You will be happy to know that we found our inner wanderer....our inner enviro-nerd....became one with nature and ventured ashore to do a little bushwalking. Now I say bush walking because my very simple definition of bushwalking would be walking....in the bush - which is what we did. I would argue that the length of the walk is completely irrelevant! I know that Bek and Marcel (who are those weird out doorsy type of people and who do walking in the bush for the 'fun' of it!) have disagreed with me on this very evening! Yes! I know! I too was shocked! After mentioning that we walked for approximately 15 minutes in one direction, sat down and looked at streams and trees and nature and stuff and then proceeded to walk back - they laughed when I said we were bush walking!!! The word "bush stroll" was thrown at me like my hard trekking efforts were a mere meandering down the street for coffee. (Actually I would probably drive for coffee now that I think about it!) I ask you.....do you have to walk for longer than 30 minutes in the bush for it to be called a 'walk'? Do I have to get a stick and a backpack and wander for.....longer??? How long do you actually have to walk for it be considered a walk and not a stroll?? I will need to find out because if my friends (yes I still consider them my friends after their mocking of our laborious exertions!) are not calling it a bush walk then perhaps I need to reevaluate completely!

Anyway, we ended our bush 'walk' by seeing a very cool sight of soldier crabs on the beach. At first we were watching them from a distance but in order to get some closer pics we walked down to the water line, watched them scuttle back into the mud and waited for them to reappear a couple of minutes later. The sound of them all popping back up was like listening to bubbles popping. All I knew about soldier crabs was that I loved walking on the sand balls they created, in bare feet when I was younger. Actually, that's about all I know about them now too but I will be googling for some more details after seeing them this afternoon as it was a pretty awesome sight.

We are leaving the calm waters of Garry's Anchorage tomorrow and heading further north. So it is just about time to turn in as it has been a long and exhausting day from all our walking!

Love to all

Claris

A tourist remains an outsider throughout his visit; but a sailor is part of the local scene from the moment he arrives. - Anne Davison