Lake on one side, surf on the other.

There is a freshwater lake at Lennox Head that sits one sand dune back from the ocean, and locals have spent whole days there for generations.

Lake Ainsworth is stained the colour of weak tea by the paperbarks that ring it, the water soft and still and shallow enough for little kids. There are free barbecues and picnic tables under the trees, the lake is calm enough to learn to paddleboard on, and when you have had your fill of the fresh water you walk thirty seconds over the dune to the surf. Few places on the coast let you swim a lake, surf a beach and cook lunch without moving the car.

Nobody wants to own the barbecue that lives in the boot eleven months a year, or the esky that eats half the garage. So hire a twin-burner and a wheeled esky from a local in Lennox, add a stand-up board for the lake, and roll in for the day. Pick it up that morning, hand it back clean that night, and your shed stays empty.

It is an easy day to kit out. A twin-burner with its own gas bottle handles sausages and a fry-up without a fire, a wheeled esky drags itself from the car to the shade without doing your back in, and an inflatable paddleboard is made for tannin-still water like this, soft to fall on and stable enough for a first-timer or a dog. The lake is shallow and warm by coastal standards, so nobody needs a wetsuit.

Owning all of that is a barbecue, an esky and a board sitting idle in the garage for most of the year, easily a thousand dollars of kit for a handful of afternoons. Hiring it for the day you actually go is the difference between a spontaneous lake day and a shopping list, and the gear goes home with someone else to store.