Yes so we arrived home safely after a very fun schoolies yesterday. All seven of us – me, Smitty, Elaine, Beth, Mollie, Emma and Kale – made it back to Ballarat pretty late last night, pretty buggered after the 12 hour drive home (not all of which was spent actually driving, thank god). I didn’t take my laptop or anything else that was terribly electronically sophisticated (just music players), so I didn’t write a journal or anything like that each day (maybe I should have written it on paper? Pfft paper… It’s so yesterday ). Due to this, my memory of exactly what happened could be slightly off-colour, and I will most likely forget numerous events. That said, I will do my best to recount the major happenings (and unhappenings) of our week in Bermagui (which, for those who don’t know (basically anyone who hasn’t been there), is on the NSW coast just north of Merimbula (almost 400km south of Sydney)).

I’ll actually start with the day before schoolies, which was quite interesting in itself. I was under the impression that everyone was bringing their gear to my house at 4pm so we could back the cars before we left (so we didn’t have to do it in the morning). However, the only person that turned up anywhere near that time was Kale. Some of the rest had excuses, some didn’t, some even denied that they were told to meet there. I was pretty pissed by 5 o’clock. That said, everything worked out fine in the end, so no grudges were held, and by 11pm that night I was in a good mood with everyone going. Elaine, Beth and Smitty came over at like 9 to help me finally pack, which was good. We had too much stuff to fit in the cars alone, so we had to chuck the roof rack on Dad’s car at the last minute, but it was worthwhile. We got to bed after 12 – so much for an early night before a very early morning!!

As I said before, Wednesday begun with a very early morning (I was up before 4am). I quickly jumped in the shower, had brekky, etc., then jumped in the (pre-packed) car and drove off to pick Kale up. Then we went to meet everyone else at Elaine’s, chucked in the last of the gear, and headed off on our journey. Elaine and I shared the driving of Dad’s car (Nissan Patrol) and Smitty drive his car (Mazda 323) (he wouldn’t let anyone else near it). So in my car was Elaine, Beth and Kale, and in Smitty’s was Emma and Mollie. Beth and Kale talked and talked the whole way up, and there were no fights, so all was good (except once, when I threatened to turn off the two-way radio because someone in the other car was trying to play music through it, but we could only really hear static. Static is really annoying whilst trying to drive! Anyways, we got to Bermagui pretty safely, and met the lady at the park, who kept complaining about the wind when it wasn’t even all that windy (she also thought we were horrible drunken schoolies, so she wasn’t very nice at first. She got to like us by the end though, and ended up giving us two free ice creams each on the second last day!). The caravan park we stayed in was practically empty, which suited us just fine. We were on Regatta Point, which is on Wallaga Lake, and just a couple of hundred metres from the ocean! It was lovely, and we had great views.

I can’t really remember what happened each particular day after that, so I’ll just mention things in no particular order. It’s not as if it really matters. First up, Tilba. Tilba is a historic town that has all nice shops and stuff, and wasn’t far from Bermagui, so we decided to check it out. It was really nice, and there were some cool and crazy locals there. There was also a lolly shop, with the biggest range of lollies in NSW. I bought some . We also went to the cheese factory and tasted some cheese, which was a new experience for me. I’ve never been cheese tasting before! I also bought some of the cheese I tasted. It’s all been eaten already. We decided we were pretty hopeless schoolies at this stage – I mean, cheese tasting, for crying out loud!! Hehehe. Also, I seem to recall that only four of the seven people took alcohol on schoolies (not me!), and I think all of them brought some of it back. Hardly any was consumed. Yeah, very terrible schoolies . That’s the way I like it though!

Bermagui itself was a lovely place, I thought. There wasn’t a hell of a lot there, and the whole town seemed to die at about 6:30pm (we found that out numerous times, with a few last-minute runs to get matches and the like), but really, who cares?! There were plenty of nice beaches there, and the locals were mostly pretty friendly. Out of all the places we visited, I think it was probably my favourite. Eden and Merimbula were pretty nice, but I still think Bermagui was probably better. I definitely liked it a lot better than Narooma and Bateman’s Bay, neither of which I found terribly attractive (although the meals at the bistro in Bateman’s Bay were pretty darned nice!).

