Australia Day 2010, Bondi Beach.

This is not the image that I came here to get. (Even though I've been PADing for only a week, I foresee that sentence appearing a lot in this gallery.) I had visions of a deep blue sky being lit by a golden sunrise as the waves crashed on the shoreline. What could be a greater image of Australiana than such a shot taken on the famous Bondi Beach?

Except, of course, that it was sodding overcast and sprinkling rain and by the time the sun was visible at all it was way over the horizon.

Nonetheless there's likely to be a substantial gathering of people at the beach later in the day. (I, not being a worshipper of the Sun god Melanoma and having other things to do today, shall not be among them on this occasion.) The empty benches here await what will undoubtedly be a busy day.

And now for the "note to me" section, or "things I would have liked to have done better / differently".

Although I opened this up as far as possible I would have liked to have thrown the background (particularly the wheelie-bins and probably the people as well) further out of focus. I couldn't really zoom in much further or get in any closer since I wanted both of the seats and both of the light poles. And there were wheelie bins everywhere! I've already cropped some out on the left. Still, it's near enough to what I had in mind for the moment.

Further shots of Bondi Beach (from this and other days) can be found in the Bondi Beach and Surrounds gallery, link here.