The Barham River Mouth has always been a family favourite. It’s a secluded little area on the opposite side of Apollo Bay. It can be a lot safer for kids to swim in here then to swim in the ocean with waves. Sethy loves walking across the shallow parts of the river so it has become a place we visit a lot.
Om the second day, we decided to walk along the Barham River from my aunts flat. We walked along the back streets of Apollo Bay and to the Caravan Park. It was a side of Apollo Bay we hadn’t seen before.
We were lucky enough to come across this beautiful night heron. I don’t know whether it was the lens or the lighting, but I got some really beautiful shots of the bird.
Going further along the river, Sethy and I were able to see a hooded plover. This is awesome, as it is a lifer for him. He loves hoodies and knows that some of my friends babysit them. I was planning on showing him some during the summer breeding season, from a distance.
Discovering this means I can cross that off his bucket list and find another adventure for us to do. For me, it was lovely to see one of my favourite birds again.
There was a shallow bit in the middle where a number of terns and a pacific gull pair congregated. Alas, no kelp gull.
Day 3:
On our last day there, we decided to go to the beach again to let Mr Sethy just be a kid. He’d had lots of kid opportunities while there but he is in love with swimming and mucking around at the beach.
A great place for photography. I could have gotten some beautiful shots if I wasn’t so sick. By this stage, I had hurt my back from coughing so much so just wanted to go home.
This was pretty cool.
Lots of beautiful pieces of driftwood around which would have been fun to photograph, as well as the setting sun.
We had been there for about 30 minutes when I saw 4 medium sized black birds land on the rocks near the mouth of the river. I walked there slowly. I was right, sooty oystercatchers! I don’t see them that often so was pretty stoked to get a chance to photograph them again. I’ve seen some brilliant photographs of them prying open shells so was hoping to get similar ones.
Alas, the camera had trouble focusing. I got some cool shots but they weren’t entirely clear. I’m thinking that the sigma lens may have been more useful in this situation. I don’t care as I got to see these birds again.
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I’m not sure how great this area is for birdwatching as it had been pretty hit and miss on my visits. The birds I saw were awesome – especially the hoodie and oystercatcher. Just not sure it’s worth visiting unless you haven’t seen them recently in your area.
I *do* love the area for photography though. It’s easily within walking distance of the township. You can visit here on a walk to Marengo, or walk from here to the town. Either way is quite scenic.