Umina Beach
It’s
That
Beach
Everyone has a beach that holds a sacred place in their heart.
For author Cadance Bell, it’s Umina Beach. After a school excursion took her there as a child, her family holidayed to the Big 4 caravan park as she was growing up, and she later camped there herself in Uni.
When the Words on the Waves festival invited her to speak there during the release of her memoir, The All of It: A Bogan Rhapsody, she spent time studying the landscape for a pivotal chapter in Letters to Our Robot Son.
While the beach of the novel is never named, and while Cadance hopes you’ll picture your own favourite beach as you read the scene, in her heart of hearts she pictures Umina Beach.
“Beyond the embrace of cusping headlands, a sapphire ocean curves and never ends.
A little pied cormorant takes it on. The fierce bird folds its slick ebony wings under a chalk breast, making its body a spear. It stabs the ocean and emerges 16 seconds later and satisfied.”
Letters to Our Robot Son
Umina: Best enjoyed with mates
Cadance hangs out with some groovy peeps at the Ettalong R.S.L. during Words on the Waves.
Left to right: Siri & author Kay Wilson, Amanda Sato, Angela Bennetts, author Craig Silvey and Cadance.
Cadance’s must eat & do for Umina
Bacon, Egg & Beach
Grab a bacon & egg roll from the cafe below the Surf Life Saving Club near Umina Beach and eat the living shit out of it while you watch the waves roll in.
Try it Cadance-style, with aioli instead of sauce.
Take the train
The views on the coast line are to die for, even if the stations aren’t always super convenient to the beach.