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I’m lying in bed snuggling into the tiger-striped polyester mink blanket that Eddie’s Mum bought me for my birthday. Knowing how wrong the combination of polyester and tiger is only makes me feel warmer and more gorgeous. From the living room Eddie shouts. “Woh, it’s six to eight foot out there today!” “Shit, really?” I throw off the tiger blanket and look over Eddie’s shoulder at the webcam.  “Heaps of people out.  Where’s that?” “Manly. Probably only the points’ll be good today.” “Yeah? Well, I don’t see myself paddling out in six to eight today, but give me time to have some porridge and a cup of tea and I’ll come with you for the surf check.”

Copacabana


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A big set rolls in on Copa point and I say “How good does that look? I’m gonna take some photos for Facebook.” “OK. Quick. Take it now… you missed it.” “Yeah. there’s too much delay.” “Now. Take it now.” “Huh. Have a look at this. Do you think I should zoom in or keep it out?” He doesn’t look. “Zoom in.” “I think I’ll keep it out so we can see the cliffs. Damn this camera. It’s too slow.” We both turn to look down the south end of the beach. “It’s not looking that good at Macmasters.” “No. But it did when I walked to the beach yesterday morning.” “Hmm. It might be better at Terrigal Haven. I’m gonna go get a paper.” “OK. I’ll take some photos of Macmasters and then we’ll go look at Terrigal Haven.”

Macmasters


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We’re in the car on our way up the hill and out of Copa and I pull the Spectrum out of the newspaper to see if there’s anything interesting. Eddie Perfect, who I’m loving in Offspring at the moment, has written an article about the revenge of the wuss and, oh shit, the main feature is Lally Katz and Robyn Nevin talking about the arts. “Oh shit!” “What? What’s wrong?” “There’s an article in Spectrum today. It’s Lally Katz and Robyn Nevin. Lally wrote the play I want to see called Neighbourhood Watch and Robyn plays the main character and now the bloody thing is going to sell out before Heather gets a chance to compare her diary with her Mum’s, so she doesn’t get in trouble, and now I’m gonna have to email her and pressure her for an answer and I don’t want to do that.” “Oh. That’s OK. Just email Heather when we get home.” “Argh, it better not sell out before I get to buy our tickets.” “Hmm.”

Avoca beach

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We’re about to drive past Avoca when we notice a big set wave push into the beach. “Shall we check Avoca before we go to Terrigal?” We park the car and as we walk past a newly built complex next to the beach track Eddie says “I thought it was going to look better than that.” “Yeah, they’ve used cheap windows haven’t they?” “I suppose you can only build what you can afford.” we reach the beach and see a surfer drop into an overhead right that peels down the beach and I can’t help but hoot and we wonder why there aren’t that many people out there. But the paddle-out looks tough and there’re probably better waves elsewhere. “Look at the swell going by on the horizon. It’s huge.” “Yeah, I checked the weather charts and there’s a big pulse going underneath [Australia]… it’s gonna be better on the points today. The beaches aren’t holding it as well. Let’s go to Terrigal.” I take some photos of the surf and we agree to buy a better camera.

Terrigal Haven


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As we drive out of Avoca I say “That cafe wasn’t there when Claire and I were looking for a place to eat last year. We should try it. Not now, but sometime.” “It’s supposed to get even bigger tomorrow. It’ll drop off this afternoon and pick up even bigger tomorrow.” I turn on the radio and sing along to “Wouldn’t it be niiiice.” When we get to Terrigal there are no waves and then there are and Eddie turns off the radio so he can concentrate on them.  We pull into the crowded carpark, park inconsiderately and get out to look across the bay and into the sun at the surf peeling around the point.  I get the camera out and Eddie says “You can’t take photos into the sun.”  And I say “I know, but I’m going to anyway, just for the record.”  We drive home and Eddie suits up, drives back to Terrigal Haven and paddles out for a surf.  I spend the morning reading my book and speaking to Dad on Skype.