When the kids were little, we enjoyed 3 trips to the seaside town of Yamba. Now that the kids were older, surely the 270km (168mi) trip down the coast into New South Wales wouldn’t seem so torturous?
Wrong. There were no desperate pleas for toilet breaks or fights over what to watch in the back seat this time: just the crazy Gold Coast traffic lengthening the trip to 4 hours.
When we arrived it was comforting to see the same sights of yesteryear: the lighthouse, the beaches, the bowls club, the cinema. Yet in 9 years, things had changed a little. The bowls club seemed like a ghost town. Some shops had closed down and others were up for sale. We thought the market was on every Sunday but now it’s only on once a month?
Being school holiday time, 2 new movies were coming out that my son wanted to see: A Minecraft Movie and Dogman. I promised him we’d make a trip to Yamba’s cinema just like old times to see whatever was on. Imagine our disappointment when we realised the cinema was closed due to storm damage. I wondered if it had been caused by the recent cyclone that hit us in March.
Early the next morning my daughter and I got up for a morning stroll, heading to Yamba’s Main Beach. I was keen to get some more shots of the iconic Yamba Ocean Pool I captured in 2017 with a drone (below).
The car park seemed empty and there weren’t many people about. We walked closer to see not a single soul swimming that morning, the ocean pool surrounded by sad looking limp tape. Et tu Ocean Pool?
I guess this is the problem with revisiting places you’ve enjoyed previously. Perhaps there was some combination of circumstances that made you love the destination. If they’re not in alignment for your next trip, you’re in trouble.
In other words, don’t try to recreate the magic, expectation will lead to disappointment. We still had a good time, just not as good a time as we thought we’d have, if that makes any sense.
Just after I took this photo of the helicopter op-shop - a charity store raising funds for the surf lifesaving helicopter - a man stopped me in the street.
“What kind of camera is that? Is that a Leica?” I told him it was a Ricoh GRIII.
“That’s the kind of camera I need. I have pro gear but it’s too heavy. I’ve lived in Yamba for 5 years, I’m leaving next week. First Japan, then on to England. One way ticket. Yamba gets a bit stale if you stay here long enough.”
All photos Ricoh GRIII.
I don't visit the places I grew up in except for once. I drove by the first house my family lived in. While nothing really changed, it did not match my childhood memories.
This one hit in the gut, Matt. That bittersweet feeling of chasing a memory only to find the edges a little duller, the magic a little more out of reach. Totally get the sense of “we still had a good time… just not the one we were chasing.” Happens more often than we admit. That line about not trying to recreate the magic—yeah. That’s wisdom. Also, love that little moment with the guy heading off to Japan—feels like a perfect metaphor for the impermanence of place and phase. Beautiful shots, as always.