The superb sunset would make a good stand-alone shot. But a prop or two would turn it into a GREAT one!

Luckily for me, this July 2012 Derby sunset over stunning King Sound in Australia’s North West had three:

• a massive jetty;
• lots of people; AND
• street lamps!

My shutter finger itched wildly so I let it have its way.

It wasn’t every day I got to photograph a sunset like this behind a jetty like that with people like those under perfectly placed photogenic street lamps! AND all against the swirling waters of Australia’s highest tide!

With a range of up to 12 metres (39 feet), the tidal phenomenon is best viewed against the backdrop of the LOOONG jetty – and its street lamps – while crocodiles and sharks lurk in the muddied waters below.

Influenced by the funnel-shaped coastline, as well as the normal tidal action of sun and moon, the extraordinary volume of water moving into and out of the Sound stirs up the mud deposited there during the wet season.

Even a high tide of only 10.83 metres (35.5 feet) – like the first macro tide we saw at Derby – is a sea of brownish water lapping gently just below the jetty.

But low tide is a whole different story.

It’s no surprise the last passenger ship visited in 1973 – berthing a boat in conditions like these must be a logistical nightmare!

But on the jetty as the sun sinks below the crocodile infested waters and a lone council worker with the unenviable task of moving the vehicles off the wharf before lock up starts his lonely rounds, the sky’s like a painting above us as the highest tide in Australia roars in and the stars come out.

And the street lamps light up!