The summer I’d been waiting for…

By Eliza Karlson

My earphones are in and my iPod is on full blast. The air-conditioner is on high and as I look out the window I can see the mountains forming and can feel the road slowly winding along. The car is packed so full that I can’t see anyone else, as my view is blocked by pillows and boogie boards. We have been in the car for about one and a half hours now and the thought of being almost there makes my tummy tingle as excitement fills my body.

‘MUM! How long do we have till we get there?!’ I shout over the music that only I can hear.  ‘Don’t yell!’ she replies, ‘your father will have an accident’. Mum doesn’t end up answering my question, but I know that there’s not long and soon the car comes to a stop. Finally, I think to myself. After a two hour drive, we have finally arrived in Lorne and have parked outside the beach house that we have rented out for the past three years with our family friends. The house has a balcony looking over the pier and has stairs leading down to the main road and then to the beach.

It doesn’t take long to unpack and get settled in. The house smells like salt and lemons and we all have our allocated beds and bathrooms. We get out our wetties, beach towels and boogie boards and make our way down to the beach. The smell of seaweed and sand fills the air and the sound of seagulls and the cricket on the radio set the scene for what seemed to be the start of an amazing summer. Shaking the sand off my feet and squeezing into my wetty was the easy part. Getting myself in the water was the hard part and was what I had been looking forward to all holidays! The water at Lorne is about 10 times colder than the water at your average beach and you were pretty game to go in without a wetsuit. So I decide to take a run up. With my boogie in one hand and my friends already in the water, I start to run along the wide, flat beach and eventually make it into the water. Screaming as my friends splash me with the icy cold water and as my legs struggle to find their way around the strong current and the waves, I dive into the crystal clear water leaving my boogie board floating on the surface.

My head comes up from the water and I open my eyes to an ocean that’s seems to go on forever. I grab my board and make my way out to where the waves break. I lose my breath as I force my way through the recurring waves, using all my strength to get past their power as fast as possible. When I’m finally out, I position myself and get ready for the next set of waves. I can feel the pull of a coming wave and I begin to kick as it starts to grow.  With my adrenalin running wild and my legs going like propellers, I get higher and higher and then crash down as the wave carries me along the water, skimming past others and cruising into shore.

After a delicious dinner and a day of anticipation, laughs, adventure and excitement, I was dead tired. Laying my head on my pillow was the best way to end the first real day of summer.

 

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