I love the ocean. I’m not much of a swimmer, but I could sit for hours in awe of its power, beauty and grace. I love the sound of waves crashing on the shore. There is always wildlife, mostly seagulls annoying people for a hot, salty chip, but it is beautiful nevertheless. And unless you’re dragging 10 kids, 3 different pieces of sporting equipment and enough towels to cover the entire coast, people usually seem happy when they are at the beach.

Last Thursday, Jas and I met down at Burleigh to enjoy the sunset. Burleigh is probably my favourite headland on the coast. I love the vibe down there. If I could, I’d probably try and move further south – but not at the cost of sitting in traffic everyday to and from uni. Did I mention how much GC traffic sucks!?! Anyway, I decided to take my camera to see how the light was while we were there.

It was forecast to rain, and some showers did end up rolling in from the south-east. However, in the small pockets between the rain, the sun put on a spectacular show for us lighting up the clouds, the moisture in the air and the ocean as it dipped below the horizon.

How cute are these two. They just got married and came to the headland for a photo. They snapped an iphone-pic of each other with the rainbow in the background before hastily heading off to enjoy the rest of their day. I hope they managed to capture the moment.

I snapped the fading light, the surfers and the skyscrapers across the coast. It was a magical sunset, and reminded me that I need to take the time to do the things I love.

I had to desaturate the ocean in most of these photos – the blue was so intense that it seems surreal and heavily photoshopped

These, however, are barely touched in post. As the sun dipped, the moisture in the air gave Surfers Paradise a softness and mysterious glow that I’d not seen before. If only Surfers was as welcoming as it seems from afar.