2024March05

2024DepotBeach
Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Jenni walks up to the end of our street and takes this shot of Depot Beach. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Looking out to sea from Jenni's vantage point at the top of the hill. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Looking towards New Zealand. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 I think these small stands of trees, growing almost to the coast line, are more correctly described as a Littoral Rainforest.
Tuesday, 05 March 2024 After breakfast, we drive to the parking area on top of the Guerilla Bay Cliffs. Guerilla Bay is a few Km's south of Batemen's Bay. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 If we were to walk far enough along this track, we'd arrive at a lighthouse but we didn't do this. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 We arrive a short distance from the parking lot at a hut that, during WWII, housed a generator that provided electrical power for a Radar Station. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 The radar station started operations in April 1943; I was barely two years old at the time.
Tuesday, 05 March 2024 The inside has been desecrated by idiots -- racist idiots. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 We've been to this area a few times and have never seen whales. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Quite a spectacular view. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 On our first visit here, we saw seals basking on the rocks below.
Tuesday, 05 March 2024 I really like this view. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Stitched view of this glorious coast line Tuesday, 05 March 2024 A blue flower (showing off my extensive horticultural knowledge). Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Down to Guerilla Beach itself. We're here because the rocks in this bay have been dated to 450,000,000 years old. At that time, the minor continents of the East coast of Australia had been welded to western 2/3 of Australia. Australia was part of Gondwana, welded to Antarctica which was located somewhere near the equator. Bloody amazing.
Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Stitched picture of the Northern Part of Guerilla Bay. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Another stitched picture of the Southern part of Guerilla Bay featuring Jenni' s favourite house with it's views of the Pacific Ocean. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Jenni's house and the Guerilla Bay beach. The Murramarang NP was established only in May 1974 and it takes in 44 Km of coastline Tuesday, 05 March 2024 We walk a short distance to the Northern side of the Bay.
Tuesday, 05 March 2024 The rocks show the effects of ~4,500,000 years of weathering. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 More weathered rock. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 This rock is possibly called chert. "Sediments of the Wagonga Formation are the rocks that make up the Guerrilla Bay Islet, and they are harder, darker, and more layered than the Bogolo formation. They are made up of a mixture of siliceous mudstone and chert, both of which are rock types which form in deep ocean settings in which the rate of sedimentation is low." Tuesday, 05 March 2024 This is what 510,000,000 year old rock looks like. It is Metamorphic rock that was once part of a pre-historic ocean, pushed back underground as the continents moved around and cooked for millions of more years and then, only recently (maybe 50-80 Mya) pushed back up to the surface as the continents continued to move around. During this period animal life evolved. Bloody amazing. This rock predates all multicellular life on the whole, entire planet (deliberate Americanism there).
Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Quartzite embedded in the ancient rock. It has been to hell and back. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 This rock was compressed deep underground while still in its plastic shape. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Who knows how many millions of years of wear this rock has endured? I think that's probably a last piece of Sydney Sandstone behind it. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Guerilla Bay with Jenni's house in the background. What a beautiful, magical spot this is and only ~250 kms from Sydney.
Tuesday, 05 March 2024 A few other cabins nestle just back from the beach. These shacks were probably constructed prior to May 1973 when Murramarang was first established. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Looking towards the Northern part of Guerilla Bay. There is a separate parking spot for this part of Guerilla Bay . . . Tuesday, 05 March 2024 . . . so we move the car further north to the smaller of the two bays. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Right now, I have an urgent need to do Number Two's and head into the bushland looking for somewhere private. The trail I take brings me back to beach but further north. I find a secluded spot between two rocks and dump breakfast.
Tuesday, 05 March 2024 Because my legs aren't working properly, once down I can't get up. I call for Jenni but she thinks I have gone in the opposite direction. We both yell but neither can hear the other. I manage to crawl back to my clothing and put my underpants on. I yell out again and again but there is no reply. I decide to wait until Jenni finds me. Finally, a Policeman shows up and helps my to my feet but my legs have given up. He radios some others and says, "I've found him." Tuesday, 05 March 2024 To go back in time a bit, after being gone for twenty minutes, Jenni is worried and is calling out to me but I never hear her. She starts to search for me but she thinks I've gone in the opposite direction. After about 30 minutes, she puts in a call into triple zero. Five police respond who then call the St John Ambulance Service who, on their arrival, immediately supply me with water and take an ECG. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 The lovely nurse is named Nellie and she is an Angel sent by my beloved, departed granddaughter. Nellie asks me what year it is and I reply, "2012." She asks if is my final answer and I say, "Yes." I am obviously suffering. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 I have to be carried out on a stretcher by four strong men. Nellie smiles at the camera lady. Jenni's house is in the far distance.
Tuesday, 05 March 2024 I think many times during this whole experience how lucky I am to have been born in Australia. We have the edge over North America and Western Europe but the rest of the world is shyte. (NZ is a close second to Oz though). Tuesday, 05 March 2024 At no time, not even once, do I get the feeling that they think I am an idiot or a pest. Nellie rides with me in the ambulance back to Bateman's Bay Hospital and Jenni follows in our car. Jenni sent Thank You cards to the Police and Ambulance on our return home. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 A few hours later: I'm free again. Fully replenished and ready to go into a bar and start a fight. Tuesday, 05 March 2024 We have dinner in the cabin and dine on leftovers. A kangaroo grazes in front of our cabin. End of day 2.