Caves Beach – Star Trails & Milky Way

Caves Beach, so named for the number of nearby caves, is an idyllic suburb on the Swansea Peninsula between Lake Macquarie and the Pacific Ocean. The coastline is picturesque, a mixture of rocky shores and sandy beaches, and includes a breakwater that was constructed to load ships, but never used. The seafront is stunning. For this shoot I chose to shoot on a part of the beach that is rocky, wild and rugged with a lovely headland cutting into the surf to the south.

Thanks to the low levels of light pollution, quiet beaches, and crisp clean air I have visited Caves Beach many times to practice and develop my Star Trails and Milky Way imaging techniques. For this piece I shot while the Gibbous Moon was rising overhead to give the beach and headland lots of illumination. A small fast wave racing up the beach gave the water a beautiful energetic feel. I illuminated some of the rocks on the beach with coloured torch light, and then captured comet style Star Trails and the winter Milky Way to complete the image.