My puberty blues

I grew up in Sydney's south, a short train ride to Cronulla Beach and the scene of 

my own Puberty Blues.

The only blues this morning were the sky and the water as I took a walk along the headland with my nephews N and L.

South Cronulla beach,  with  North Cronulla,  Elouera and Wanda in the distance

As they whipped along on their skateboards, I was able to take in the view and remember with mixed emotions the days I spent there in my teens, with the ocean a constant backdrop to my happiness and my agnst.

 Elouera Beach and the Wanda sand dunes, the surf, my first bikini, chocolate paddlepops, laughing with my girlfriends,  the Wall, the smell of coconut oil and coppertone, the slow trawl through the boutiques in the main street on our way home.

Just near here was where I had my first (and only) puff of a cigarette and a sip of beer and where my friends and I hung out - waiting to meet some of those surfer boys as they came off the beach.  The smell of marijuana in the air mixed with the salt of the surf.  California jeans, pale blue sloppy joes and hightop sneakers. That's what us girls wore.... no bare midriffs in the 70's!

This morning those  memories all came crashing back, as if it was yesterday not 4 decades ago.

My nephew asked me if I had ever done anything wrong when I was growing up.  

I said, "not really".