Bermagui Brilliance

A trip to the Sapphire coast is a bit of a pilgrimage for all Landscape and Seascape photographers so I was delighted to get the opportunity to travel down to the South Coast of NSW last week to experience this gem of an area.

We based ourselves in the quiet town of Bergamui, a 5 hour drive South of Sydney. The town has some fantastic beaches as well as a plethora of cafes, restaurants and some of the best fresh Oysters that you’ll ever taste.

Beare’s Beach in Bermagui, NSW

But the real drawcard of the area for me was to visit some of the most dramatic rock formations I’ve ever seen.

Camel Rock lies at the end of a beautiful long beach just north of the town, as the name suggests the rock itself is in the shape of a Camel.. but o be honest thats not the best view of it. Getting up close particularly at a lower tide gives some amazing compositions.

Camel rock near Bermagui on the Sapphire Coast in NSW

Late afternoon Sun on Camel Rock, Green Algae on love heart rockpool in the foreground

A very short distance from Camel Rock is Horse Head Rock. As the name suggests this is a huge rock formation in the shape of a horse’s head that juts out to sea. This can only be accessed at low tide by scrambling across rocks from Camel Rock, there may however be another steep way down from the coastal path other end of the beach, again only at low tide. I was lucky to get a low tide at sunrise while I was there.

Morning colours at Horse Head Rock near Bermagui

First rays of sunshine light up horse head rock on the NSW Sapphire Coast

We had been due to swim the seals at Moreton Island near Narooma but sadly sea conditions put paid to the trip. This dint stop us from taking in some of the other local attractions though including Australia Rock in Narooma and the beautiful townships of Tilba (including the very nice Tilba Winery).

Our next sunrise was Glasshouse Rocks, a beautiful shark fin like rock formation on a stunning beach in Narooma. It was a hazy start to the day so had to get a little closer to the rocks than I would have liked for sunrise but still very happy with the results

Sunrise at Glasshouse Rocks in Narooma

Glasshouse Rocks sunrise in Narooma, NSW

Morning sun hits stunning rock formation at Glasshouse Rocks Beach in Narooma, NSW

All in all a fantastic trip, we stopped in Ulladulla on the way back for a fantastic Engagement portrait session. I’ll post some of those soon!

As ever all images in this blog are available as limited edition fine art prints, get in touch for details.

Ocean rocks at Beare’s beach, Bermagui

Easter fun

With Easter and Anzac day being so close together this year there was the opportunity to take an extended break and I was able to get away with friends and family to see some of New South Wales prettiest parts.

For the first part of the trip a group of us ventured to New England National Park. Its a 7 hour drive from Sydney and sits on the Waterfall Way between Armidale and Coffs Harbour. We stayed in a couple of cabins high up in the rainforest at nearly 1500m altitude. A beautiful place but we did spend most of our stay living in the clouds. However that lent itself to some beautiful rainforest scenery and atmosphere.

And outside of our little cloudy cottages the scenery was also stunning and it made the trip so worthwhile. All along Waterfall Way there are national parks and waterfalls and vistas galore, its well worth the visit.

---

For the second part of the trip Truc and I took Alfie for a few nights camping at Chapman Valley near Putty. This vast piece of farmland is home to a horse riding centre and is also used for cattle. The real pleasure here though is that they allow camping on very remote parts of the farm. This means that we were able to camp miles away from anybody else and enjoy nature at its very best. There are many hiking and riding options on the property itself and we were a short drive away from the wineries in Broke and the beautiful Cold River.

From photography point of view we were blessed with clear skies and an opportunity to watch the millions of stars. We also were spoiled with gorgeous countryside and panoramas.

The remote campsite

All Images on this trip were taken on the Fuji XT-2 its a great little mirrrorless DSLR which is great for travelling. Its packed full of features too and extremely versatile in all conditions. As ever all images here are available as limited edition wall prints. Available in a range of sizes and finishes.

New Zealand Part 5 - Wanaka & Franz Josef

Wanaka & Franz Josef

From Queenstown we headed back North, although this technically signalled the start of the way home there was still plenty to see and do.

First up was Wanaka, a relatively short drive from Queenstown across the stunning Crown Range Road. We found a fantastic campsite about 10ks out of town and managed to pitch the tent right on the edge of the lake. The image below is taken just a few feet from the tent and in the distance you can see the white cap of Mt Aspiring.

View from Glendhu Bay

A highlight of the region is the Roy's Peak walk. An 8km uphill walk to lookout over the lake and Mt Aspiring national park. OK, so we only went half way (my physiotherapist still won't be happy) but the views were still stunning.

Roy's Peak

The most photographed point in Wanaka however is a small willow tree which grows a few metres into the lake. On first glance you are left wondering what all the fuss is about but it does allow for a nicely composed shot with the lake and the mountains. We were lucky enough to get a bit of colour in the sunset when we were there.

That Wanaka Tree at sunset

Twilight at the tree

From Wanaka we hit the road again and headed across to Glacier Country. One of my fondest memories of New Zealand from my last trip 20 years ago was the help-hike on Franz Josef Glacier and I was keen to see it again.

We were greeted by some ominous low hanging cloud and it looked as though we wouldn't be able to fly to the top. The flight that we had booked for the morning had been cancelled and no further trips were available during our stay with that company. We did however find another operator with availability for that afternoon so we reserved a couple of spots and hoped for the best.

In the meantime we headed over to Fox Glacier to visit Lake Matheson. It's famed for its perfect reflections of Mt Cook but bearing in mind that morning's cloud and a breeze we weren't hopeful of much. But much as the rest of the trip we were so lucky with the weather, just as I set up the tripod the cloud cleared and the breeze stilled....

Lake Matheson

And we got further luck in the afternoon as the weather held off and allowed us to do the heli-hike. Helicopter is now the only way to get up to the glacier, when I had been there previously the Glacier reached a full 2km further down the valley and was walkable, but now  due to global warming that is not possible, and in 20 years time I doubt anyone will be able to go up there. More information about the glacier can be found here www.franzjosefglacier.com

Glacial Pillars

Glacier Wave

Helicopter dwarfed

Looking Cool on Franz Josef

Our luck with the weather had to come to an end at some point and so it was as we drove from Franz Josef to Arthur's Pass that the rain settled in and there were no views to be had. 

Our final stop on the way back to Christchurch was at Castle Hill, an amazing spot not too far from Arthur's pass and popular with boulderers. Its an area filled with giant granite rocks and boulders that looks as much like an art installation as a rock formation.

Castle Hill Monolith

Castle Hill - Arthur's Pass

And that brings me to the end of the trip. New Zealand is a truly fabulous place and I urge everyone to visit at some point. I sincerely hope that its not another 20 years before I get to go back.

Thank you so much to Truc for joining me on this trip and for your all round awesomeness. Also thanks to Norm (Indigo Photography) for his photographic camaraderie and friendship.

Thanks for reading, I hope you have enjoyed these pictures - as ever, please get in touch should you wish to purchase any large high quality wall art of any of them.

Tony.