DAY TO RECOVER

AH, Boxing Day, that wonderfully decadent time after Christmas when hung over from a mountain of rich food, too much of a tipple or a combination of both, Gold Coasters and visitors find solace in tradition.

Thousands will pour on to the beaches early to plunge into the cooling surf to beat the heat, or just to try to put a stop to a pounding head. Hopefully they will dodge the traditional storms later in the day.

Many will embrace that quintessential Aussie pastime of beach cricket, spurning the strict rules of the real thing in the Test on TV to gain whatever advantage they can in a match played on the hard surface between the lapping waters on one side and the soft white sand on the other.

And then there are the sales. Whoever said sport is the nation’s favourite pastime had not reckoned on shopping. It is not unusual for this day of post-Christmas retail frenzy on the Gold Coast alone to generate crowds that eclipse the numbers who attend the AFL and rugby league grand finals and the Boxing Day Test combined.

Game on.