Beaches, nudists and energy

What do all of the above have in common? They all featured as part of my looong weekend. We had a great time at the beach chilling out by the pool or walking on the beach. It was lovely to get away from the renovation for a weekend, even though we spent about half the time discussing ideas for our own spa and surrounds!

Around the same time last year, my parents went up to the unit for a week and we joined them for one weekend. Being close to Noosa, we always go there for half a day, to walk around the boutiques, eat gelati and enjoy the relatively calm beach. What makes Noosa beautiful is that it is set in a sheltered bay overlooked by a tree covered peninsula that rises to Noosa Hill. The area forms a part of Noosa National Park with unspoilt sandy bays that are a hit with surfers and accessed by a scenic track that winds its way around the headland to the best beach in the area, Alexandria Bay.

Last year after a tasty gelati and some window shopping my sister proposed walking around to Alexandria Bay, a walk that is neither long nor difficult. For some reason I got angry. The last thing I wanted to do was expend energy on a walk, so I got left behind reading a magazine while the rest of my family and husband walked. A year on I can’t explain why I got angry at the idea of walking, but I know that for a very long time I have felt sluggish and lethargic. It’s not that I wasn’t fit enough to walk but I just lacked the energy.

I always thought that I would be fit and healthy if I lived at the beach because there are so many fun ways to exercise by the sea. In retrospect, I could never muster the energy in the past to do much of anything while on holidays at the beach, so I was wondering wether my place of residence was just an excuse for my lack of exercise. Yesterday, I was bursting at the seams and in a good way! My energy never ran out and I was ready for more all day long. Which was a good thing, because talk about cross training! Cycling, walking in the National Park, laps in the pool, (attempting to) boogie board in the ocean, romantic walk after dinner along the beach, we just kept going all day and I have never felt so alive.

I know I’m turning into a walking advertisement for exercise and mostly my husband just looks at me and goes ‘duh you didn’t know that!?!’ But I have to confess that I didn’t. I know that regular exercise increases your energy levels. I know that regular exercise makes you feel better about your body. I know that regular exercise makes your body strong and fit. But apparently I don’t learn from knowledge but from experience. Now that I have felt the way I did yesterday there is no turning back.

So where do nudists fit into all of this. Well, the very first time we went to Noosa, my mom and sister were very attracted to the idea of walking through the National Park to the secluded Alexandria Bay. I, grumpy as always about bush walking got dragged along being at the tender age of around 9. We walked the inland route meeting the odd occasional thong clad (the footwear), friendly faced individual who’d give us a passing ‘G’day’ and a smile. If my memory serves me well, the walk seemed to go on forever until we saw the glimmer of light reflecting off the ocean and the sound of waves crashing against the surrounding rocky headland. The path began to steeply descend to the beach and as we emerged we saw a beautiful secluded bay where everyone in sight was nude! Yes, we had found the unofficial nudist beach in the area. The track had come out in approximately the middle of the beach. On the left there was just the odd person walking down the beach, it was to the right where the majority of the group congregated. To my mom’s dismay the track continued to the right, so with eyes fixed on the ground she marched us through the nudists who were leisurely enjoying the sand and sea. I can remember how much her friends laughed when she told them the story. Most locals know about the unofficial status of that beach, but we had only recently moved to Australia, so we found out the uhh, hard way. And I think she is still embarrassed to this day about taking her two young daughters to a nudist beach!