Name: Rachel Foster
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Occupation: Big Fat Smile director of marketing and communications
Age: 40
Suburb: West Wollongong
Holiday location: Mollymook, South Coast NSW
My grandparents lived in Mollymook and usually in that time just before Christmas when school had broken up, but my parents were still working, I used to have a wonderful week with them all to myself. My brother Charles is eight years younger than me so he was probably too little or maybe he was still at school, or maybe I was just their favourite.
I can’t remember why he didn’t come too. Dad would drive me to Nowra and nan and pop (Lorna and Neville Agnew) would meet us there for the big half-way handover. I am the eldest of 16 grandchildren so getting my grandparents all to myself was a really big deal.
They were quite young so I loved it when people thought I was their daughter and told me how much I looked like my nan. I thought she was beautiful.
Swimming at Mollymook Beach early in the morning was my favourite thing to do. There are always dolphins at Mollymook and even though at that time of year the water is still pretty crisp we’d spend hours down there swimming and walking along the beach.
We had a special pool on the rock platform that we used to call “the spa” because when the tide was coming in it used to feel like it was bubbling. Pop must have been freezing but he’d stay there with me in the water.
Lorna and Neville were mad golfers so there was always some golfing or just walking around that beautiful Hilltop golf course, usually just before dinner in the late afternoon when it wasn’t too hot.
Nan and I would do some sewing, cooking and shopping in Ulladulla. The sewing definitely didn’t stick as I can’t even sew on a button these days. My nan was a great cook and she’d always cook my favourite meals and squeeze me fresh orange juice for breakfast.
Their house had a really nice smell from fresh summer fruit or whatever nan was cooking.
My pop was the principal of Milton Public School and sometimes I’d go to work with him. Now whenever we drive past I usually stop and take a photo and text it to my dad and aunties.
My kids and husband complain that I’m making the long trip longer. I didn’t realise how beautiful that old school is until recently. It just seemed really old when I was a kid.
When nan and pop first moved there they lived in the house next to the school, so we had the school as our playground.
I now go camping down the coast every Christmas with my own family and I feel really nostalgic about those holidays.
I give a running commentary to my husband and kids during those long Boxing Day car trips heading south about all of the places I visited with my grandparents.
I hope the South Coast becomes as special to them as it is to me. I’m not sure what it is about that place. I’ll always love going down there and swimming in that beautiful water.