Day 60: In search of sunshine

Today we're off somewhere new - the northernmost tip of the so-called Sunshine Coast. It's not clear to me that it really is any sunnier than other parts of the coast, but it sounds appealing. We rose early and left just before 6 am, hoping to learn from our casual approach to the ferries at Easter :-). Our ferry karma was good and we enjoyed a pleasant drive in improving weather, eventually leaving the drizzle behind. The road got twistier on the last few km towards Lund and I was feeling a bit woozy by the time we pulled in by Nancy's Bakery for much-needed afternoon coffee.

After re-caffeinating, we stopped at Okeover Arm provincial park, where the was low, to go beach-combing and found ourselves on a beach like no other we'd ever been to. First surprise was all the inch-long conical shells, most of which were inhabited by hermit crabs. The second and biggest surprise was that beyond a certain point there was no beach - just oysters as far as you could see. And big ones too, with shells often more than eight inches long. We were the only people exploring the beach: the other half-dozen or so were picking their own oysters (or clams), adding to the dozens of discarded empty shells from oysters shucked on site. You simply had no choice but to walk over the bed of shells, although the beach beneath was soft so it didn't feel quite so bad walking over the backs of hundreds of shellfish.

Oysters, oysters everywhere