“On The Beach” is a post apocalyptic novel by Neville Shute in 1957. In 1959 and 2000 it was made into films. Based in Melbourne, it described the death of humankind as a result of a nuclear war.
I can understand Melbourne being the focus of a post-apocalyptic story and the phrase “On the beach” has a couple of origins: it’s a Royal Navy term for someone who’s retired and there’s a use of the it in T S Elliot’s poem The Hollow Men.
For us, we’re now “on the beach” but none of the above references apply.
We’ve just moved to Dee Why, a beautiful suburb in the Northern Beaches area of Sydney. We’ve never lived so close to the beach before – just one street back from the beach front – so this is a real adventure.
This morning (our first one here) we took the dogs for a walk along the promenade.
Having just come from the bush country of Galston where there are no people around, to arrive in the middle of the cafe beach society has been quite a transition – some would even call it a culture shock.
We’ve gone from wood chopping, beanies and open fires to people in shorts, swimming, a group doing tai-chi (or something similar) and packed coffee shops. The world is full of contrasts and housesitting is a great way to experience them.
We’re here for a couple of weeks and then move a few beaches further north to Mona Vale, so we’ll have lots of opportunity to experience this lifestyle.
Mind you, we’re already looking at it as “this is why we love the bush” but perhaps that’s just our state of disorientation speaking. We’ll see if we change our world view over the next few weeks.
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