Our first Road trip for months, our first for 2020, how I've missed this!
My son Mitch has been in lockdown in Melbourne for most of this year - no opportunity for us to catch up, to hit the road, do some camping and share our passion for Photography and Banana Bread … and Coffee! We'd kept in touch as best we could with video calls, texts, the odd email and phone calls, though I could feel his pain and frustration at not being able to 'get out' …
November 23 he was free … free to drive north and reconnect, face to face with his family. A nervous handshake and warm embrace, to look into his eyes and see the happiness of being out of lockdown … and form a plan to hit the road and 'get out' and shoot!
One of our favourite places to go camping is Mystery Bay, just south of Narooma.
Camel Rock - a feature of this wonderful coastline.
Great coastline, wonderful rock formations up and down the coast - Glass House Rocks, Camel Rock and the iconic Horse Head Rock. This trip coincided with a high tide for sunrise - we were excited to be doing the pre-dawn hikes to the Horse with so much water rolling in … fingers crossed for a cracking Sunrise.
The drive down from Berry is roughly 3 hours, and takes you through some wonderful country side, although much of it now scarred by the fires of early 2020.
Mystery Bay campground fronts the ocean and is one of the few natural camping areas remaining on NSW’s south coast. Set amongst towering Spotted Gums, it's "bush" camping at it's best!
Camp setup, a quick bite and check of the Cricket Score, some home made Ginger Beer, and we are ready to head off for sunset.
After setting up camp, a quick bite to eat, we headed down to Camel Rock for Sunset.
Viewed from the south, these rocks do actually look like a Camel lying down! A large swell afforded some nice wave action as the setting sun lit up the rock faces.
Quite a few other 'togs there enjoying the evening light and ocean breeze.
Camel Rock in the afternoon sun. It really does look like a Camel, no really! The view from the south!
Next morning, a 4:00am start ( "I'm getting too old for this sh!$" 😱 ) … time to reacquaint ourselves with our old equine friend. Previous visits have been timed for low tide, a much easier trek along the coastline … this was going to be next level. High Tide, large swell, at night, headlamps, and suitable ocean footwear. With the assistance and leadership of Mitch, I successfully navigated along the rocky coastline and started looking for compositions, mindful that the tide was still coming in … the hike out would be so much more 'fun' but at least it would be daylight.
Horse Head Rock at Dawn
Some nice sunlight just after sunrise … are those waves getting bigger ???
I dub thee “Horse Head Cove”!
Two Happy Dudes, doing what we love!
So much fun challenging ourselves to get there, as well as the challenge of the big swell.
I love how we can be at the same location, the same light, the same conditions, yet come away with totally different images, different highlights to each adventure!
Back to camp for a cook up brekky - Bacon, Chorizo, baby potatoes, home grown eggs on toasted Turkish bread …. messy and delicious!
That afternoon, we found time for a quiet beverage at Narooma Golf Club, and a Schnitzel for dinner, then down to Glass House Rocks for sunset.
These rock formations are great to explore!
Mitch found a great composition ( check it out here Mitch Green Photos ) - a small ocean channel between 2 of the larger rocks, while I was looking at capturing some small wave swirls around the smaller rocks on the ocean edge.
No 'banger' sunset, just great to be out shooting, and catching up face to face!
Next morning, another early start and we headed back to Glass House Rocks for sunrise. Having scoped out the area the previous evening, we both had a few ideas for sunrise compositions. A tad more colour in the sky, and still some nice waves rolling in allowed us to grab a few 'keepers'.
As much as we love out photography, we do love our coffee and a good cooked brekky.
After quickly packing up camp, we hit the road and detoured out to Mossy Point. We'd searched on the web for places for breakfast, the reviews for the Mossy Point Café were great.
It didn't disappoint! What a great find!
All in all, a great couple of nights away, a great way to catch up and re-connect.
Although we didn't get that stunning sunrise those mornings, it was another story back home next morning!
Again, 4:00am start, we headed north from Berry towards Kiama. We pulled into a headland to check the clouds as best we could in the dark … there was a chance! Good cloud cover and it looked like there could be just a small gap on the horizon, towards the north! Could this be it??
We continued north to Old Bombo Quarry, and headed to the northern channel.
Waiting, waiting, waiting …. then just after sunrise those clouds lit up ….
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! 😁
Golden light streaming through, catching the waves and dancing across the faces of the rocks. That golden light shone through for quite some time … stunning!
BOMBO! BOOM!
Twas a very special sunrise, best for a long time, and awesome to enjoy it with my mate Mitch!