Gold Coast, Australia
New stories update on 20 March 2010
New stories update on 20 March 2010
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A Note for You from Graham and BevNEW About Sam live a life with no regrets
David's Story the life of a wealthy and famous man
Kirra Beach Dreamin' a day at the beach on Australia Day
Leave your Mark our enduring worth
Living in the Present finding happiness each day with a promise of the future
Living Life connecting with life and seeing the magic around us
Love is Stronger than death how love is timeless and forever
Noel's Story - an Aussie Digger life works when we work it
Kirra Beach Dreamin'
...a day at the beach on Australia Day
I guess every country has a fun National Day each year to remember their heritage. In France: Bastille Day, in Ireland: St Patrick's Day, in the United States: the Fourth of July. Australia Day is at the top of an Aussie's list.
This Australia Day - 26 January 2009 - we got out our Aussie flags and hung them as usual on everything, mostly cars, driving around like the Prime Minister of Australia on an official visit with pride in who we are. Graham and I were more committed this year. We stood on the white sands of an iconic Gold Coast beach - Kirra - the place of legends - not only world surfing legends who have cut their teeth on Kirra Point with once famous 20 second tube rides but for everyone who has learned to swim, bodyboard and surf or snorkel, dive and fish at Kirra Reef, this is a place where our own personal legends and memories were born.
This Kirra which Graham and I found over 15 years ago inspired us to "sell out" to living on the Gold Coast. Remembering sharing a day with friends floating in dead flat water with a brilliant blue sky and water incredibly turquoise "Kirra Blue" - a colour we measure other beaches by. Early days learning to snorkel around the safe haven of inshore rocks, we chased schools of sand whiting and brim along the shoreline, Graham tried to pull the tail of his first Wobbegong (not a good idea) and I saw my first and, so far, only, bright yellow Pineapple Fish.
Any surfer living on the Gold Coast before 2002 will tell stories of surfing at Burleigh Heads, Snapper Rocks and always Kirra Point would have been part of their latest adventure but not now.
I remember my first try at bodyboarding. For weeks I'd been watching all these little kids laughing excitedly, roaring along on their boards in the 2 foot waves on the incoming tide and knew I was missing out. For me it was, admittedly, a low budget commitment. I bought a cheapie foam board with leg strap. Was the strap so I couldn't lose it or it couldn't lose me? Graham disowned me and acted like I was a complete stranger! Why?
I checked around for laughers and lined up with these little kids so full of energy and excitement and off we went in about a 2 foot wave which meant me leaping onto the board and pushing off practically on my knees. These are days to remember forever and we hope there will be more. Me and the kids became mates as we roared 100 metres in to the shore and then turned around and I ran (I'm 5 ft+ tall) and they jumped (they were 3 ft) over the waves back to catch another ride! Unashamedly, I didn't want to leave. Graham had to drag me out of the water to go to home. I yapped all the way home about going back the next day. Is that why surfers wait for hours on a surfboard even with dead flat water and why divers don't want to come up for air and we snorkellers wear wetsuits so we can stay in longer?
This Kirra Beach we know and love - a
training ground for little kids and us big
kids - has been buried these last 7 years
under millions of tons of sand which brings
me back to the importance of Australia Day
this year. On 26 January 2009 - the
people came back to Kirra Beach. Andrew
McKinnon, Gold Coast Media Presenter and
MC on the day, with a group of determined
surfer legend mates decided to make a
map of Australia with their surfboards out
in the water off Kirra Beach and all were
welcome and the purpose was to say
we're Aussie's, this is our Kirra Beach
and WE WANT IT BACK.
So the people came including surfing
legends Stephanie Gilmore (2 x ASP World
Women's Champ), Bede Durbidge (No. 2),
Joel Parkinson (No. 4) - the list goes on and
we Aussies stood on the beach in solidarity
while they talked about the need to restore Kirra.
Then together 1,500 surfers built a map of Australia across the water at Kirra Beach: kids dragging their surfboards onto the sand, the young and older blokes with years of memories thick in their minds and tanned women and girls all with shoulders resolutely set and eyes determined - strangers but on this day, Aussie's pulling together for Kirra Beach.
At 11am, along with kids, mums and dads,
babies, little old ladies and blokes from
every culture (we may not ride surfboards
but we could do this), we climbed up the
hill above Kirra and, like sentinels, stood
watching in the tropical humidity and
sweltering heat to support those making
a stand creating a map of Australia with
surfboards across the water below and it
took a while but even in the searing heat
we wouldn't be moved.
When an Aussie makes up their mind
something's not right and justice should
prevail then look out! We need Kirra
restored and to reclaim back our birthright
of a free playground for us and especially
for our kids in the future to tell fun
stories of their first trip to the beach
bounced by their parents in the shore
waves, of learning to swim and the
challenge and achievement in mastering
a board - any board will do.
All of us were united together at Kirra not only in an Aussie tradition but as an indelible mark of people's birthright in all countries to enjoy nature's heritage, with our faces calm but hearts tough and unyielding:
We're Kirra Beach Dreamin' and WE WANT KIRRA BACK.
*****************************************************************
UPDATE on Kirra Beach...
A year later and Gold Coast residents
and beachgoers are hopefully waiting
for a miracle for Kirra Beach to be
uncovered and the once famous
surf break to be restored.
Photo taken on 8 January 2010
shows the progress on the promised
solution for removal of sand.
Kirra Beach movin' surfboards
Aussies come back to Kirra
Photo taken on 26 January 2009 of sand desert from hill above Kirra
Photo on 8 January 2010 - Kirra Beach at high tide
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bev@aworkinprogress.com.au.
© 2010 Copyright www.aworkinprogress.com.au. Stories by Bev D. Photos by Graham D. Website by Bev D. The Authors, Graham and Bev, assert the moral right to be identified as the Authors of this work. No part of this website may be reproduced and published without the prior written permission of the Authors. All rights reserved.
© 2010 Copyright www.aworkinprogress.com.au. Stories by Bev D. Photos by Graham D. Website by Bev D. The Authors, Graham and Bev, assert the moral right to be identified as the Authors of this work. No part of this website may be reproduced and published without the prior written permission of the Authors. All rights reserved.