Hangin' on Holloways Beach

Anyone that has vacationed with a family or some sort of group of people knows that it can be tricky balancing everyone's wishes and walking the fine line between seeing interesting stuff and just chilling out and getting some rest. We've been happy to find that our spot here in Holloways Beach, a small town just north of the main city, Cairns, is quiet and relaxing AND interesting. The beach is dreamy, the pool is perfect, and we've met some neat people to boot! The little café down the street makes the whole thing even more groovy with the mango smoothies, hash browns, and scones that we walk down for each morning.
 

 

If we walk to the left, we can go about a mile till we get to the river that empties out into the Coral Sea. This looks to me to be the hippie stretch of the beach with old furniture strewn about in makeshift groupings around fire pits in the bush between the houses and the sand, and racks of surfboards and kayaks amidst the trees. A sweet dog named Sam joined us for our whole walk one day and as we headed back and passed what we assumed was her house, she simply took a right and trotted up the walkway without so much as a see ya later. Free spirits up that way, I guess.

Some of the local people come here for the little shells that burrow into the sand as the waves come in and out. They're very small but apparently you can cook and eat them. At least that's what they told me.

And if we turn right at the beach, there's a short stretch of public beach where the neighbors and others can fish or frolic, take your pick. If you haven't picked up on it yet, Trey loves fishing like peanut butter loves jelly. 

We stopped to chat with some older gentlemen who looked pretty serious. One lives two doors away and is from New Caledonia. Raise your hand if you know where that is. And extra bonus points if you know what language they speak there. His friend drove 4200 kilometers from near Melbourne in Victoria to stay for a few weeks with his daughter here. He's retired and has time to do that now and that makes him really happy. 

The two of them had nothing to show for their fishing efforts, but while we stood there yakking away, Trey grabbed New Caledonia's fishing pole that was getting some nibbles and reeled in a sting ray. NC was then very excited to show us the barbs, which I know firsthand having been stung by one on Anna Maria Island back in 1988. I didn't need to see that any closer as it was pretty much awful the first time. 

The excitement died down, the yakking started again and I learned about fishing in the area and how you're not supposed to fish on the reef as that is a wildlife preserve but NC's friend didn't know and pulled up a beautiful green fish. Whoops... 

Suddenly Trey and Laurel are both hollering and Trey is diving into the surf to retrieve Melbourne's pole that's quickly being pulled out to sea and after a good 15 minutes Melbourne pulls in this crazy looking bigger ray with the head of a dolphin. Don't even ask me what kind that would be because it looked like a science experiment that scared someone and got thrown out. 

 A sweet lady from down the street and her dog, Charlie, came over to see what they caught and we all had a jolly time trying to decipher the three different accents (four if you include ours). Melbourne was very happy that Trey saved his fishing pole.