The angry sea

Although I am now in the comfort of my own home I have not stopped thinking about the things that were seen on my four days in New South Wales. This evening I am looking at a few of the shots I took while at Evans Head. There is a small trawler fleet tied up in a safe little rectangular port, they create a beautiful picture as they lie quietly in their safe patch of water.

The trawlers mostly leave to work through the night but with the sea as angry as it was on the day of our visit I would imagine that catches would not be worth the danger the boats would be in as they struggled to escape through the rolling water in the mouth of the bar.

A drive up to the look out at the top of the rise gave an even better idea of how dangerous the sea might be to small fishing vessels such as we saw earlier.

The Evans Head Bar has long been a problem to shipping and an excellent reminder of this sobering fact is the huge anchor that resides as an eye catching ornament close to the lookout.

The plaque near the anchor gives the story - I know it is a bit difficult to read but since I don't drive around with soap and scrubbing brush when exploring I was unable to clean it up to make reading easier!

Do remember that by clicking on the picture it will enlarge so reading this plaque will be a lot easier than it was for me at Evans Head! The sign is from foot to knee level - not the easiest height for reading!
AJ

wild times

A cyclone is creeping towards the Queensland Coastline. Our area of South East Queensland is not in danger from the cyclone, it will hit land several hundred kilometres north of us, however the effects of it are already showing down on the beaches. ISO 200 f/14 1/320 Focal length 86mm

On Friday I took my camera out for a spin and even though the rain did fall for a bit, I ignored it - it was time to take more pictures!
I had heard that the sea was messy. A major surf lifesaving championship was being held at Broadbeach and the surf boats were not coping with the seas at all well - several of them had been broken in half and many capsized on the rough water. So I wanted to see for myself how the seas looked. Firstly I drove to Burleigh Heads - a few kilometers south of Broadbeach - and watched as several surfy enthusiasts tried and tried to catch a wave. As you can see from my images, the waves were a bit difficult to "read".

ISO 200 f/14 1/320 Focal length 150mm

Walking further up the headland to where many surfers access the water rather than paddle out from the beach. As you can see from my second image, it is a dangerous practice in rough seas! The water was churning rather than rolling predictably but this young man cleared the rocks in next to no time. I was very impressed! (If I was his mother I would have been terrified at his choice of launching pad!)
From Burleigh I moved to Broadbeach a little further up the coast than the surf titles and took my shot of the waves. They are not really all that huge but you can see that the sea is very unstable. We noticed (Colin was with me) a couple of helicopters and a fixed wing plane zipping up and down and assumed they were filming the competition. However later, when we watched the evening news, we discovered that they were actually searching for a missing lifesaver who, very sadly, was drowned while participating in his race.

ISO 200 f/11 1/500 Focal length 18mm

You can just make out the fixed wing beach patrol plane in my photo. Colin told me when I remarked on its multiple passes, that it was used to patrol the beaches and was cheaper to operate than the helicopters.

ISO200 f/9 1/1250 Focal length 125mm

My final shot was taken at the Spit - just north of Surfers Paradise. The sand-pumping jetty is a favourite haunt for fishermen but you can see now the actual size of the waves - now that there are some fixtures to give scale. After taking this picture I walked back to the car and passed a parked van with a trailer who's driver was just about to unload lots of surfboards from his trailer. The sign was offering to teach people how to surf. A Japanese man with a very large pro camera was busy taking shots of the unloading of the boards so maybe a bunch of young people were going to give him some exciting video to send home!

What a sea in which to learn how to surf!

AJ