Garie Beach is one of the best sunrise spots among the Sydney beaches I know. Please read the article for the guide and photographic suggestions.
Photographic Opportunities
Garie Beach has a handy car park and offers all sorts of photographic activities you could imagine. It has a long sand line, it has cliffs that you can climb, it has picturesque free-standing rocks and rock platforms, you can fly a drone there. Unfortunately, you can no longer fly a drone in any locations of the Royal National Park. And there are not that many photographers in the morning. This beach has more fishermen and surfers rather than photographers.
It also appears that the northern part of the beach could be used for sunset photography, which is quite unexpected. I’ll check it out one day and post some photos as a proof.
How To Get To the Garie Beach
There is no public transport, so you have several options:
- Drive into Royal National Park in the morning. You will need to either pay a small entry fee online in advance or pay on exit.
- Drive the night before and camp somewhere in the area. You cannot camp on the parking, but I’ve seen people doing it anyway.
- Drive to Bundeena or Oatley and hike. But that’s a long hike and I wouldn’t do that for the sunrise. However, feel free to do it a day hike with lots of stops to take pictures.
Always check National Parks website for the local alerts to make sure your destination is accessible this day.
Gallery
I wanted to make a gift to the childcare, where my son goes to and all of a sudden realized I don't have anything suitable! All photos are either grim or dramatic or meditative. But that's all too complicated for kids, they need something sunny and positive. So I did some research and headed out for a 50km sunrise trip. Normally, I'd be upset with the absence of clouds, but just not this time! I wandered here and there on the beach and it didn't quite work, so once the world turned gray from black I set off and climbed this hill. Super happy with the results!
Reverse sunset long exposure. The light lasted for only a couple of minutes and I wanted to smooth the water and the sky to make a texture contrast with the rocks. I deliberately wanted to accentuate their shapes as they are unique and unusual even for the Australian coastline.
There's something magical in the air when you are standing at the hilltop at sunset watching the Sun going down. Feeling the harmony and the silence.
Despite of the wind forecast of 40+km/h decided to go and have a look what happens. And got the Moon and intermittent clouds. I was actually surprised to see how sharp was the edge of the water. Looked almost surreal with the Moon and fast flowing clouds.
Garie Beach, NSW (2017) I had envisioned a long exposure beach sunrise photograph looking somewhat dreamy with the water edge leading to the distant cliffs or mountains. I knew one place where I could reach this effect. Garie Beach, Royal National Park, NSW, Australia
