As a child I took life for granted......

and now that my own children have grown up and have children of their own, and my work life is coming to an end, I have a little more time to think of some of the vivid memories of my childhood. Our holiday on the Beach.  This was around 1958 when my father and mother packed up the car and we travelled to the coast. 

In those days, there were very few plots of land sold, and so the journey towards the beach was quiet scary, certainly for me as a child, as I could only see the headlights bouncing off the trees - there were no other lights around. 

Eventually we arrived and my father parked right outside the log cabins which were just about 2.5 metres from the edge of the sand.  There were three log cabins - the first was to be our parents bedroom, the second (middle) was the kitchen and the third was the children's bedroom.  I remember that they were iron beds, very hard mattress and wooden floor.  There was no glass windows - just huge shutters that opened from the outside.  At the back of the cabin was the toilet and shower - very primitive by today's standards.

We would play  on the beach, making sandcastles, doing cartwheels, paddling in the sea, skidding our feet through the sand (crocodile walk) and making baby foot prints with our hands, baiting worms with a piece of meat on the end of string and swirling it amongs the waves to encourage the worms to surface (bait for our sea fishing).  Playing amongst the sand dunes....amazing what imaginary games you can play creeping around on all fours up and down the dunes, around the shrubs growing from the sand. 

The freshwater lagoon (the water from the hills) into the sea held many insects and crayfish, plenty for children to do wading in the water and catching these creatures in a net.  Then there was the swimming in the lagoon and catching the waves in the sea. 

Our treat was also to go out in the boat with our father and catch fish.  I remember I got very seasick, but I did enjoy dropping the line and hook (with a sinker) into the water and catching the fish - the worse memory was that what I caught I had to eat and I hated fish. 

We also spent days walking around the rocks on this beach and other beaches where there was mainly rocks and looking in the rock pools and finding young sea creatures caught in the pools until the next tide helped them back into the sea.  There were small octopuses fish and crabs. 

We were allowed to wander around the coastline, over the rocks as far as we wanted to, as long as we were back before the tide came in, as you would be stranded or caught up in the sea.  I don't think we ever wandered off more than a mile.  Most times we clambered across the rocks in bare feet, as we found our shoes did not grip the rocks so well. 

At the end of the day, when we were in our beds, we would lay there with sand in our toes under the sheets and listen to the sea all night.  The shutters were never closed and I can hear the sound even now. 

That was the only holiday I ever remember.............but it is one that will stick in my mind for the rest of my life.....

Lagoon in foreground - cabins in distance

I have only had the opportunity of visiting the Beach once since and that was back in 1993.  But many people through the years have enjoyed this same beach and from photos on other peoples blogs (two shown above)  it really hasn't changed that much.

Now I must not ponder on those days, but look forward to new adventures in the future......