'My Saltwater Sanctuary' was our first ocean related film.
We travelled up and down the coast of New South Wales in Australia filming a documentary which showed how people from all walks of life are connected to the ocean and to our local marine sanctuaries - a special place zoned to protect wildlife and its habitat.
We wanted to show off the unique marine environments and feature stories about peoples' love of the ocean. The film aimed to grow support of marine parks following a roll back in protection of these special places.
The link to the film is above if your interested in learning more.
In the first leg of the trip, we headed to Byron Bay, stopping off to film at Port Stephens and Coffs Harbour on the way. In Byron Bay, we met with Ziggy Alberts, a local musician, who is a passionate advocate for the ocean.
Below are some of the behind-the-scenes images we took so that we could document the making of this film. The first two photos are from Jervis Bay, where we filmed a sequence with Sue Newson of Crest diving and some researchers from Macquarie University capturing Port Jackson sharks with their hands.
Danielle even got to release one of the sharks back into the water.
A little further south, we stopped off at Murramarang National Park near Batemans Bay in search of some Australian native wildlife. Luckily enough, we came across a mob of kangaroos just chilling out beside the beach and a couple of pretty little birds.
The next day we arrived at Batemans Bay, the final leg of our trip. We had planned to film the seals underwater out at Montague Island. Unfortunately, the swell was so large that the boat out to island was cancelled. So, we ventured down to the mouth of the river and stumbled across an Australian fur seal sleeping on the rocks.
Having only recently finished my marine science degree, it was a pretty exciting prospect to be out on the road shooting our first film about the ocean.
I hope you enjoy the film!
To be continued...