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Sunrise over the North Curl Curl Headlands

Curl Curl headland

It was slightly drizzly this morning when I roused myself out of bed and drove out towards Curl Curl. I was disappointed by the sunrise colors yesterday and hoped that I’d have better luck this morning. Initially, I aimed for the rock pools at the southern end of Curl Curl beach, but the orange lights overhead looked too harsh, so I drove to the northern end, aiming for the rock pool there. Alas, it was closed off due to the recent storms that had severely eroded the cliffs by the pool. So I hiked up to the top of the headlands, and soaked in the burgeoning light.

It looked, for a time, that the color might go off. There was high clouds overhead that looked perfectly placed to reflect the pinkish orange hue that just makes me grin so. But the low clouds in the horizon blue balled me. Again.
Sunrise from Curl Curl headland

 

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Can’t complain though. It was lovely to kickstart the morning with a bit of a walk.

But then, this evening, I looked out my study window and saw this sunset. Ahhhh!

Waverton sunset

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A week with my family in Sydney and its surrounds

It has been a phenomenal week hanging out with visiting friends and family from Singapore, celebrating my brother’s engagement, my grandpa’s 90th birthday – and in what style! We went kayaking, sky diving, and whale watching, and in between shared loads of laughter.

Kayaking the mouth of the Minnamurra River (what’s cool is that later on when we went skydiving in Wollongong, we could clearly mark our route)

 

Jeff and I brought my aunt to see the sunrise at Curl Curl Saturday morning. Most of my family made it out there too at other times, on my strong recommendation. Love this spot

 

The main reason for the family reunion in Sydney in the first place: So my grandpa could make his 4th sky dive! And because a 90 year-old man can jump, no one else had a good excuse to demur, so in the end 17 of us jumped, and 11 for their first time!

 

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The relieved but ecstatic crew post jumps

 

We also squeezed in a whale watching trip Sunday… and also spotted a pod of dolphins

 

The breach of the adult whale right alongside a yacht took everyone by surprise, but happily, I was ready for the breach of the calf

 

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Capped off the weekend’s festivities with barbie at our place. We knew we had enough wine glasses for the crowd of 20, but somewhat surprised we had enough cutlery and plates too!

Late Winter Sunrise at Curl Curl

It’s sometimes difficult to wake up when it is still dark out, and throw off the cozy bedspread to head out into the cold. I’ve yet to actually regret that decision though.

No difference this morning. Given that the forecast warned of relentless rain for the next week, today spelled my one window of opportunity to get back out to the beaches for sunrise. I found a new spot this time, the southern end of Curl Curl Beach in North Sydney, and this might be my new favorite location yet!

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Funnily enough, although the picture of the fisherman doesn’t quite lend the feel of a beautiful late winter day, warm enough for t-shirt, shorts and flip flop weather, it turned out to be my favorite of the excursion. There’s something about those swirly waves that draws me in.

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See it is almost spring! Just one more week!

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Catching the sunrise and surfers at Curl Curl Beach, NSW

The forecast sites said to expect only 2-3 ft waves, but when we crested over the hills, the ocean looked roiling. Awesome! The sun was barely up – a faint glow in the blueish purple haze. And yet, we could make out the black shape of a surfer already skimming the surface of the waves. And as we looked down the beach, we saw another dozen black-clad figures running into the surf. Fun morning of shooting. Wished we had better telephoto lens though, as the waves were breaking a little too far offshore for us to make out the faces of the surfers. IMG_7095-96-1 IMG_7089-91-1 IMG_7176-159-1 IMG_7207-186-1 IMG_7201-180-1 IMG_7124-118-1