grey day

Now there are only three.

We farewelled Zac, Heidi and Rachel at Coffs Habour airport and headed off to consol ourselves with some curry. It has been a dreary day on another front too. It started raining late yesterday afternoon and didn't stop. Zac and Rachel had a long surf in the afternoon ... I sat on the beach in the drizzle and watched them catch their best waves.

Back in the park, as the drizzle turned to rain and puddles turned to pools, people were digging trenches and organising themselves for the downpour. There was a mini lake lapping the edge of the tent where the kids were sleeping when they went to bed but they stayed dry.

This morning we rose early and had to pack up camp ... in the constant soaking rain. What a bag of laughs that was. We've managed to keep good humour all day ... the drizzle and rain has been constant ... all day. Its only just stopped in the last half hour or so but the drops are still falling from the tree branches above us as I write. Everything feels damp, although Maria was keen to get a couple of loads of washing done and dried after we arrived here at Saphire Beach ... only 5 minutes drive down the road from where we were.

So now we are just three and we're each sitting at laptops doing our own thing. Johanna has been working her way through The Little House on the Priaire box set on loan from the Winters (thanks guys) and Maria is continung her viewing nostalgia with shows she enjoyed in the past.

We loved being all together, now we will have a quieter season until Rachel and her friend Jess join us again in a week and a half. We'll discover what Coffs has to offer beyond the beach.

tarpestry in tent city

Emerald Beach is like lots of spots along the Australian coast ... many of the sites are taken by regulars at this time of year, it's not uncommon to find people who have been coming here for 25 years.

Towards the front of the park the non-powered sites are full of regulars with there own brand of tenting. Part of the culture of this park is that the regulars erect little signs at the front of their site. I walked through 'tent city' for the first time yesterday and wandered past: Thomas' Tavern, Sue's Shack, Jacko's Joint, Helens Hotel, and many others including my favourite, Tracy's Tarp-Mahal.

One of the the things you read about grey nomads is that they are full of helpful advice and are always willing to lend a hand. This extents to campers in general I think. Anyway, further to Maria's post on Tarp Envy, I decided to seek some advice from Jacko as I noted that he had set up his van, annex and tarp in a similar configuration that I figured might suit us.

Little did I know that the art of tarping has many hurdles for the uninitiated. Jacko was as friendly as his name suggests and before I could extract myself I was learning everything Jacko could tell me about his 25 years of tarpestry on that particular site. He was quick to point out the hazards of his particular configuration following the downpour last night. Putting it very simply he suggested his set up was f*&#!d.

After discussing the demerits of the current 'extension' he followed through with, "I've got a big one that goes over the lot. Here come and have a look at this." We moved to the front of his van where he opened the boot to reveal a rolled up tarp that he assured me was a monster. "Hey, why don't you take this one and have a try," he offered.

The bottom line of his advice, "Look mate you just have to fiddle around and find a way that works for you. No two setups are the same mate," he saged.

Ah the wisdom of Jacko.

Tarp Envy

Colin wants to extend. He’s been thinking about it for a while now, ever since he saw those new shiny grey, reflector tarps. Everyone has them these days (gone are the old blue plastic tarps). They reflect the heat and sun AND keep you dry. Most people put them right over the top of everything – even their vans. Colin knows all the ways in which people use them and what works best; he has wandered around the caravan parks looking enviously and admiringly at what other people do. You can tell the Tarp pros no problem at all.

 Yesterday, while the girls shopped, we took ourselves to a camping store and had a look at the shiny new variety. They are, not surprisingly, more expensive than their old counterparts and you have to factor in the cost of poles, ropes and pegs. We decided it wasn’t really necessary and we would wait and see.

 That evening I see Colin just standing at the front of our sight staring into space. It is like one of those colorbond adds where the bloke stands out the front in his undies admiring his new roof, except Colin is in his boardshorts imagining that shiny new tarp, how it could fit and all the benefits it would bestow.

 Then it rained a lot last night and the forecast is for further rain – so yep we are doing an extension. It will keep the kid’s drier in the tent and we’ll have an outside Al Fresco dining area. It will also give Colin something to do everyday – adjust and readjust his new Tarp. Colin can’t wait to get to town now.

this only happens to others

Yesterday was memorable for the wrong reason.

I went around the beach about 150 metres from where we usually swim to where most of the swimmers and surfers on Emerald Beach go in the water. The surf was pretty big, so after playing around with Johanna for a bit I headed out again with Zac, Heidi and Rachel. We had good fun body surfing, Rachel had a body board, and always the adventurous one, was chasing the bigger waves just a bit further out.

She was about ten metres away. I told her to come back in a bit, the surf seemed to be getting a bit bigger and I didn't want her caught on a wave she couldn't handle. "I'm trying to," came her anxious reply. I swam toward her and assured her everything was alright and to catch the next wave in.

I've heard about rouge or freak waves. But like lots of things, until I experience it, its not that I don't believe it, its just that there is no experience to affirm the theoretical knowledge. All of a sudden the water built behind her then lifted her what seemed like metres above me, and then she was catapulted toward the beach. I had gone underwater to avoid the break. When I re-emerged and looked toward the beach, not only was Rachel nowhere to be seen (I would later learn she had ridden the wave of her life all the way to the beach after the biggest drop she's ever likely to experience), but Zac and Heidi who were 15 metres away before the wave broke were now 40 metres away. They hadn't moved, I had.

The beach seemed an eternity away. I have never seen the beach from this perspective before. Even when I go 'out the back' to surf, I do so only when the waves are smaller than this. The waves were breaking about 20 metres towards the beach.

