visiting circus complete with elephant and the accompanying photo of the animal on the beach with a crowd gathered around, the castle looming high in the background. She moved along to a set of street scenes, amazed to see how similar the town looked then to how it was now. The shingled beach was the same, too, though fashions had changed in the intervening years. Alma shook her head, wondering how anyone could swim in knee-length knickerbockers and a long-sleeved top. On the beach were vendors and sideshows, young men trying to knock coconuts off precarious looking stands and young women lined up for beauty contests, smiling, their eyes creased against the bright sun. There were also photos of the old theatre, the stage hung with velvet curtains, women in corseted gowns and men in striped blazers caught mid-song – Alma could almost hear their voices coming through the years. Walking around to the other side of the board, Alma was taken by a series of photographs showing dances held at the Town Hall. She admired the dresses, the men in their suits. Then she blinked, feeling as though she were going to black out.

For there, smiling in black and white, was Gwenene. The photo showed her arm in arm with a dark-haired man, looking into the camera. Her dark hair was pinned up and she was dressed in a knee-length beaded dress, but nonetheless it was her. Alma would never forget her beautiful face, or the way the Dark Elder had threatened her in the Great Hall. Her vision blurred and she started to shake. Rubbing her eyes, she leaned in to read the small paper tag under the picture. ‘Prof. Llewellyn Davies and friend at the Christmas Social, 1927’ the legend read. Alma gasped. So this was the professor – Caleb had been right about Gwenene as well. Her eyes filled with tears. She dashed them away, studying the picture. Davies was smiling widely, looking at Gwenene as though he couldn’t believe his luck. Alma felt sick. No matter where she turned, no matter what she did, it seemed Ambeth was calling her. First her father, now this. Swallowing hard, she shook so much that she dropped the books tucked under her arm, the thud as they hit the floor jolting her back to reality. As she gathered them up, she looked around and saw the librarian looking at her disapprovingly. She mouthed ‘Sorry,’ before putting them carefully on a nearby table. Then, on legs that were barely holding her upright, she left the library and its photos behind, her mind frantic with the shock of what she had just seen.

And, th-th-th that’s all for now, folks! Thanks for reading x

 

Wednesday Wander – Breakfast on the Beach

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It’s been a busy week. Lots of different things going on at home, at work and in the dojo. All good things, just things that took preparation and focus and time. So I haven’t really done much writing at all these past few days, other than a few blog comments here and there. Today is the first time in a while I’ve sat down with the express purpose of writing.

And I need to write. Because I, in a moment of masochism, signed up once more to do Camp NaNoWriMo. I’m back in the world of Silver and Black, working on fleshing out more of my vampire novel. And it’s turning out to be an interesting world. Set very slightly in the future, and quite different than the one we have now. Different for humans, that is. So I’m keen to head back there and get some more words on the page.

But, as I say, it’s been a busy week. So, for my Wednesday Wander, I’m going to take a very short vacation, and invite you all to join me for breakfast on the beach in Bali. I took this photo the last time I was there, while sitting on our hotel terrace eating breakfast. To me, it seems to sum up all that is wonderful about a holiday. I can hear the ocean and feel the warm breeze every time I look at it. So please, won’t you join me? Pull up a chair, place your order, and relax.

Breakfast in Bali

What more is there to say, really?

Thank you for joining me on a slightly different Wednesday Wander this week – see you next time!

 

Wednesday Wander – Surfers Paradise, Australia

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It’s the destination. The place that all the tourists know, heading north from the cool chic of Sydney to a place where gleaming towers line a golden beach, blue waves rolling in. In this shot, taken a little bit further along the coast, Surfers Paradise shimmers like some mythical Oz on the horizon, a place of light and dream.

The first time I went to Surfers was for a friend’s wedding (and that’s a whole other blog post in itself). We (hubby and I) rented an apartment on the 35th floor of what was, at the time, one of the tallest buildings there. The apartment was straight out of The Golden Girls, with rattan furniture and palm leaf prints, shell sculptures hanging on the walls. There was also a huge terrace with views on three sides, and a dizzying drop to the beach below.

Surfers Paradise

When I was younger, my great-aunt used to live in Florida, and we went to visit her several times in her condo near St Petersburg. Surfers Paradise felt so similar in every way that I had to stop myself several times and remind myself that I was not, in fact, in Florida. But the streets, the architecture, the palms and blue water, were just the same. And yet… Australia has a flavour all its own – if you’ve been there, you’ll know what I mean.

Thanks for coming on another Wednesday Wander with me – see you next time!

Wednesday Wander – Aughris House, Sligo

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This is the Beach House at Aughris, Ireland, an ancient pub and B&B that happens to serve very fine meals. Sitting on the curve of a silvery bay, it looks across the shifting sands to mountains and the burial cairn of a legendary queen, while the stones on the beach contain fossils even older still, treasure for small hands to find.

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There is not much in the way of so-called civilisation to be seen in these parts – just a few other houses behind the dunes, cattle calling in the evergreen fields. Yet not far away is a burial ground that predates the pyramids, vast stones levered into place to mark and protect the dead by a culture long gone.

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The streams run clear and cool from the misty mountains to the edge of the Atlantic, the ocean stretching West to new lands. And the evening brings warmth, music and good food to be had, with a place by the roaring fire.

Thank you for joining me on another Wednesday Wander – see you next time!

Wednesday Wander – Magens Bay, St Thomas

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Magens Bay

This is Magens Bay, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Often appearing on lists of the top beaches in the world, this small slice of Caribbean heaven is reputed to be the place where Sir Francis Drake anchored while waiting for ships to plunder.

Nowadays, it’s a popular destination for tourist and locals on the island. It’s also the place where Edward and Bella filmed some of their honeymoon scenes in Breaking Dawn Part 1.

The Caribbean, for all its beauty, has always struck me as being a place filled with stories, not all of them pleasant. From pirates to vampires, this curve of sand and sea is no exception, its rippling blue waves holding secrets to be told.

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Thanks for coming on another Wednesday Wander with me – see you all next time!

Wednesday Wander – London Bridge, Portsea

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London Bridge

No, it’s not the London Bridge you might be thinking of. This is a rock formation called London Bridge, at Portsea back beach just outside Melbourne, Australia. There used to be another arch of rock stretching into the ocean, hence the name, but it collapsed quite suddenly, leaving only two remaining.

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It’s a wonderful place to look for sea glass and shells, or mermaid jewels, as we used to call them. The vast rock pool next to it is calm and warm, perfect for days when the surf is too rough or the swimmers too small. The surf pounds hard on the southern Australian coast, the water much colder than you would think, and it shapes the rocks into towers and caverns and sculptures, magical to explore.

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For quite a few years this was my back yard, the beach just a short walk from home, cool sea mists wreathing the ti-tree and moonah. I miss the sound of waves at night, the smell of salt in the air. And so this week I chose to wander back there again – thanks for coming along with me.