The Flickr Seabaths Image Generatr

Some places assume a personal status that is almost sacred. The planks may have changed, but the boardwalk was here almost exactly to the day in December 1961. This is where my late Dad had a final swim with his own father just weeks before my grandfather died suddenly at the age of 60.

This place assumed enormous significance for my Dad in his own final weeks. Knowing that his death was near he began to sense a real connection with his own father again. He wanted nothing better than to visit this place in Geelong one last time. But it wasn't to be. He simply couldn't endure the two hours drive each way even on morphine.

As the family member assigned to administer his final palliative doses of morphine in the last week of his life, I recall Dad stirring from his virtual coma occasionally and telling me, "Can you see them. They are over there and they are waiting for me." I am sure he saw his father and remembered that last swim in Geelong.

So the day I took this photograph, we sprinkled some of his ashes in the "sacred" waters. It was only a symbolic gesture, but it reminded us that Dad was finally at home in spirit with his father and mother whose bodies are buried in the Geelong Eastern Cemetery. So Geelong will always hold a special place in my heart.

Overlooking the sea baths at the Bondi Icebergs Swimming Club.
Sydney, Australia.

Overlooking the sea baths at the Bondi Icebergs Swimming Club.
Sydney, Australia.

View across to the sea baths at St Kilda

Looking over to the St Kilda Sea Baths Complex

Late February sea baths

A deep low off coastal NSW produced monstrous seas and so I took the opportunity to head out to Mona Vale to check out the ocean pool. Usually in calmer conditions, one can walk out to the pool and shoot on the pool's edge, not on this day. Pounding waves and angry skies!

Google map street view today suplied by Peter, read his descriptive comment below:
www.google.com.au/maps/@-37.9266777,144.987522,3a,75y,119...

See photos of the bird mansion which is ten minutes drive north of Caesarea. A must see since you have decided to visit Israel

Half way up the Spanish Steps at Geelong's Eastern Beach stands a rater whimsical Art Deco fountain surrounded by statues of cranes and tortoise dragons. These are replicas of the originals which were donated by the family of a friend of mine. The originals are now kept safe in the Botanic Gardens.

Eastern Beach is a popular swimming area to he east of central Geelong on the shores of Corio Bay. Built during the 1930s in classic Art Deco style, it is reminiscent of a British seaside resort. It includes a shark proof sea bath with a circular boardwalk, as well as a children's swimming pool, a kiosk building, a dressing room pavilion and a fanciful fountain. A number of Art Deco buildings in the area are heritage listed.

It was not always the popular beach that it is today. In the early years that area of Geelong was considered an eyesore, with steep cliffs running from the northern town boundary to the shores of Corio Bay.
Redevelopment plans were first proposed in 1914 and it was to include a one mile sea wall, land reclamation and a beach chalet. However plans were halted by the Great War and work didn't commence until the next decade.

Work began in September 1927 when contracts were let for construction of the concrete stairway, terraces and dressing sheds. J.C. Taylor and Sons were the successful contractor. That stage of the works was opened on December 20, 1929 by the Mayor of Geelong Councillor Sol Jacobs. The shark-proof swimming enclosure and children's pool were opened by Councillor Jacobs on March 28, 1939. The enclosure could accommodate 10,000 bathers. The precinct development cost £40,000.00, but was seen by the council of the time as being an investment in the city.

After declining in popularity from the 1960s, in 1993 the City of Greater Geelong announced plans for the restoration of the area. Today it is a beautiful piece of Geelong's History and is much loved and visited by tourists and locals alike.

I spent a delightful, if rainy, Saturday with the Famous Flickr Five+ Group along the Geelong Waterfront where we walked from central Geelong Esplanade to the Art Deco Eastern Beach.

Geelong is a city southwest of Melbourne, Australia. Lining its bay, The Waterfront Esplanade has a Nineteenth Century American carousel, a curved art deco boardwalk and sea bath at Eastern Beach, and scattered along the waterfront are more than one hundred bollards painted as colourful sculptures chronicling city history by artist Jan Mitchell. The Geelong Botanic Gardens lie at the eastern end of the bay. The central National Wool Museum hosts changing exhibitions, concerts and entertainments.

Half way up the Spanish Steps at Geelong's Eastern Beach stands a rater whimsical Art Deco fountain surrounded by statues of cranes and tortoise dragons. These are replicas of the originals which were donated by the family of a friend of mine. The originals are now kept safe in the Botanic Gardens.

