Cup day 2020; the stands at Flemington were empty, but shores of Halfmoon Bay were heaving. Like the weekend just passed, this was another celebration of our newly granted freedom. It was a sunny 30 degree day and my dear friend, who I will refer to as Kay, organised a small-ish beach gathering. I say “small-ish”, as I’m not sure it really adhered to the current social-restrictions. Kay had set up 3 big marquees, a generator and DJ Mixer with speakers. A popular man he is, Kay’s gathering was filled with the “cool kids” of Melbourne’s creative cohort. Very much a people person, I wouldn’t have expected any less from him.

I had arrived a little late, as my partner and I had spent the earlier part of the afternoon at a picnic in Brunswick. It was quite the contrast coming from a chill and relaxed environment to the almost festival like scenes created by Kay. When we arrived, we were shocked by the amount of attendees, so we decided to say hello to Kay, otherwise known as ‘the man of the moment’ and then set up shop a few meters away from the madness. We were joined by a few other friends, who had arrived some hours earlier.

Despite the amount of noise and movement, the serenity of the beach remained. It was comforting to know people were enjoying themselves again after months of forced hibernation. I sat on the sand, tuned out and watched the water as the sun glistened on its surface. I couldn’t help but reflect on the year that we’ve seen. Now at the tail end of the year, I wondered if this is where everything looks up, if we can finally do a sigh of relief and start kicking those 2020 goals we had planned months earlier. However, I also thought about the last tease of freedom we had in the middle of the year, between the two stints of lockdown. I did ask myself. “Will we be going back into lockdown in a few months?”. However, that was a question I could not answer. So I decided to enjoy the moment.

Kay was in the zone, surrounded by others as he spun tracks on the DJ mixer. I couldn’t help but get up and dance when he dropped ‘Oh Juliana’, one of my favourite Brazilian party tunes of the year. At that moment I really felt like I was in a different place. The song came to an end, so I decided to make my way back to our little group and sit next to my partner, who was deep in thought. She looked content. I didn’t want to break her almost meditative state, so I said nothing. At this point, I saw the perfect opportunity to take a photo. As she was looking off into the distance, a gate was in her line of sight. From my angle was an interesting image, which to me signified freedom but still spoke of the remnants of Melbourne’s lockdown. As the sun was casting light on her cheek, it was clear this was an outdoor image, however the gate in front looked like we were caged in. This image ran parallel to the idea that we are still getting used to socialising on a larger scale, after months of lockdown.

It was an enjoyable day in the heat and sun, which I missed dearly. The heat and sunshine hits differently when we have our freedom.