The coast with the most (rain)

Despite its proximity it has been some time since I have been to the South Coast of NSW. Actually, I guess it wasn’t that proximate for a couple of months when I was in Europe. And I think it may have been March but I like the vagueness of ‘some time’ which is like saying to someone who is expecting something (usually work-related) that it will be with them ‘shortly’. Wriggle room.

Taking a little while to drive down into and under the clouds to Tuross Heads, this trip involved a few days of diverse weather and sporadic friendliness from locals. But any trip that includes two barbecues, two times fish n chips beside water, two rounds of golf by the sea is fine by me. Come rain, hail, thunder, wind or shine.

Golfing was rather fortuitous, not so much in the balls launched towards cliff top greens and plummeting down to the raging waters below, but the relative lack of water coming from the sky. And what a fine place to play Narooma Golf Club is, rekindling a desire to do a bit of swinging more often. Helped by the solitary birdie, the muscle memory of linksland chip and runs, and the whale tails flapping out in the ocean. All reaffirming a vision of early retirement in Narooma.

The driving was pretty good, but then I got in the car. Apparently Brisbane was suffering from super storms that they had insufficient warning about even though I knew about the likelihood of them two days earlier, despite clearly not living in Brisbane. But then how many Newmanites even know of the Bureau of Meteorology or watch that rascally left wing national broadcaster? Anyway, this all leads me to tell you that the road between Narooma and Moruya also had such storms, though with less fanfare and blame apportioning for acts of nature. Tuross itself having a burst of hail that I was hoping would allow me to claim some insurance money on the car.

It didn’t and the birds survived and the sun came back, briefly. Late end of day sun that provides vivid colour and contrast on the beach, golden against a stormy sea sky and furious foam capped water. Oops, did I leave my camera on black and white? Well, sometimes yes. It must have been the influence of two subtitled French movies while letting the rain pass that did it to me.

 

But I’m never anything but indecisive, possibly sometimes, if you like. And so, if you don’t mind, I did actually capture in colour on beach canvas some of the shadows and illuminations from the fast disappearing sun. A sun that went out not in a whimper but akin to the flames that simultaneously charred more burgers and onions on the BBQ. Which I was too busy getting full on instead of photographing a sunset. The question is which do I do more, eat burgers or photograph sunsets? This time, burgers won.

And so with more sun in between rain, winds whipping up the coast, blasting sand onto intrepid beach walkers such as myself, it was time to leave. I’ll come back some time, perhaps, if I can be decisive enough, but not sure when. Until then, let the burgers reign and the rain burger off.