Around our Neighbourhood - Beaumaris

I often go for walks around Beaumaris, a little bit like a tourist in my own backyard as we have only lived here since April this year. I love looking at the homes and gardens.

Beaumaris is know for its modernist architecture. After WW2, about 50 architects were living in Beaumaris, designing new and interesting homes. A lot of these houses have beautiful views out over the bay and water. So, as you can see there is always an extensive use of glass. A lot of the homes here were built in the 1950s or the 1970s and some are are still exactly the same as they were in those days. The houses on larger blocks are in demand as big brand new homes can be built on them or they can be split and two townhouses built.

The gardens along my neighbourhood footpaths are always an interesting mix of exotic and native plantings. This beautiful protea was amazing.

The glorious golden flowers of a neighbourhood wattle tree.

These clouds followed a night of gale force winds and rain pounding on our bedroom window.

Then, the rain cleared and bought beautiful sunshine (for a little while anyway).

I'd been waiting to find out what colour the buds on his camellia were. The sunshine has just highlighted the intensity of the red.

Sunday morning was a good opportunity to walk to Ricketts Point as the weather was OK. The sun was out but the wind was still a little blowy, but it was a clear morning and the water was so clean and clear.

Ricketts point is down the street and across the beach road. We walked down the steps to the beach and turned left heading towards the Ricketts Point Teahouse for a yummy Sunday breakfast. The area around the point here has been declared as a marine sanctuary and covers some 115 hectares with nearly 3km of coast line. There is a series of sandstone rock platforms extending from the shore which create a diverse marine environment and the majority of the Sanctuary is in shallow waters less than 5m deep.

There is a diverse range of shells, snails, fish, seaweed, algae, kelp, octopus, squid & cuttles, including the Blue-ringed Octopus which hide under stones. This normally shy creature will flash tiny rings in electric-blue if disturbed too much as a warning to take seriously and its poisonous bite is very dangerous. I haven't come across one yet, but this is what they look like when they are annoyed.

At the water's edge, the sandstone that makes up much of the eastern side of Port Phillip Bay, and which rises to form cliffs around Beaumaris, has been worn down into a series of platforms and offshore reefs, creating a varied marine environment that is readily accessible to visitors.

The Marine Sanctuary incorporates a range of habitat types including rocky sandstone intertidal and subtidal habitats, sandy beaches and subtidal soft substrates. The action of waves refracting between the rocks has also created several small sandy coves.