There is something very clever about a holiday home. One gets to combine the joy of holiday with the comforts of home.
It's there when you need time away. It contains all the stuff that one needn't schlepp from home, and accommodation perfect to one's needs without the arduous task of finding somewhere to stay.
And when you're not using it, someone else will want to. Especially in a place like Jervis Bay where if you don't own a holiday house, you stay in someone else's.
The very essence of a laid-back family holiday, Jervis Bay is a mecca for those who like to swim, those who like to sail, jet-ski and kayak, and those who like to cook, braai (or barbi) and entertain.
Those who like to sleep late and those who like to wake up early for a morning run. Want to relax in the sun, read a book, or go for a walk? It's perfect. Care to fish, play beach cricket, or watch a video? No worries, mate!
Between the beach and the houses, the pedestrian/cycle path was always full of activity - with old ladies on their motorised bikes and kids on their Rollerblades. Parents pushed their baby buggies, couples strolled hand-in-hand. Blissful Sydneysiders delighted in their weekend getaway and break from the city.
Jervis Bay is 200km south of Sydney - a pleasant enough drive, even when sandwiched in the back seat of a hatchback, between a bulk-bag of baby nappies and a cooler-box filled with kosher Australian boerewors and cold VB beer.
I arrived a few days after a shark sighting in Jervis Bay, and a recent shark attack elsewhere in New South Wales.
Now I realise that the Australian coast is vast and that sharks are usually harmless (apparently), but the combination of the sighting and the attack was enough to deter me from the water, except once, when swimming in shallower waters than someone else - a glorious false sense of security that lasted a good five minutes of swim-as-fast-you-possibly-can-then-get-the-hell-out.
Strange not to have lifeguards on the long weekend, but the beaches were nevertheless filled with sun-protected children, precarious sandcastles and kraals of beach tents.
4x4s with Australian flags flying, reversed their boats into the water, fishermen with the cliché corked hats settled down for day of lazy (sit in a chair, anchor your rod into the sand) fishing. The sea was ideal for kayaking in the mornings.
As the waves got rougher later, surfers, kite-surfers and windsurfers (the Australians love surfing) would weave across the water to the whine and grind of distant jet skis.
Leisurely walks on the long beaches were wonderful. Seagulls mulled about in the sun, and small hermit crabs scuttled around in the shallow water, salvaging seashells - their own holiday homes.
Strands of seaweed pods lay like washed-up abandoned fairy lights.
People flopped on the freckled sand, pelicans landed like sea planes.
A yellow catamaran, "Old Salt", lay lazily in the sun. The rocks on Huskisson Beach, with their hot burgundy bumps and dead straight water-carved ravines, were explored by squirrels and humans alike - the latter negotiating the potholes with less finesse in this stub-toe city.
The scenery is as soothing as the smell of coconut sun-screen.
The beach sand is bright white and silky soft. Jervis Bay (Hyams Beach especially) is said to have the whitest sand in the world.
It is lovely, but I did wonder whether the judges had in fact visited Cape Town's beautiful white beaches.
What impressed me more was the phosphorescence in the water. Night-time visits to the beach, and the trained eye of an environmental scientist, revealed glow-in-the-dark flashes in the waves, occurring when a certain luminous bacteria comes in contact with oxygen.
Like crazed children we kicked off our shoes, rolled up our jeans and ran into the water, stomping and kicking and delighting in the sparks of light we conjured from the sand.
Jervis Bay is for all ages of holiday-makers and relaxation-seekers.
Whether you wish to play like a youngster or relax like Old Salt, just find yourself a holiday home and have a holiday.
If you go
- Getting there: There are direct flights from Johannesburg to Sydney (12 hours there, 14 hours back) on both Qantas and SAA.
From Sydney one needs to drive to Jervis Bay.
- Visas: SA passport holders will need a visa to go to Australia.
- Weather: It's best to go in summer (December to March)
- Holiday houses: These can be found and booked over the internet.