Cami and Bella have already taken it as a given and race through the dunes back to camp for bathers and bodyboards.
Ten minutes later, they’re all back on the beach. Danika wears the same one-piece she’s had for years. It’s thin in places, nothing fashionable, but she’s decently covered, and—importantly—it’s stayed in place the few times she’s been dumped by a wave.
She glances at Kim as they stand together on the shore. Kim’s intent on the waves, picking the best spot, and she doesn’t seem to notice Danika’s scrutiny. She wears a purple racerback bikini top, sturdy enough to be a sports bra, and a pair of board shorts. They sit low on her hips and hang to mid-thigh. Her stomach is surprisingly toned, and a gold belly ring flashes in her navel. The sun catches the fine, sun-bleached hairs on her legs. She looks at home in this environment, relaxed in her body and in the beachscape.
Danika’s stomach clenches. Kim is beautiful like this, and a shiver ripples over Danika’s body. For a second, an image of that strong, golden body pressed against her own flashes behind her eyes, and her knees weaken with the wanting.
“Over there looks good.” Kim points.
There’s enough of a wave for the boards, not the sandy churn in the shallows or the flat, dark water that indicates a rip.
A short distance away, surfers ride the rolling breakers, and on the beach a couple stroll hand-in-hand.
Boards under their arms, Cami and Bella gambol down to the water’s edge.
“Wait for us,” Danika calls.
The girls halt, their toes in the sea.
Cami’s ridden a bodyboard before, lying on her stomach, riding the smaller waves into shore. Danika has too, as well as stand-up paddling on calm waters. But Johanna Beach is wilder. Offshore, the waves heave up, roll along, and crash down. The surfers astride their boards waiting for the perfect wave are there because of this. Danika tries not to think of what could go wrong on this unpatrolled, untamed beach.
She and Kim join the girls, who lie on the boards and paddle out to where the gentle waves are. Kim has picked a good spot. A wave here will roll in for quite a few metres.
And that’s what happens. Cami and Bella are soon catching the waves in, tumbling off into the foam as it grinds on the sand, laughing, and then paddling back out again for another go.
Danika and Kim remain waist deep, so the girls come back to them. The water is achingly cold, but Danika ducks down to avoid the splash of chill on her sun-warmed body. Kim has done the same, and her plait drips a stream of water down her back. Something tangles around Danika’s leg, and she kicks it away with a shudder. But it’s only a piece of curly brown seaweed, not anything more sinister.
When they finally go in, the afternoon is already sliding into the purple dusk. The sun lowers itself to the sea as they walk back to the tents, where Kim fills a camp shower and they all wash the sand and salt off in the minimum of water.
“Dinner,” Kim announces.
“I wish we could have a campfire.” Bella pouts.
“You know we can’t have one here, Hella-Bella.” Kim rests a hand on Bella’s shoulder. “The national park doesn’t allow it. But we have yummy things in the cooler.”
“What things?” Cami asks. “I’m starving!”
Danika and Kim divided the cooking duties. One meal each, then on the last day they’ll have cold meat, salad, and leftovers.
“You can decide,” Danika says. “What you don’t have today, you have tomorrow. Either burgers or sausages.” They went for simple, with vegetarian options for Kim.
“Sausages!” Cami shouts, just as Bella says, “Burgers!”
Danika shrugs and turns to Kim. “You get the deciding vote.”
Kim pushes damp hair from her eyes. “Sausages.” That’s Danika’s meal to cook.
Kim sets up the gas BBQ, and Danika arranges the sausages on it. More than they’ll eat tonight, but they’ll have them cold for lunch tomorrow. While they cook, Kim hands around water and encourages the girls to hydrate.
Cami and Bella sit close together, picking the rice crackers out of a bag of trail mix, seeing which of them can find the most brightly coloured.
They eat at the table as the darkness gathers. The waves whisper in the evening, the retreating water grating sand and pebbles over the beach.
Danika has brought potato salad and a green salad. There are snags and fried onions hot from the barbecue, and of course tomato sauce and mustard.
Kim pronounces her vegetarian sausages to be tasty and asks the brand. The kids devour four sausages each and a mound of potato salad. The green salad isn’t as popular.
Once dinner is over, the cleanup done, Cami announces she and Bella want to go looking for wombats.
