I’m revelling in the residual whispers of summer in Australia as I write this. With a kiosk-purchased iced coffee in hand, I watch as the beach I’ve nestled into for the day plays out a familiar scene. Zinc-emblazoned noses and sunblock-swathed bodies are freckled along the sand, and there are more dog-eared books being consumed than you could poke a shade umbrella at (there are plenty of those, too, providing eskies and limbs a place of reprieve from the last licks of the summer sun). Between the red and yellow flags, eager beachgoers tussle with the waves, and outside them, surfer’s wait for the next big set to roll in.
For the past twenty seven years, summer in Australia has been the mantelpiece on which most of my favourite memories rest. Plotting road trips up the coast every time the calendar starts to creep towards December, eating at least six times my bodyweight in mangoes and watermelon (and, all cards on the table: slurping more than double that figure in Aperol spritzes and margaritas), spending countless days shooting the breeze in various parks with friends, burning through podcasts, books and spotify playlists under the dappled shade of a tree, and, as is evident now, gushing at any given opportunity about how much I love those Vitamin D-drenched days (if being a clichè is wrong, I don’t want to be right). That first hot day of summer will always feel like the start of a three-month-holiday, no matter how many years have lapsed since I said goodbye to school, and with it, those gloriously long passages of freedom.
There’s a tinge of sadness to the salty air today, though. This will be my last summer in Australia for a good while. I’m ducking across the pond to give life in Amsterdam a go. (On the lookout for new friends! Enquire within!). Thanks to my old pal, the internet, I’ll still be tuning into CPC to introduce you to all the freshest faces, though, so save your tears for a rainy day. As much as I hate goodbyes—I’m not heeding my own no tears advice right now, tbh :"(—I thought I’d say laters to the Aussie summer the only way I know how: with a day out at the beach.
With four beach babes in tow (Mia, Shimma, Sian and Olivia), CPC angels Sarah Adamson and Ryan Cullen and I made our way down to Sydney’s Little Bay to say bon voyage to summer in SPF-heavy style. As any proficient beachgoer should, I loaded up the car with all the mandatory gear required for a fun day in the sun—surfboards, snorkels, coloured zinc, shell accessories, rashies, boardies and cute pieces from our favourite sun-friendly designers. If you’re in the Southern Hemi, unleash your summer FOMO on the gallery above, and if you reside in the Northern pocket of the world, let it set the tone for the next few months of your life.
'Laters, summer. I barely knew thee.
Words & Fashion: Maddy Woon Photos: Sarah Adamson Assistant: Ryan Cullen
Mia is represented by Stone Street
Olivia is represented by Chic
Sian is represented by Priscillas
Shimma is represented by Kult
Shot on location at Yarra Bay, Sydney, Australia
