A day at the Gold Coast

Mid semester break for me and a day off for Jim fell providentially at the same time. Mix that with a healthy dose of warm air and sunshine and we decided to head to Surfer’s Paradise on the Gold Coast. A bus, a train and another bus put us within two blocks of the beach. Jim came prepared to swim…a fact he neglected to mention to me. So I hit up a couple of shops and walked out with board shorts, a top, floppy hat and sunscreen. Mom decided sitting in the shade was preferable to being blown away on the beach so she kept watch on our gear while we took a swim.

Now I must say I enjoy looking at the beach, laying on the beach, walking along the beach, looking for sea shells on the beach, building sand castles on the beach, and even sitting at the waters edge and letting waves wash over my feet…..but I am actually pretty afraid of the ocean. I don’t so much enjoy going all the way into the water and having the waves break over my head and knock me off my feet and coughing up sea water and not being able to see because I have my contact lens in all while the waves keep smacking me in the eyes…and yet that is what happened over and over again much to Jim’s delight.

Today is the first day Jim has ever swam in the ocean and he loved every moment of it! He kept pulling me out further and further where the big waves are. He of course is like a fish…he’s jumping into the waves, diving under the big ones as they approached and laughing uproariously the whole time. I on the other hand am screaming and trying to wipe my eyes on…oh wait, everything is wet. Never mind. My continuous mantra was “I’m really really happy HERE.Really I am.” “This is good..No farther though” as he pulled me farther from shore. “I think they (the waves) are getting bigger! Don’t you think they are getting bigger? Maybe the tide is coming in.” He says, “Think how fun it would be if they were even bigger!”

I must admit Jim was very wonderful about keeping hold of me. I told him to go on out farther into the really big waves and have fun but he said no, he couldn’t keep an eye on me if he did. So I or should I say we survived. I drank sea water and lived to tell and Jim survived my panic and whining…and I suppose if the truth be told it WAS pretty fun.