Jay Laurie in the water. Photo courtesy of Jay Laurie.
Into the Sea is the first novel from Australian writer, Jay Laurie. Vividly and simply told, it is about growing up behind the dunes, friendship, traveling into the unknown and living in rhythm with the sea.
Through the early years of a friendship between two boys, Into the Sea touches on first freedoms, the seesawing transition from innocence to adolescence and the impact of sudden loss. In later parts, the novel powerfully evokes life on the road and the unpredictability of trusting to chance traveling in remote places. Along the way, it richly and sensitively describes the landscapes of Australia and Indonesia and their people. The book also captures what it is to ride waves, to be a surfer and, in a more subtle way, the trials, if not impossibilities, of loving one.
Billie (Will) is a small kid bleached by the ocean. He surfs. Riley’s bigger, bites his nails and pretends he does too. They roam their beachside suburb, nose drip over their first surf magazine and start to dream of far off places. Suddenly out of a heatwave, a fire erupts to take more than their bushland.
Later, in their mid-twenties, the friends reconnect driving across the desert. There they live in the heat, dust and cold salt water, amongst a melting pot of passing travelers and violent incensed locals. Riley forgets a girl he thought he knew and Will’s drug addiction gives way to blindness to life beyond the sea which may prove to be even more destructive.
Musings around the campfire become real as Will leaves everything and heads for the tropical islands of Indonesia. At first a phone call, then a postcard, then nothing. Eventually, Riley, in a strong relationship with stable work, sets out to try to track him down and, heading deep into the islands, starts to learn things he never knew he should.
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In the morning, before sunrise, when it was light enough to see, Will got up out of one of the deck chairs and walked down the short dirt track to the lookout. The breeze had picked up in the night and blew cool from the desert and offshore out to sea in gusts. A hooded shape was already hunched over leaning on a railing and looking out to sea. A dog sat loyally by his legs.
He turned as Will scuffed over and smiled out from beneath a mass of dreadlock stranded hair filling his grey hood and nodded at Will: “Mornin.”
“Gday,” Will replied and stopped nearby and looked out at the surf.
“Looks pretty good… ‘bout same as yesterday… you come in last night?”
“Yeah, me and me mate… got in at dusk… been here for a while?”
“Yep… not sure how long zactly… ‘roun four or five months. Drove over from Vicco… headin to West Oz but haven’t got there yet… get there some day.”
“We’ve just come from the west,” Will said.
“Righto… How was the trip across?”
“Pretty bloody long but we took it easy… went via the South Coast and got a few waves there on the way.”
“Some beachies down there aren’t there?”
“Yeah.”
“How long are you guys gunna stay here for?”
“Dunno… we’ll check it out… probly a while,” Will replied. “It’s a pretty easy place to hang out, there’s waves and the fishing’s good… Gotta keep an eye out for noahs and locals in the water though.”
“Where’ve you been fishing?”
“Anywhere you can throw a line in round here mate. It’s plentiful. There’s a beach over the headland there as well,” he said nodding in the direction of the cliffs nearby, “there’s also waves there when it’s smaller… and a jetty on the other side… name’s Randall by the way.”
Will shook his hand: “Will.”
“Good meetin you Will.”
“What’s yah dog’s name?
“Pepper.”
“Border Collie?”
“Yeah… she’s a bit of a mix… I shaved her cos of the heat. Belly looks pretty big.”
“I know… she must’ve hooked up with one of the other dogs round here.”
