“Catch the southbound train and get off at the end of the line.”
It's been winter, my eldest daughter, Angel, was feeling down and in need of a little adventure to pick her up. The beach is always her go to for happy times and at the end of the southern line is Seaford and Moana beach.
Husband dropped us off at the train station just after 9am for us to get the first off peak train of the day. We sat by a fogged up window which looked like it had been collecting water between the glazing all winter. Each time the train pulled off, the water flowed to one side like it was full tide. As graffiti can be cleaned off, the vandals had become more resourceful and scratched words into the Perspex windows for more permanence. The carriage was busy and became busier still as we approached the city.
The north line terminated at the city and we swapped to the southern line. This line has trains with class, unlike the feral north. Not that attempts haven't been made by some to scratch out their mark on the windows, but glass doesn't mark as easily as Perspex.
In what seemed like barely any time at all, we were at Seaford station. Between us and the sea was a shopping centre and a half kilometre walk. A quick stop off at the shopping centre for a restroom break and to get out of the chilly wind seemed to be just the ticket. The girls put some money together and bought a giant bar of Lindt chocolate, then we braved the cold again, destination, the ocean.
Lining many of the streets we walked along were native bottlebrush trees. I find them interesting, but obviously my girls didn't, as they weren't impressed when I called them back to show them a particularly big one swamping its small tree.
We sat on big boulder near the beach and broke out the lunch we'd packed. Whenever the sun came out it hit our black jackets, which acted like solar heating. We were like lizards or snakes, sunning ourselves on that rock!
I failed to get a photo of the reptile sunning rock.
Later, as we walked along the beach, Angel commented on how doctors in history used to prescribe time by the sea to cure many an ailment. It is certainly a therapeutic place to be.
It was a bit cold for going barefoot in the sand, but it didn't stop me exploring while the girls made Tictok videos.
After a bit of a wander, I tried being a bower bird for a bit. Yellows or purples?
Purples were coming up with more variety, so purples it was.
Like most of the Adelaide coastline, there is access to free parking along the roads and in car parks. You could even drive your car onto the beach here. On the Moana foreshore is a small playground, next to a free WiFi tower and the surf lifesavers club.
Across the road sits the distinct looking Deep Blue Cafe which wasn’t planning on blending into the background.
For those who've gotta go, there is the obligatory toilet block with air freshener strong enough to overpower a multitude of smells, if it doesn't overpower its visitors first. I'm not sure where this smell was exuding from, but the surface of the door was sticky as we exited. Maybe it was actually a concentrated cleaner which had been used neat on the surfaces. Let's not speculate too much why.
After making use of the Wi-Fi, to extract the photos I'd taken of Angel to her own phone, and having a little play on the swings, we headed back to the station for the next part of the adventure.