The Beach-Personal Narrative

he radiant ball emerges, rising elegantly on the distant horizon, sending down its radiant light while the waves embrace the soft, wet sand. The breeze is a refuge from the morning sun; the clouds’ reflections move as a dance in the waves. I sit engrossed and allow the soft foamy mist from the rampant waves forming a feathery ocean spray which wafts lightly across my face. When the sun has completely risen above the horizon and the day has begun. The colours of the sea, the sky and the sand swirl together and eventually shape my day into perfection. It is the most beautiful setting that I enjoy each time I visit the Kimberley Coast.

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I could sit here for hours with the sand cushioning my body. It is still, silent and lonely… quiet on the

He seemed to know exactly who I was referring to and informed me that little Inala was a familiar site on the beach each day. She was safe there as the elders of her family kept a quiet watch on her, the sadness in her life was that he mother had become a dysfunctional alcoholic and was unaware that she had even given birth to a little survivor, Inala, who had designed a life to be lived out on the beach. Bill, the manager assured me that Inala had an extended family but was the result of what happens to tiny lives who are exposed to alcoholism in early childhood. Bill also revealed that Inala’s dad was a member for the defence force and had been deployed in the Middle East for the last four and a half years. I reflected on Inala’s mother substituting alcohol to the partnership of her

I then researched into this new interest and discovered that I could be introduced to this volunteer work by joining a two-week trip to the Kimberley Coast to work with the disadvantaged and assist indigenous Australians who are in need of help. I took the opportunity. Usually, it takes many hours to pack, deciding what to take, which clothes would suit. However, I found myself packed organised and ready to go in next to no time. I specifically asked to be designated in the area where I had previously met Inala. She was in the fore front of my mind and I knew that she needed my assistance. After the plane landed and the bus had dropped me off to the centre where I was to work from I headed off to the beach hoping to once again see Inala in the arms of her beach. I scanned the shoreline and tucked in the side an enormous sandstone rock, sleeping soundly was Inala, slightly more dishevelled and in need of gentle