Now for the story of the week: Kale losing his shorts on Beare’s Beach!! I wasn’t there, but some of the others were at the beach swimming, and a big wave came and Kale’s board shorts came off. He wasn’t wearing anything underneath. Luckily for Kale, the beach was deserted except for fellow schoolies. Beth almost drowned because the waves were big and she couldn’t stop laughing, it was that funny! In a way, I wish I was there, because it would’ve been absolutely hilarious, but on the other hand… Yeah, Kale naked is something I don’t really want to see. Needless to say, the rest of the week was spent making jokes about Kale losing his shorts. It was rather fun. For everyone except Kale, that is. But maybe he should’ve worn something underneath his boardies! That would’ve saved a lot of paying out.

Besides Beare’s Beach, I think the only other place we went swimming was in Wallaga Lake, which was nice and placid and all that. Except for the jellyfish, but they were only there at night, so it was okay! Apart from that, we didn’t do a lot else. A lot of the time was spent sitting around and reading, etc. (Mollie read like 20 books over the week!), which I was really grateful for. In Sydney we were constantly on the go, and I wanted some time to just lay back and relax with friends. ‘Twas very lovely indeed. Also, we did a teeny bit of 4WDing, mostly because Smitty kept nagging about it . It was really good fun, actually. Nothing too serious or anything, but some nice bumps and hills and all that!

Elaine did most of the cooking for the week, which wasn’t really supposed to happen, but I wasn’t one to complain too often. She did a darned good job, mind you! The food at the start of the week was marvelous, and although it slowly deteriorated due to dwindling amounts of food money, the standard stayed pretty high, and was always nice. I cooked the last night though – it was good old camping food. Jaffles!! Basically, toasted sandwiches, filled with tinned spaghetti (baked beans, ham, cheese, etc. are also suitable) and cooked on the fire in a jaffle iron!! Some of them were a tad burnt, but they were delicious nonetheless.

I really loved the sky in Bermagui. Living in Ballarat, the lights of the city make it harder to see as many stars as in the country, so it was really nice. I miss the stars (used to have them all the time when I lived in Yendon). Also, towards the end of the week there was a full moon, and on the last night (or second last?), the smoke from the bushfires in the Snowy Mountains made the moon go orange. It was quite spectacular! So one of my fondest memories of schoolies would have to be lying on top of the car in my sleeping bag staring at the sky and the trees. Mmm…

Oh, I almost forgot. Everyone except me and Elaine went on a day trip to Bega and Merimbula. We couldn’t be bothered with more cheese factories, and I slept for half the day anyway. They went to the Bega cheese factory, which apparently wasn’t anywhere near as good as the Tilba one. Also they raved about the McDonald’s in Merimbula. I didn’t see how it was all that different to any other Maccas, but hey, who am I to judge? .

I was pretty worried about the trip home, thinking we would all be completely buggered and we would have trouble getting home okay. But all the drivers stayed surprisingly alert, and we didn’t crash/die/anything else horrible. I was pretty glad about that. I got a little snitchy a couple of times, so I guess that I actually was pretty tired, but the trip ended on a positive note, so all is well.

That’s all I can remember for the moment. I’m sure there is more, but I can’t recall it at this precise moment in time. Meh. Anyway, today was spent unpacking and cleaning out the car (I still have to wash the outside though). I didn’t mind – tis nice to do something routine and mundane for a change . Oh well, that’s about it from me for now! I suppose I had better go and find something to do until our Yr 12 scores come out on Monday. That will provide me with a few hours entertainment, and then I suppose I’ll have to find me something to do in between that and when Uni offers come out. Oh, and I suppose I should fit Christmas and New Year’s in there somewhere too… Wow it’s come up so fast!! See you for my next blag soon, I suppose!!

Love James