A lucky group of members of our club spent a most delightful weekend on the south coast at Kiama, this short note will attempt to capture the highlights of our two days to remind fellow members how great a time we had and also to encourage those who did not travel to make sure you don’t miss out the next time a trip is planned.

Brilliantly planned and organised by Nick and Rachel Hill and ably assisted by David Caswell, we had an easy drive down to the meeting point at Mt Keira, after a short break and a little chat we moved on to Wollongong.
Here people had priorities, some sought coffee and others started taking photos of the two lighthouses and immediate area.

We set off for Kiama and the blowhole, some made a detour to capture the smoke stacks in action at Port Kembla. At Kiama we had the first of the two lunches provided and catered for by Nick and Rachel, the volume of food was enormous, the quality outstanding and selection was huge.
David C supplied lots of ice cold water which was needed, as we were enjoying perfect weather in the park leading to the lighthouse and Blowhole. The major Blowhole was not working but the smaller one down south of the town was putting on a display that was easy to capture and practice our skills on.

A late afternoon trip to Bombo Rocks was well worth the effort and despite the lack of afternoon sun, we got to see the huge potential of this area, and I for one will return to capture it again an hopefully get that sunset magic working on the colour of those magnificent rock faces.
Dennis Jones, our President, gave a comprehensive talk on aperture and was happy to answer lots of follow up questions from his “students”.
Dinner at the Leagues Club was delicious and great value and we scored a room all to ourselves, which allowed us to enjoy each others company.

The following morning we had a very early start to join Alan and Ruth Purnell at Cathedral Rocks, we left town in a convoy to ensure we all arrived at the right place. To say that Alan was attentive to our needs would be an understatement, he is a born teacher and of course has a vast amount of experience in “Dawn Seascapes” which he was happy to share, and he and Ruth gave great encouragement to all those present, to ensure they got the most out of the morning. For me this was the highlight of weekend, the sharing of great knowledge by someone who wanted to see us take better photos.

We decamped from our various motels in Kiama and spent a few hours at Minnamura Rainforest, where we enjoyed a long walk beside the creek and little waterfalls to build up an appetite for the last of Nick and Rachel’s wonderful lunches. At this time I left to return to Sydney however some members continued on to other areas to capture some more shots.

I would like to thank the committee, Nick, Rachel & David and of course Alan & Ruth for this fabulous opportunity to enjoy great company, wonderful food and the sharing of such valuable knowledge, one could not fail but to return to Sydney a better photographer.