Turquoise Bay, Western Australia

I’m home and taking a couple of hours off before I leave again.  I seem to have missed some lovely prompt words while I was away.  I hope it’s okay to make belated contributions to prompts!

I love visiting Exmouth, some 1200 km north of Perth.  I feel relaxed when I’m there, even when I visit for work so I always promise myself I’ll return for a holiday (vacation).  But whenever I have visited Exmouth, something seems to go wrong before my visit, frequently enough for me to think I’m jinxed!

This time I dared not say where I was going, I just wanted to be there.  Despite my silence, the run up to the trip was fraught with managing someone’s crisis, big enough for me to escalate it to another two levels.  I should have been relaxed it was now being managed by someone else, but no, the aftermath was just as stressful.  I sat at the airport with a coffee, unable to write, observe those around me with interest, or even drink my coffee.  I sat with head in hands, feeling utterly spent.  I knew where I had been in the last few hours and I dared not anticipate where I was going.

I got to Exmouth and the check in was a nightmare with Receptionist making mistake after mistake in her paperwork.  Half an hour later, I dumped my bags and knew I had to get to Turquoise Bay and leave it all behind.Turquoise Bay is one of the three most beautiful bays in Australia.  Who can argue with the rating?  Within seconds, the world fell away and I was in the moment.
The Bay itself is serene and great for snorkeling but in the distance, huge waves crashed loud enough for beach goers to look over their shoulders.  The waves never seemed to reach the beach.  It summed up everything I had been through in the preceding three days.
At my feet I focused on tiny things like this crab.  It flew past my feet like a fleeting thought that made me second guess what I had seen.  It burrowed itself with incredible speed and I could only see it with the zoom.
In the scrub along the beach were tiny flowers, a burst of colour competing with this magnificent place.
And, tiny sprigs here and there that were exquisite in size and beauty.
As I drove out of the car park I noticed someone had left a shell.  A little momento, for others to know they were there.I drove through the national park when I saw the last rays of light captured in a small tree.  At 80 km/hour, I saw it!  I pulled up with camera in hand.  The detail in the leaves was beautiful.  A few minutes later a Kombi van pulled up behind me.  Two young European backpackers greeted me.  They said they noticed the way I was standing and knew I had seen something worth seeing.  They were right.

I’ve returned with hundreds of photographs.  This was the end of the first six months of the year.  This morning I feel blessed and happy.  This was a break I so badly needed.  I am grateful for having a receptive spirit that is able to take these moments in instantly.  The joy of the moment has taken years of practice, but I got there in the end.  It has been worth every step of the journey.

As always

a dawn bird

In response to Word of the Day Challenge – Friday: Vacation