Lake Alexander

Sunday 26th August

Today we drove down to East Point Reserve to make like the locals and have a barbeque lunch in the park and a dip in Lake Alexander.

The top end of Australia is riddled with crocodiles; you really can't swim anywhere, not even in the sea (where the crocodiles that haven't been stung by the box jellyfish have been eaten by the sharks), though Lake Alexander is an exception to this because the council are reasonably sure there aren't any crocs in this place.

Ella's been playing with the local aborigine kids this morning (though just look at the get-up. Will this kid ever be allowed to get a suntan?), which gave me an excuse to get the camera out to capture their beautiful black skin. Check out the copper-haired girl in the first photo (she had a blonde-haired cousin who had equally dark skin, an utterly beautiful combination but I couldn't quite get a photo). The lady in the picture came paddling into the lake then just plonked herself down fully-clothed and later took off into the water up to shoulder height before joining her family back on the grass. I suppose you dry off pretty quickly but I can't imagine any of the white mothers doing the same.

And here's Ella modelling her new special towel for swimming, which her Nana sent from Warrington. Notice the smoke from the bushfires still raging in the distance. For a few hours today, this little patch of East Point Reserve smelt overwhelmingly of my mother's washing. I've no idea how she does it but it smells divine.