Eastern Beach is a popular swimming area to he east of central Geelong on the shores of Corio Bay. Built during the 1930s in classic Art Deco style, it is reminiscent of a British seaside resort. It includes a shark proof sea bath with a circular boardwalk, as well as a children's swimming pool, a kiosk building, a dressing room pavilion and a fanciful fountain. A number of Art Deco buildings in the area are heritage listed.

It was not always the popular beach that it is today. In the early years that area of Geelong was considered an eyesore, with steep cliffs running from the northern town boundary to the shores of Corio Bay.
Redevelopment plans were first proposed in 1914 and it was to include a one mile sea wall, land reclamation and a beach chalet. However plans were halted by the Great War and work didn't commence until the next decade.

Work began in September 1927 when contracts were let for construction of the concrete stairway, terraces and dressing sheds. J.C. Taylor and Sons were the successful contractor. That stage of the works was opened on December 20, 1929 by the Mayor of Geelong Councillor Sol Jacobs. The shark-proof swimming enclosure and children's pool were opened by Councillor Jacobs on March 28, 1939. The enclosure could accommodate 10,000 bathers. The precinct development cost £40,000.00, but was seen by the council of the time as being an investment in the city.

After declining in popularity from the 1960s, in 1993 the City of Greater Geelong announced plans for the restoration of the area. Today it is a beautiful piece of Geelong's History and is much loved and visited by tourists and locals alike.

I spent a delightful, if rainy, Saturday with the Famous Flickr Five+ Group along the Geelong Waterfront where we walked from central Geelong Esplanade to the Art Deco Eastern Beach.

Geelong is a city southwest of Melbourne, Australia. Lining its bay, The Waterfront Esplanade has a Nineteenth Century American carousel, a curved art deco boardwalk and sea bath at Eastern Beach, and scattered along the waterfront are more than one hundred bollards painted as colourful sculptures chronicling city history by artist Jan Mitchell. The Geelong Botanic Gardens lie at the eastern end of the bay. The central National Wool Museum hosts changing exhibitions, concerts and entertainments.

Half way up the Spanish Steps at Geelong's Eastern Beach stands a rater whimsical Art Deco fountain surrounded by statues of cranes and tortoise dragons. These are replicas of the originals which were donated by the family of a friend of mine. The originals are now kept safe in the Botanic Gardens.

Eastern Beach is a popular swimming area to he east of central Geelong on the shores of Corio Bay. Built during the 1930s in classic Art Deco style, it is reminiscent of a British seaside resort. It includes a shark proof sea bath with a circular boardwalk, as well as a children's swimming pool, a kiosk building, a dressing room pavilion and a fanciful fountain. A number of Art Deco buildings in the area are heritage listed.

It was not always the popular beach that it is today. In the early years that area of Geelong was considered an eyesore, with steep cliffs running from the northern town boundary to the shores of Corio Bay.
Redevelopment plans were first proposed in 1914 and it was to include a one mile sea wall, land reclamation and a beach chalet. However plans were halted by the Great War and work didn't commence until the next decade.

Work began in September 1927 when contracts were let for construction of the concrete stairway, terraces and dressing sheds. J.C. Taylor and Sons were the successful contractor. That stage of the works was opened on December 20, 1929 by the Mayor of Geelong Councillor Sol Jacobs. The shark-proof swimming enclosure and children's pool were opened by Councillor Jacobs on March 28, 1939. The enclosure could accommodate 10,000 bathers. The precinct development cost £40,000.00, but was seen by the council of the time as being an investment in the city.

After declining in popularity from the 1960s, in 1993 the City of Greater Geelong announced plans for the restoration of the area. Today it is a beautiful piece of Geelong's History and is much loved and visited by tourists and locals alike.

I spent a delightful, if rainy, Saturday with the Famous Flickr Five+ Group along the Geelong Waterfront where we walked from central Geelong Esplanade to the Art Deco Eastern Beach.

Geelong is a city southwest of Melbourne, Australia. Lining its bay, The Waterfront Esplanade has a Nineteenth Century American carousel, a curved art deco boardwalk and sea bath at Eastern Beach, and scattered along the waterfront are more than one hundred bollards painted as colourful sculptures chronicling city history by artist Jan Mitchell. The Geelong Botanic Gardens lie at the eastern end of the bay. The central National Wool Museum hosts changing exhibitions, concerts and entertainments.