Sunday 29-05-2022

2022DepotBeach
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - North Durras It's Sunday morning and we decide to take a short trip to North Durras which is the next beach South from Depot Beach where we are staying. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - North Durras North Durras is a bit more developed than Depot Beach but it's still within the Murramarang National Park. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - North Durras It's encouraging that kangaroos have returned to this area after badly suffering during the 2020 fires. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - North Durras The iPhone has a pretty good panorama feature. We have a bacon/egg sandwich for breakfast at the small general store near here. It's very good and is accompanied by good coffee too.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - North Durras A small family of ducks live here. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - North Durras Jenni walks into my picture as I take a panorama shot with my iPhone. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - North Durras This lake is tidal and the water is reasonably clear. The sand on the beach is made from the worn away sandstone of the Sydney Basin hence its yellow colour. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - North Durras Being in a National Park, North Durras is relatively unspoiled. South Durras not so much, it even has (gasp, horror) a luxury resort there.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - North Durras Depot Beach is on the northern side of the headland in front of us. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - North Durras We now travel to South Durras. This means going back to the highway, driving south for a few kms and driving to the coast again. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Wasp Head, South Durras From the pamphlet: An incredible journey: The golden colours of the sculpted sandstone cliffs, which form the exposed southern edge of the 280 million-year-old Sydney Basin, are a unique treat at Wasp Head. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Wasp Head, South Durras But the spectacle doesn't end with these beautiful cliffs. Out on the rock ledge of the head, both south and north, you will find the most fascinating rock formations and evidence of many millennia and life that has gone before.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Wasp Head, South Durras You'll need your camera as you encounter the honeycomb weathering of the eroded sandstone on the northern side of the head, that from afar looks like a discarded fisherman's net, or in some places an elaborate spider's web. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Wasp Head, South Durras On the southern side, the display of ironstone box work-iron-rich sediment that has formed into a box-like pattern is spectacular and one of the highlights of Murramarang National Park. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Wasp Head, South Durras You'll also see clusters of shellfish fossils embedded in the rocks, as is an old fault plane and igneous dike, with boulders of petrified magma, now basalt, clearly visible. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Wasp Head South Durras Dropstones and pools of sedimentary conglomerate rock, carried to the area in melted water from west to east as the earth was emerging from an ancient ice age, are also visible and contribute to the richness of this site.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Wasp Head South Durras These are ironstone iron-rich sediments that have formed into a box-like pattern. In a small seam that runs above the lacework, you can see the sea shells embedded in the rocks. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Wasp Head South Durras This is the last hurrah of the Sydney Basin sandstone; it ends here. It's interesting to see how other rocks have embedded themselves into the sandstone. There is also a small seam in the right, lower side of the picture with sea shells in it. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Wasp Head South Durras Iron lacework. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Wasp Head South Duras In this picture we can see the "Dropstones and pools of sedimentary conglomerate rock, carried to the area in melted water from west to east as the earth was emerging from an ancient ice age."
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach After South Durras, we drive to Myrtle Beach. The track in is very rough with a one lane, slippery, water-filled, rutted, hilly portion in which you wouldn't want to meet another vehicle coming at you from the other direction; this happens both coming and going for us. I am concerned that our two-wheel drive SUV might not be able to climb back up the slope but we make it with a little wheelspin. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is still in the Murramarang NP a little south of Durras Beach. We take a walking track towards Myrtle beach. It starts off reasonably well and gets rapidly worse. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach We walk through an old-growth forest for a while. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach There are lots of ferns and cabbage tree palms well.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach "Orange Bracket fungus: can be solitary but more common in large groups on sticks and logs, refreshed after rain. It is probably the most widely distributed bracket fungus in Australia." Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Some sort of critter lives in this hole. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Down the steps we go to get to the beach. Pools of water accumulate in the steps. Going down these steps is the worst part of the weekend for me. My left ankle screams for mercy and now, at 81 years old, I'm quite wobbly on my feet. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach From the brochure: MYRTLE BEACH: Where two worlds collide. A trip to Myrtle Beach is an opportunity to see two worlds collide.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Discover the breathtaking sandstone cliffs of the Sydney Basin come to an end and rise up to meet the much older Wagonga Ordovician rocks of the Lachlan Fold Belt, which continue south. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach The point where two major geological units meet is called an unconformity, here clearly and strikingly revealed in the cliff face at the northern to middle section of the beach. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach The sedimentary rock that forms the massive Sydney Basin, extends from Newcastle to beaches just south of Durras and inland, taking in the Blue Mountains. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach This rock was laid down during the Permian and Triassic periods, between 300 and 230 million years ago, while the older Wagonga Ordovician beds were created 500 to 450 million years ago.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach At Myrtle Beach look at the cliffs on the northern end of the beach. These sandstone cliffs are the southernmost exposed edge of the Sydney Basin, while the cliffs you see at the southern end of the beach, are from the Ordovician period. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach The sand here at Myrtle Beach is very different from the golden sands of the beaches to the north. This sand has a lot of black in it. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Being from Sydney myself, most cliff faces I see are sandstone. These cliffs however are very different. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach There are lots of dead sea shells here as well and I wonder (because sea shells are not a feature of beaches to the north) if these sea shells were once embedded within the rock in the cliffs behind us.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach As Myrtle Beach is part of the Murramarang National Park, another small pocket of littoral forest exists here at the beach. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach I walk to the Northern end of the beach . . . Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach . . . while Jenni heads south. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Because this beach is so isolated, very few people come here. A local we meet on the way back up tells us that (gasp, horror) people come to this beach and parade around, naked, bare, exposed, without any clothes on. Shameful! If God had wanted us to be naked, we'd have been born naked. Uhm. Hang on.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Seaweed washes up on shore. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach I wonder when these sea creatures were alive? Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach It's the most rugged, most original beach I've ever been to and it's my favourite beach so far. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Jenni captures a few seconds of the sounds of Myrtle Beach.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach An interesting piece of driftwood. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach The cliffs are a mish-mash of different layers of rock. The supporting stone at the bottom of the cliff is from the Lachlan Fold Belt that was formed in the Middle Paleozoic from 450 to 340 Mya. Fragments of the Sydney Basin exist in this cliff. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach "Where two worlds collide" Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach I love this and gaze in wonder at how this part of NSW was made. What a beautiful part of the world we live in. How fortunate are we?
