The original plan was to get up before dawn to shoot The Apostles, stacks of limestone which appear off the coast along the Great Ocean Road and which are probably some of Victoria's most photographed landmarks.

Hint: Don't try that from Apollo Bay unless you're an insomniac. It would have been an absurdly early start even by my standards, and I barely ever sleep. (A fact far too obvious in photographs, which is why there aren't any of me in these galleries.) Go and stay for a day or two at Port Campbell instead, and use that as your base for shooting the Apostles.

It was academic anyway as the forecast was for rain and possible hail, meaning grey, bleak light. It certainly appeared that way when we got up, which is why we instead opted for a leisurely breakfast and a daytime drive out to the Apostles and beyond.

By this time, however, the sun was already starting to break through, casting a bright light on the water near the beach yet leaving the headland beyond shrouded in mist and light rain.

The Golden Retriever didn't care. There's a beach, it's meant to be run on. There are waves. They're meant to be swum in.