Post on the Coast

It is nice living by the coast because it feels more Australian. Sure, Canberra is the capital of the country and is full of people with Australian accents and mannerisms, but living on the Sunshine Coast reminds me of how Australians are a people that belong with the ocean. Those Australians that don’t live within easy reach of the ocean are like twins separated at birth - their lives seem alright until you realize that they are missing an integral part of themselves. It makes me happy to sit and watch Australians interact with the water. They dive in the waves, they fling themselves into the surf, they lounge in the sand, they bob in the waves, they surf, they float, they breathe under water because, let’s face it, many of these people are practically fish. There are gangs of children in surf school in their brightly colored rashies and gaudy striped bathing caps kept in place by elastics around their ears. There are toddlers surfing while their parents chat, barely pausing in conversation to pluck their child out the water before they drown. And they all keep smiling even as they walk to the lifeguard to get some ice to soothe their numerous jellyfish welts. Even in town it is easy to tell by tans and lingering patches of sand that while the surf is dominated by the tides it in turn dominates the ebb and flow of human daily life.

We too are all being wooed by the ocean. Living right across the street from a sandy pristine beach is incredible. Waking at 6am with a newborn is much easier when, instead of pacing outside government buildings, you are pacing and dancing with the wind and waves. The girls could spend hours on the beach and after daily trips for the past ten days are turning into sunned wave and sand seekers. Every evening we all head out as a family to have a last foray before we sleep. No matter how tired or cranky the children are as soon as they step through the brush onto the sand a serene happy calm overtakes them and they run for the beach. As the sun sets and bathes us in its last shimmering colorful light the girls prance and dance and skip and jump about in utter glee. The ocean soothes and inspires and beckons them and crashes in appreciation of the little feet and little hands moving in inspired dance.

The cutest starfish

Aurora on the shore-a

Beach ballet

Six happy squints