At first I didn't realise what had happened so I swam towards the beach. After a few minutes I knew it was futile. My only previous experience of rips was much closer into shore where it is matter of a few strong strokes to get back to where you can touch the bottom. I was more afraid than I would have thought I would be. Even though the beach would have only been 150-200 metres away, the ocean felt huge. And I was alone in it with no floatation.

OK. What is the standard advice? Don't panic. Swim parallel to the beach. It didn't occur to me at the time that one way might have been better than the other. I chose poorly. After swimming for a few minutes and not sensing any progress I realised I was in trouble.

It's not that I'm a poor swimmer, I'm not great, but I swim in a pool regularly for reasonable distances. Of course swimming in the open water with not insignificant swell is an entirely different matter. That I had been in the water for a few very energetic hours already in the morning was probably the main problem because I felt myself beginning to tire, sooner than felt comforting.

Up until this point I had exercised senseless pride. Only the fools on 'Bondi Rescue' need help. I was now one of them although there were no life savers to come to my aid. I raised my arm and waved it hoping it was visible. The kids later explained that I was only rarely in view. I was far enough out that the swell was obscuring where I was. Similarly, I could only infrequently see the people on the beach. I knew the kids knew I was out there, but at this point I had no idea whether Rachel had been hurt and whether she was the focus of their attention.

I raised my arm again and waved. It had not occurred to me before I saw them that there would be surfers further along the beach. As it turned out one had seen my first wave and was now only 20 metres away. His mate, was following him too. With a board I could now rest and I knew I would be OK. After asking if I was OK, he exclaimed, 'That was a big one wasn't it!" He explained that he had watched me go out to Rachel then had been distracted. (Probably trying to catch a wave!)

I am extremely thankful he had been nearby. The kids, I later learned, had planned to get one of our boards out to me themselves, not a great strategy in hindsight. My rescuer and I sat out the back for some time. I was thankful that he was not only nearby but experienced. He was unsure which way to go so we waited. After a few minutes we determined that the current was taking us in the opposite direction to which I had previously tried to swim.

When we sensed we were clear we headed for shore. I was on the board, the bloke beside me was now swimming, leg rope still attached to the board. When we got closer to the breaks he climbed on my back, "a bit homo", he said, "but it works." We caught a wave. He jumped off but we were still too deep to stand up so he jumped back on my back. After another wave we both deboarded. He paused briefly while I shook his hand and thanked him and he was gone, paddling back toward the horizon.

I turned to see Zac and Heidi. Heidi was clapping above her head. Rachel, to my relief, was behind them carrying a surf board.

A break with tradition

Today we changed our usual rhythm, well most of us did. Another Beach day didn’t feel appealing to the women of the family, so we hit the shops instead, joining the throngs shopping at Coffs Harbour for Boxing Day bargains. Colin came with a book and parked himself in a coffee shop, Zac couldn’t bring himself to go shopping and continued his surfing exploits at the beach instead.

 How wonderful to feel clean for a day – no sunscreen.

 Colin joined Zac on the beach when we returned after lunch, the rest of us lounged around reading, listening to music and snoozing. We all went for a walk along the beach later in the day, climbing the heads and exploring the next bay. There was a beautiful deserted beach, Colin and Zac had a swim of course but the rest of us didn’t want to give up that clean feeling. We got caught in the rain coming back, not that it mattered at all.

 Now we are all clean and showered again; Colin is preparing dinner, Zac is reading Rachel’s Leunig book, Heidi is setting up her new iPhone (birthday present), Rachel is doing something on her iPhone and Johanna is playing with her Nintendo. All is well and peaceful as each person takes some time out to do their own thing waiting in anticipation for the fish that Colin is cooking for dinner…..

Many times over the last few days I have been aware how precious it is to have everyone together, how fortunate we are that we all enjoy being together and doing things together. As our children grow into adulthood, I know that times like this will become rare, all the more reason to treasure them when they occur.

Beach Crawl

Beach crawl

 Dads idea;

Check out the beaches surrounding coffs harbour.

And so the beach crawl begins.

 Inventory:

-one patrol that can withstand the bumps and lurches of beach carparks

-thongs – for when the ground gets hot

-food, for when we get hungry

 Destination:

A total of 6 beaches

 So I jump into the patrol,

Head out the window,

Seatbelt undone,

Music blasting into my ears,

Wind whipping my hair across my face,

And the calming view of trees and shrubs flashing past me.

 Arriving at a beach,

Jump out of the car,

Nothing in our hands, nothing on our backs,

A dive into the water,

A dash back across the hot sand,

And off we go again.

 It was one of those afternoons where I felt like taping a camera to my forehead, so I could replay the footage to old people and give them a glimpse of pure happiness before they cark it.

Beach

How beautiful it is holidaying at the beach. Thinking about it, I had high expectations while working the last two weeks, and so far it has lived up to them. Beach is as enjoyable as always. Spend most of my time in the water, emerging periodically to re-hydrate and re-fuel. Surfing is fun, although the experience is very dependant on the waves.

Yesterday Dad, Rachel, Johanna and I went on a “beach crawl” and explored the 5 or 6 nearby beaches. To our surprise most of them were pretty ordinary with pebbles at the waters edge and big drops a couple of meters into the ocean. Although, to give the benefit of the doubt, we might have gone at a bad time. The first place we went to, which was alright, was called Moonee beach. It had a big flat body of water (where most people were) in front of the beach. We went back there today and took the surfboards out to play around. It was good practise surfing, especially being on the boards in flat water, similar to what you are out the back.

The food has also been really good, and I mean really, how to go wrong with good food and beach?

PS. All the kids have rip-sticks and I’m pretty jealous. I’ve never tried one. Just want one for a day or two to get the hang of it, then do nothing.