The Point at Marengo came alive in a solid autumn swell with waves that tested some of the young local surfers. There were reports of heavy hold downs and a lot of water moving around. Some of the younger surfers said they hadn’t seen it this big. From the little I saw, they handled it.
I arrived at the Point not long before sunset. Big waves were being ridden, bigger and unrideable waves were smashing in their wild way over adjacent Little Henty Reef, and even bigger waves were towering and breaking on the bombies at Outer Henty Reef 3kms offshore. Spray was hanging in the air. Light was rapidly fading. There was a silent but strong sense of spectacle.
Billy carving confidently across a large green face as his options begin to diminish.Unidentified surfer facing an unenviable duck dive, and probably a flogging.After the sun had set behind the hills, Dan finally gave it away. But the power of the Point stopped him in his tracks as he walked cross the reef, drawing his gaze back for a moment or two of awe, and no doubt some well earned pride and satisfaction.This next level wave is on Little Henty Reef. It’s breaking directly over a very shallow and uneven part of the reef. The offshore breeze fittingly gave this force of nature its majestic white mane.Little Henty Reef again, with a lip throwing out as the bulk of the wave is abruptly pulled up by the reef directly beneath. I’ve never seen this happen before at this location.By way of contrast with the might and power of the ocean, I interpose here a couple of photos taken less than an hour’s ride northwest from Apollo Bay. The GS is parked here facing north on a bank on the shores of Lake Corangamite, which is bone dry. The blue dot on the map below shows where the bike was parked. North of the coastal hills the rain shadow effect is always obvious. But drought and near-drought conditions across much of the south of the Australian continent have created parched landscapes like the barren dusty plains once covered by the vast waters of Lake Corangamite.View to the east across the northern end of Lake Corangamite.
The beaches at Apollo Bay provide endless beauty and joy, especially at dawn and dusk.
First past the post.First light on Cape Patton and a flat ocean.Colours created by sunlight filtered through clouds at dawn. The colours in this image have not been edited at all. For the few moments that everything aligned to produce this scene, the sea was actually bathed in red light as shown. This photo was taken on my iPhone.Some photos tell more of a story than others. These two golden retrievers, tethered only to each other, were waiting not so patiently on the beach for their surfer people to come back to shore. The surfers can be seen near a small line of swell out the back. The dog on the right, just as I went to take the photo of this scene, threw back his head and with mournful howls and half-barks sent a message across the waves to let his people know they were required back on shore. A beautiful heart warming scene as daylight faded.
South 