Shady Dark/Crystal Clear -- Beachmere's northern coastline.

Shady Dark

If you head  due north out of Beachmere township along Bishop Rd and turn east into Campbell Parade keeping as close to the sea as the road takes you -- you will be pleasantly surprized.

To your left is a 500 metre long thin lake hemmed by mangroves and Malaleucas with, beside the usual ducks, many black swans.

Many swans...and here and there 2 metre long wooden piers jutting out into the water waiting I guess for the next performance of Swan Lake.

At the end of the road -- Bayside Drive -- is a walking track that takes you into a grove of dense wetland scrub among which are some very tall Malaleucas and a few dense thickets. In places the cover is shady dark. 

But then the track opens onto an expanse of white sand and one of the most pleasant beaches in the area. Off shore is a Moreton Bay protected area -- primarily because of the sea grass beds that extend along the coast towards Bribie Island --  and the coastline is sculpted by miniature crescent bays among the mangroves and, stretching out to sea,  tidal depressions that in places are deeper than you'd expect so close given Deception Bays penchant for shallow shoals.

Crystal Clear

Eastern Shovelnose Ray

This time of year, as the tide drops to a low ebb the water is crystal clear and on a morning wade everything below the water surface shines back at you. This morning, aside from a lot of jumping about activity further  offshore -- mullet and something bigger -- at my feet were juvenile Shovelnose  Rays  in no hurry to swim away. 

With less development and fewer residences this area of coastline is more indicative of the original ecology along the shoreline.

Fortunately, it is now protected.