To continue the tradition of the “bogan” group of boys of Manly High, Australia Day is set aside to be spent camping in a location that lies within close proximity to a beach. Previous years have seen us at:
- 2001 - the back of Ev’s place;
- 2002 - Kioloa (photos);
- 2003 - Halliday’s Point (photos);
- 2004 - Moruya Heads (photos);
- 2005 - Kioloa (photos); and
- 2006 - Booti Booti National Park.
Duncan and I formed the A-team and headed up on the Wednesday morning (christening the VW Golf with the name “The Valkyrie” thanks to Dunc and letting her see a 110km/h highway for the first time) to set up camp in pouring rain, while B-team (Mike and Charles) followed up that night to enjoy a few cold beverages. We were greated with a phenomenal sunset that evening - with a rainbow on the horizon and a fiery cloud over the trees behind.
Sunset with a Rainbow
Sunset over the Hill (HDR + Tonemapping)
Duncan at night (lit by LED head torch, 13sec exposure)
Next morning Mike + Charles hit the beach for a surf, while Dunc and I enjoyed the cold water with a swim (plus I took my regulatory photos of the boardriders). After grabbing some burgers for lunch we headed back to site to be greeted by Stu and Richard who had driven up in Stu’s trusty Mazda. Alistair also made an appearance, having caught the bus down from up at Coffs where he’d been with his family. Beers + dinner ensued and a good time was had, and it wasn’t long before the final contingent arrived in the form of Sebastien Wilson driving his Ford Focus sedately as always with the T Chapman experience and Foster in tow.
Mike D
Charles
Australia Day entailed a large amount of time playing beach cricket, swimming, surfing (and a bit of camera work for me) before the clouds rolled in and we moved back to camp. The locals showed up with a few nice waves while the T Chapman experience performed for the camera. During the evening we had a visit from a local - a rather large Green Tree Frog that decided to take up residence with Stu for the evening rounds of beers.
Seagull amazed at Foster’s barrel-of-the-day
Beach Cricket
Locals show Foster how the waves are to be caught 
T Chapman using a wave as a couch
Mike D - Man of Mystery
Stu’s Green Tree Frog
Stu’s Green Tree Frog
The Pretty Pictures
7 Mile Beach
7 Mile Beach
7 Mile Beach
The Moon
Stars over 7 Mile Beach
The final full day was spent much like the rest - the beach, swimming, surfing and cricket followed by BBQ and beers. The first barrell of the trip was captured, and much to Foster’s distress it was a mini one caught by the T-Chapman experience.
Stu, Mike + Foster
Stu + reflections
Local(?) Surfer
T Chapman’s Mini Barrell
How did you take that picture of the stars at the beach? i can never find a setting to do that! Incredible!!!
Always love your photos! I’ve got to come away on one of these surfing trips sometime.
Pictures at the beach was a long exposure that was then ever so slightly photoshopped (well, I altered the levels).
Ben, surf trip somewhere would be saweet! North or south?
North, South, East or West, I’m easy (well perhaps just North or South. East or West sounds silly :-))
hehehe - well, west isn’t that silly - WA has been awesome according to the Eugene Tan.
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