I woke up feeling loose-endy and uninspired. After a late breakfast and a wander around town, M took my board and went for a surf, while I Iolled around reading. I think my mood was infected by A Long Way Down. It’s one of those books that, having started it, I felt I should finish. But it was such a long drawn out examination of a situation that continued for a long time after it should have been knocked on the head that I felt it sucking all my holiday verve as I read lumpenly looking for closure. Don’t bother with it - it’s a huge yawn, and it might entrap you too.

It was like ripping off a bandaid. I frog marched myself into my bathers and down to the beach and into the water. Much better. The waves at Brunswick Heads surf beach have been unrelentingly dumpy since the day we got here. M managed to get some rides in. I got pounded and struggled with my bikini top.

M got sick of the surfboard, and I decided to have a go. Wrong. In my hurry to avoid being knocked down by a wave I put the legrope on the wrong ankle (left). As I tried to change legs, I was taken out by a breaking wave, which flipped my board and shoved its fins into my left calf and ankle. (There are three fins, quite widely spaced - all the more width with which to carve you.) I decided to bite my lip and continue on, philosophising that my leg would hurt less in the water than out of it. I chucked my board on the beach and went back in, near where M was, and tried to catch some waves.

In keeping with my performance thus far, I took off on a complete dumper and was turned into the underwater human corkscrew. My torso went one way, my lower body went the other. I heard a crack. I bobbed to the surface and decided to call it a day. The water and I were not getting along. I felt like I’d been chiropractored (whatever that feels like - I prefer osteopaths). M got out as well.

The highlight of the daylight hours was finding a train of fuzzy caterpillars trying to cross the road. We didn’t think they would make it, but a nice Dutch man happened past and we used his hat to scoop them up and take them to their destination. Note the socks with sandals.

We hit the pub for a consoling lunch of beer and vietnamese spring rolls.

On our way back to camp we went the long way around, M still lugging the surfboard, and bought more plates and forks from the op-shop, as well as dinner supplies, as we had invited J, I and Small C to dine. At the second op-shop I found an old-style esky cordial container in read and white that matched the esky I’d bought for Oomoo in Murwillumbah. Scoresville.

Went back to camp and tidied up. We were due to meet up with the guys at the pub at six thirty, and with over an hour to kill, we went fishing off the far point. Sitting in the sun getting bites on the line was delicious, but we did not catch dinner. My new reel continues to excel, despite the fact that it ‘only’ has one ball bearing (I quote the guy we bought it from).

At the pub I and J were at a table with at least six other people, only two of whom they knew, which was comforting. M met everyone and chatted while I nattered mostly to J. Small C bounded on the periphery, with other Small friends acquired from other tables. The band (J’s friend’s husband is the drummer - he used to play with the Clouds) weren’t bad. In fact, I would use the word ‘inoffensive’ (again) and say that they were great as background pub music. Sort of celtic with a noodly fiddle, and a boring lead singer.

After two drinks we took off back to the Camp of B & M, where I cooked rice and M cooked a meal he entitled ‘Tofu Stir Fry With Peanut Sauce’. By the time it was ready, Small C had become a snoring lump in one of the camp chairs, having dined on a mouse-like portion of steamed rice.

I had bought some black rice pudding from a shop near the pub and had been instructed on the best way to heat it. It didn’t quite taste how I’d imagined it would, but J and I appeared to be wildly appreciated (or incredibly polite).

An excellent night was had, and an invitation to brunch in Repentance Creek was offered for the next morning. We love our campsite.