Yamba

I have lived in many places, and now I am living in Yamba NSW which is seven hours north from Sydney along the Pacific Highway and three hours south from Brisbane; and which along with only two other coastal areas in the world, has the most ideal climate (according to the CSIRO) to work, live or play. Living here is great, I love the sunny winter mornings, the constant presence of ocean and the sound of crashing waves at night, the steady rumble of the ocean in the wee small hours! I guess it is true that the sea calms you and that deep down we are attracted to it because it reminds us of our one ( guaranteed we all share this one) living space in common, the womb. Yes, that wonderful space before nappies, teething, potty training, separation anxiety and school, bullying, snide remarks, hormones, the other sex, infatuation, love, marriage, work, the dollar, stress, anxiety, the urge to populate and perpetuate and finally more hormones and deterioration……(my gosh, why do we do it???)….so back to that lovely calm space of dark safety…which in the sounds of the sea comes back to us….( that is of course until you think of sharks, storms, unrelenting undercurrents and all the other things that could be seen to represent our fears in the long boat ride of life, so to speak).

Anyway this blog is supposed to be about Yamba and maybe just a little about all the other places I have lived….I wonder, does living in my head count though? Most of my life is this is where I have lived…in my head, whether I have been in London, Western Samoa, the Hills of Nimbin, lying in my bed, camping in a tent, washing dishes, teaching class…driving around in a bus…my head has been busy making another place to live, a place filled with questions, doubts, frustrations, hopes, dreams…..( Wikepedia says that "Mind collectively refers to the aspects of intellect and consciousness manifested as combinations of thought, perception, memory, emotion, will and imagination; Thought is a mental process in which the mind allows the being to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires…"deal effectively? Actually I ‘think’ it sometimes does the opposite….)

Back to Yamba…my view of Yamba is nicely clouded by the time of my life in which I am living here, the children are all self sufficient. I work sporadically for myself mostly and things are pretty cruisy. I have coffee with friends, go to Yoga or the gym, peruse recipe books and concoct my own surprises. I swim in the ocean pool most of the year as the climate is very mild, I watch my hubby and son surf, I boogie board genteelly and take the puppy for long walks. Things would be perrrrfect, except for the head space I also inhabit….which worries about the teenage son and how happy or unhappy he is with the direction of his life journey, which worries about my hubby working late and if I am being a nuisance because I need his help, which wants to solve all the worlds problems and insists I at least feel enough to cry sympathetically when I see or hear of others troubles( this may be less head and more hormones?) which fights the flabby instead of embracing it and makes me feel guilty about a friendship with chocolate…. which constantly falls into old patterns of trying to keep everyone, (and I mean EVERYONE) happy all the time…making me get up early and cook breakfast, when I would rather stay snug in bed, making me give a massage when I would rather have one, making me buy milk chocolate when I would rather have dark…..and so on! A friend of mine said recently ( and it struck a chord!)….’I live in hope’…

Yamba, apart from all this, is good, picturesque and kind of like being on holiday all the time! I have lived in chronological order, in South Africa, (childhood), New Zealand, (Childhood again), Perth Australia, Adelaide Australia, London, ( Usual working holiday adventures that lasted 2 ½ years and included a brief but celebrated marriage to an Egyptian ) Port Noarlunga South Australia ( home of the next marriage event, not brief, significant and very valuable but not permanent,) Western Samoa, ( as a volunteer with the two oldest kids and the place where I met the true love of my life ), in a bus traveling around the south coast of Australia and up towards Queensland ( in search of Utopia with my beautiful dream filled new hubby) in the hills of Nimbin ( where the two youngest were born) and now here on the central coast of Australia….. I am after all the adventures, getting old here…I feel the menopausal spare tyre creeping around me and weighing me down, my bones tell me when it is going to rain (dear God) and the kids laugh at my music choices….but lots of wonderful individuals feign genuine surprise at my age( God love ‘em!) and I pretend when I am out boogie boarding and the teenage boys ask if I am alright that it is because they have been brought up well and not because they are concerned that I might pass out in their midst. I continue to look at life as though I have just begun it, as though it is a cake too good to waste because I have merely touched the tip of all the icing and I am sure that the sponge part of the cake is tasty enough to keep me eating for a very long time!! And as my friend said, I live in hope……..

( I hope you all enjoy the mood and feel of Yamba through the photos of Yamba and surrounds I have included…..)