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Towards the end of the beach, a cave is forming. Hey! This could be chert "Chert has a waxy or resinous luster unlike the glassy luster of quartz." Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach I wonder if our Indigenous peoples once used this cave but I can see no signs of it. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Meanwhile, Jenni at the Southern end of the beach, takes this amazing picture of the rocks on the headland. Is this schist I wonder? It's clearly been tortured by the firey heat of hell. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach The headland at the Southern end of Myrtle Beach.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach "the cliffs you see at the southern end of the beach, are from the Ordovician period." Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach "The Ordovician Period lasted almost 45 million years, beginning 488.3 million years ago and ending 443.7 Mya years ago." Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach The Ordovician followed the Cambrian (which ended with earth's first major mass extinction event).   The Cambrian and Ordovician periods are part of the Paleozoic Era; Paleo=early, zoic=animal life. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach "During the Ordovician period, a rich variety of marine life flourished in the vast seas and the first primitive plants began to appear on land — before the second largest mass extinction of all time ended the period."
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Myrtle beach from the Southern end. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Jenni walks around the rocks a bit more . . . Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach . . . and takes a picture of the beach next door. This is also part of Myrtle Beach. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Meanwhile, at the Northern end, I notice what appears to be a conglomerate rock of some kind. "Conglomerate is a clastic sedimentary rock made up of rounded clasts that are greater than two millimeters in diameter. The spaces between the clasts are generally filled with sand and clay-size particles. The rock is bound together by a cement that is usually composed of calcite or quartz." Of interest: "Clastic rocks are composed of broken pieces of older rocks (clasts)."
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach It may also be called breccia. "Breccia is a rock that is similar to conglomerate; however, the clasts in breccia are angular in shape rather than rounded like in conglomerate. The shape of the clasts is the only physical difference between conglomerate and breccia. " Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach This upsets Jenni as she imagines what this kind of neglect can do to sea life, especially sea lions that live along this shore line. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach The cliff face on the Northern part of the beach is full of layers millions of years old, younger than 350 million years at least. This is another illustration of the two worlds colliding. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach These sea shells seem to be mixed with small lumps (clasts) of a broken black rock and perhaps they were all mixed together in the cliffs behind us.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach From the South looking North to where I was. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach On the Southern headland, this orange stuff appears to be a fungus. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Relatively recent sea shells mixed in with badly broken shells from the past. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach We walk back up hill and retrieve the car. The walk up hill is nowhere near as bad as the walk down.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach Buggered but exhilarated. I'm 81 now and feeling my age. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Myrtle Beach We're back at the top. Now all we need is for our car to get bogged climbing up the wet, rutted section. I must confess to being a little worried because the other vehicles parked here are all four-wheel drive. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Durras Beach On the way back to our cabin we detour via Durras beach and see this sign banning dogs. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Durras Beach And this is the reason: dogs chase the sea birds that are trying to raise a family.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Durras Beach A small pathway takes us to the middle of North and South Durras beaches. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - South Durras Beach It's an enormous beach, about 5kms long (according to Google maps) Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Durras Beach We're a few days away from the start of winter, and still the surfers come. Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Durras Beach That's Wasp Island just off the headland where we were this morning.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 - Durras Beach Sunday 29 May, 2022 Back at the cabin, a pair of King Parrots join Jenni as she sips a glass of wine on the front porch. Sunday 29 May, 2022 She feeds them broken pieces of seed crackers; they take the cracker in one claw to eat it while they balance on the other foot. Sunday 29 May, 2022 Hand feeding the female.
Sunday 29 May, 2022 " The king parrot is endemic to eastern Australia ranging from Cooktown in Queensland to Port Campbell in Victoria." Sunday 29 May, 2022 "Male King-Parrots are the only Australian parrots with a completely red head. Females are similar to males except that they have a completely green head and breast. Both sexes have a red belly and a green back, with green wings and a long green tail. King Parrots are normally encountered in pairs or family groups." Sunday 29 May, 2022 For tonight's dinner, we go into Batemans Bay and have a proper sit down meal in a restaurant. It is expensive, crowded and only one of a few places open on a Sunday night. The next morning we leave at around 09:30 and get home a few hours later. That's the end of this tale Sunday 29 May, 2022 Other stuff I found as I tried to understand what I was seeing
Sunday 29 May, 2022 Other stuff I found as I tried to understand what I was seeing Sunday 29 May, 2022 Other stuff I found as I tried to understand what I was seeing Sunday 29 May, 2022 Other stuff I found as I tried to understand what I was seeing   Click to go to home page