Ash and I got a fair bit of snoozing done in the back of the van during this leg of our East Coast road trip, as Lisa reveled in her role as van driver and Luke put in some lengthy shifts at the wheel. One of which saw us arrive in Malacoota.

Malacoota had no attractions or activities of particular note, but happened to be a convenient distance along the coast. It turned out to have a pretty sweet beach. Nice and quiet, clean open sands, good skim boarding and surf! In fact it was the first opportunity I’d had to use my new board. And it was sweet! The sun shone all afternoon, but we eventually dragged ourselves away from the sand for dinner.

The girls drove the interceptor back with all the beach gear. Luke, Toby and I walked back to camp. Ash grabbed the interceptors spoiler and skateboarded home. The next time I saw him he had acquired a several cuts and scrapes. The girls said he had suffered a few rolls over the concrete when he fell. Ash claimed they were army rolls.

For some reason we were truthful about the number of us camping, so had two sites. One was pretty nice, with the van, table, chairs, and the hammock. A hammock that Luke, Ash and I had tried for ages and failed to set up, before Carolyn put it together in a couple of minutes. The other site was easily the worst looking site in Malacoota. We tied a tarp to the interceptor to cover the non-waterproof tent and stuck the two semi-working tents next to a pile of sawdust. The other broken tent we left flat on the floor. The site served its purpose though, and we did stay dry.

We camped in the town for two nights, but for a change of scenery hit Betka Beach on the second day. No surf, but plenty of running, skimming, and chasing Lisa’s parasol down the beach.

On the evening we ventured into town for a few polite beverages. After a couple of sophisticated drinks in a restaurant we thought it was time to hit the local boozer. A pub that Ash and I decided against the previous night, due to it being a hick bar and absolute inbred sausage fest. We slotted in pretty well though, with a jug of Tooheys and packet of crisps.

We decided to leave early the next morning because the next drive was a long one. As there would be no more surf for a while after Malacoota, I decided to wake even earlier to catch some morning waves. At six o’clock I crawled out of the tent, unpacked the car, loaded my board and drove to the beach. Expecting to see a desolate beach leading to the massive waves, I was actually greeted by a couple of old men doing morning exercises and the calmest ocean I’ve ever seen. It was nice to be up and I swam a little, but I would rather have slept for an extra two hours. Not to worry. Lisa was driving and Luke navigating, so I could sleep through the whole journey!