At Quarry we noted the work going on on the steps of the walking track and passed on to the exposed cliff.
The rocks out towards the sea were more exposed than in the past: the sand has been removed, presumably heading towards the launching ramp.
This image, looking West shows how close to a metre of sand has gone.
The flock of Australian Pied Oystercatchers were trotting around. There were 11 in total on the beach, of which 5 had bands.
Now move to the 27th! Our aim was to do a longish walk as training for a walk to (or at least towards, Lake Barracouta in the Howe Flats. At the foot of the steps a lot of washed up seaweed (Fucus sp.) was evident.
In one spot a shell bank was evident: mainly the common bivalves.
On our return the ebbing tide had revealed a lot of reef remnants that had been washed up close to the steps.
Out on the Big Beach it was clear that the strong surf of recent days had been washing right across the beach. These 'tongues' of sand show that. The depth of footprints shows that the sand is very soft, being freshly deposited.
There is nearly always at least one cargo vessel vessel visible out on the horizon.
These guys were setting up for fishing, apparently happy that they were going to battle through the weed into the salmon. (On our return they had caught one decent sized fish.)
Another angler about 300m further along the beach had had success (from his view - the fish might argue about that word).
I am sure you have been wondering about the reference to Captain Nemo. I am astonished that the Wikipedia article about "Finding Nemo" makes no reference to the character if the Jules Verne novel "20,000 Leagues under the sea". Possibly fair enough as the wiki linked there makes to reference to the cartoon fish! The key point is the name of the submarine "Nautilus". The name is also given to a type of "shell" which a friend tld us was being washed up on the beach recently.
I have used quotes as these are not shells in the sense of being part of a gastropod's structure but cases made by some species of octopus as receptacles for their eggs. On this visit we soon found a small specimen.
A much larger, almost complete specimen was a little further down the beach. (With a second small one.) We also found some fragments, amounting to a total count of atr least 6 cases.
The next few images are of various lifeforms washed up in various spots.
This looks like a lurid tunicate.
No Giant Squid were encountered but a recently deceased octopus was found about 2 km along the beach. Presumably the gulls or ravens will tidy it up. The tentacles looked to be about 25 cms long (if straightened).
The eyes of the octopus.
Birds were not unduly evident other than Red-capped Plovers near the Mouth.
On the way back a White-bellied Sea Eagle was checking Harrison's Channel from a conveninet perch.
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