A new start

It didn’t occur to me at the time, but in hindsight it was a perfect moment to start my story — walking out of the water on the beach at Bryon Bay.

At the time I just thought it would be nice to take advantage of the sun and surf. I didn’t have any other clothes with me except for the suit I was wearing… so I walked into the water in my navy blue suit trousers and swam out past the break. It was only when a local asked whether I was on drugs that I came up with the response that my suited swim represented the start of my new life.

That was exactly one week ago now, on 23 December 2004. I was only passing through Byron Bay on my drive from Canberra (where I had lived for the past five years) to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.

The day before was important for two reasons. The first reason was that the 22 December 2004 was the summer solstice. Apparently, the original reason for christmas was to celebrate the northern hemisphere’s winter solstice (shortest day in the year), which is the southern hemisphere’s summer solstice (longest day in the year). I had only discovered this recently and spent the rest of the christmas period wishing people a happy summer solstice — part joke, part trivia, part continued rebellion against my ultra-christian upbringing.

The second reason that 22 December 2004 was important was that it was my last day at work. At 4:30pm I packed the last of my gear into my car and began my long drive north. The next day, following a brief sleep on a picnic bench and my Byron Bay swim, I arrived in Brisbane. Tired. Excited. Unemployed.