One Mile Beach

The Holiday Park at One Mile Beach is impressive.  It sits right up against a giant crescent beach that always seems to have at least one surfable wave and is ideal for morning jogging.  The pool (see photo in the previous post) has a water slide, kids' pool, hot tub, and waterfalls.  There's a mini golf course, a jungle gym, tennis courts, and a clubhouse where there's always a Disney movie being projected onto the wall.  The front desk rents out pedal-powered go karts and there are free barbecues throughout the park for throwing shrimp onto.  During the busy times of the year this place must be packed and bustling, but this week the Aussies are at work and at school, so we have it almost all to ourselves.

There are a few other tourists around and we meet a family of Belgians by the pool one morning.  They, like us, have a baby around 7 months old, and a toddler, but theirs are boys.  Like us, they are travelling around Australia for a few months, taking a break from work and focusing on the family.  We fall into a conversation about the pro's and con's of it all and have some good laughs about how similar our experiences are.  Rusty and the boy her age seem to hit it off well even though he only speaks French.  They throw a ball back and forth which is cute because neither is all that good at throwing or catching.  The ball goes off in all directions.  When it lands in the water, if it is too deep for Rusty, he bravely wades in to get it and then presents it to her.  Like a knight in shining armour, only in water wings.  He calls her "La Belle".

We meet up with the Belgians for some snacks and drinks later that evening.  Rusty and the little boy are like best friends.  They colour for awhile, they tickle the baby's feet, they feed each other pistachios.  Wait.  Rusty ate pistachios??  Ellen and I have to look twice to believe it because there is no way she would ever take pistachios from us, but there it is.  She is eating them so fast that her cheeks are full.  It must be love.  They sit side by side in a camping chair for most of the evening, both good as little angels, while the grown-ups sit around and talk.

Le Belgian et La Belle

Rusty also falls in love with the waves at One Mile Beach.  We walk all the way down to one end along the wet sand.  Audrey is in her carrier, strapped to my chest, losing her fight against a nap, and Rusty is chasing sea gulls with Ellen.  A couple times a big wave crashes and swamps over her knees, leaving her flapping her arms and looking for a safe leg to hug.  By the time we get to the end of the beach, the waves are the main game and the sea gulls are forgotten.  She creeps up to where the last wave is receding, waits as long as she can dare, and then runs like hell away from the next wave before it catches up and soaks her.  And then she keeps running.  And keeps running.  She goes about 50 meters up the beach, over all the dry sand and into the dunes.  It takes about half an hour.  Ellen and I want to laugh our heads off, but we try not to because she is so earnestly running, very slowly, for her life.

Rusty running from the wave

Downward Dog-Drench