01/21/2026
What an absolutely incredible night! I knew the chances were good to see the Aurora Australis (Southern Lights!) so before heading to bed I went out and checked with my cell phone. Sure enough, it picked up pinks and pillars so I quickly jumped into the car and started driving south to get out of town. I came to a little side street which I felt the urge to turn into and it turned out to be an access point for the perfect spot of Collingwood Beach. I met another family that was leaving and showed them the lights with my phone. They didn’t speak English very well but they understood the word ‘Aurora’ and I understood them saying the word ‘bioluminescence’. I got very excited as I was really hoping to see this phenomenon that I had been researching earlier in the day. (more about this in the first comment). I didn’t ask where they were from but I love the little moments of connection that spans countries and continents. It was so cool that I could share with them about the lights and they in turn shared with me about the bioluminescence. I hurriedly made my way to the beach, set up the big camera and began snapping away. The Aurora was faintly visible to my eyes and the camera picked it up a lot more. The bioluminescence on the other hand was incredible to see. It didn’t light up with every wave, only with the more powerful ones, and then several in succession. The blue flash started at one end as the wave broke and then followed along the length of the wave. I set the camera to continuously take photos so I could just stand there grinning in delight and taking it all in; lost in wonder and awe and thanking God for this splendor and opportunity. I’m not sure how the night could have been any more amazing. I’m captivated by the night sky in Australia as it contains the Southern Cross or Crux, (a sideways kite near the middle of the Milky Way in these shots), and the large and small Magellanic Clouds (upper right of the photos), none of which we can see where I live in the Northern Hemisphere. These photos are all single shots and to get the Cross, M. Clouds, Milky Way, Aurora Australis, and Bioluminescence all in one photo is a dream come true. (Cont. in comments)
