@h.hartley_

After a comically heated discussion on how best to pack a percolator coffee, we decided that the heat and fatigue had gotten the best of us. We grabbed our towels and went to separate swimming holes to cool off. At this point we'd been living out the back of my Landcruiser for nearly 8 months, seeking refuge from the COVID lockdowns in our home state of NSW. We were very, very lucky to get out when we did. This particular month we'd wound up in the guts of Aus, exploring Nitmiluk National Park in the NT with childlike enthusiasm. It was amazing country, even if the relentless mosquitos and distance from our family couldn't dampen our stoke. The percolator though? Don't ever tell an Italian women how to handle her equipment, I guarantee that'll rattle some cages. We'd learnt how to handle our disagreements like adults and this particular one called for space. It sent Lauren upstream to decompress where she stumbled across an isolated rock pool out of the wind. When I found her later she was laying right next to the edge, her hand in the water not causing a ripple in the mirror-like reflection of the sky. I whipped out my beaten up film camera and fired a shot. I'm very, very far from a decent photographer, this might be the only good photo I ever get. But I'm proud of it and it captures the moment just before I said sorry.