Being back in the beach house that witnessed much of my 20s feels strange and wondrous – like a sort of time travel | Nova Weetman
I run from room to room, touching things as if they'll somehow transport me to the past. Not much has changed in the old weatherboard
Many years ago, a friend from university invited some of us to his mum's beach house at Walkerville South. His mum had bought the house super cheap before the world had discovered that there was another impressive coastline in Victoria, far away from the more established houses of the Mornington Peninsula or the Great Ocean Road.
The house was a weatherboard shack hidden in thick native bush. There were two bedrooms, and a large corner couch in the lounge that doubled as two extra beds when needed. Fronted by large windows, you could spy the ocean through the tall trees while standing in the kitchen and waiting for the kettle to boil. It was a house that didn't need too much attention. From the straw matting on the floor to the green bathroom straight out of the 1970s, it was immediately welcoming, and once you arrived, you didn't want to leave.
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Nova Weetman is an award-winning children's author. Her adult memoir, Love, Death & Other Scenes, is out in April 2024 from UQP
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