Coast Drive
Grace De Keersmaeker
New Years Eve
Olive and I decided to pack a bag, some snacks, a couple of sleeping bags and head down to the ocean. Entering a new year, I wanted to feel the ground under my feet, wiggle my toes in the sand, dive under the water and let the ocean carry me. Let it hold me and cleanse me of my overloaded mind, empty it of silly thoughts, make me feel light. So we drove down South Gippsland way.
The early evening
We arrived and took a walk along the beach, found someone’s drawings in sand and set up our bed in the darkness. The 9 pm fireworks went off. A niggling worry entered my mind as the news quietly reached us, the world of East Gippsland seemed to be alight.
The first hour of the day.
We celebrated the year, new and old, with a swim. Illuminated by the midnight moonlight we floated naked in the gentle rolling ocean. Blanketed by the stars, we burst with giggles and billowed with delight. I pondered on what the coming months will bring. Fireworks lit the night sky in the distance.
The middle of the day
We sought out a couple of walking tracks around the island. Strolling side by side, conversation came and went. Pleasantries were exchanged with passing walkers, sometimes just a nod and a smile, sometimes a ‘g’day, how’s it going.’ The kind of ‘how’s it going’ that is more of an acknowledgement, not a question.
The late afternoon
As we drove through the rolling hills between Kilcunda and Loch, the setting sun reached across the paddocks and the gums trees, beaming golden from the west and creating shadows that stretched to the east. The sky and the ground tinged pinkish, as the sun began to sink beyond the horizon. The magnificence of South Gippsland always leaves me astounded. With bellies full of carrots, hummus and biccies, we returned home.