Life’s a beach
In honour of Fathers Day here in Australia, I’m posting one of my favourite photos of me and my Dad, which was taken at City Beach in Perth. And I tell the story of how this Scottish kid became an Australian beach babe.
Genetically, I’m 100 per cent Scottish. My Dad is Scottish, my Mum is Scottish, every generation before them…Scottish. Unlike The Poolboy, whose genes are a soup of many nationalities and cultures, I’m the human version of a pure-breed dog. Scottish blood as far back as genealogical databases have allowed me to trace.
Scotland is not exactly renown for its long, hot summers and beach culture. But luckily for me, I just happen to have been born in Australia – the land of the long white beach – as my parents had emigrated to Western Australia. Therefore, I had the opportunity to grow up as an Australian beach babe.
My Dad fully embraced the outdoor, beach-loving Australian culture. In the photo above were at City Beach in Perth watching a surf lifesaving carnival. Dad had been a keen swimmer back in Scotland – swimming in almost arctic conditions in ocean pools. Even the generation before my Dad (my grandfather and his sisters) had been good swimmers – somewhat unusual at that time in Scotland, I’d imagine. You have to remember that there were not a lot of public heated indoor swimming pools in Scotland in the early part of the 20th century. Swimming there was an extreme sport.
(Interesting bit of trivia – Scotland lays claim to the world’s first heated indoor swimming pool – in the country house of Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute. Built sometime in the late 1880s/1890s, it is still in use on occasion.)
So, although I was Scottish by heritage, I was a descendent of that obscure sub-set of Scottish clans – the early 20th Century Scottish swimmers.I actually can’t even remember learning to swim. I know that Dad taught me himself, but as far back as I can recall I’ve always been able to swim. I don’t have any memories of that childhood fear of not being able to reach the edge of the pool, or the arm-flailing scramble back up to the surface for air.
As a result, I’ve always loved being around water. And beaches are a particularly special combination of water, and an expanse of sand to walk along.
Beaches play a huge part in my memories of my late teens, early 20s years in Western Australia. Endless summer holidays spent on Bunkers Bay beach or the nearby Eagle Bay…Cottesloe Beach in the late afternoon with a gang of mates after finishing uni for the day…and even a couple of essays written for my Arts degree on the concept of ‘the beach’ in Australian culture.
And now, living a long way from those beaches from my youth, I really value any opportunities I do get to hear the rhythmic sounds of waves ebb and flowing onto long, white sandy beaches. There’s something very restorative to the soul about a wander along a beach. And although these days I’m more of a hot water person than the cold immersion type, there’s nothing like a swim in cold, salty water to awaken the senses and wash away all the day’s stresses.
Here’s just a few of the beaches that I’ve enjoyed in the past couple of years:
What’s your favourite beach?
