Eden and Nadgee

 A little bit out of the Mallacoota District, but in my view within range of this blog.  The trip came about through 

1. Frances reading various things which featured Nadgee and the walks therein; and 
2. being told of a planned all-day power outage; and
3. the weather looking pretty good on 29 August and then grotty for several days; and
4. it being convenient to get my scripts dispensed at a far cheaper price than in Mallacoota.

The power outage was cancelled but we decided to go ahead anyway.  Our first stop was the Rotary  Lookout in Eden.  Having heard a Darter call we looked over the edge and saw not only the Darter but a Great Cormorant and 2 Pied Cormorants.

A couple of views of the rocks taken from the Penguin Colony lookout.

There were also whales around.  I am pretty sure this is a pectoral fin slapping the water: before I goo my camera organised I saw a couple of full body breaches.  Getting back to the Rotary Park some other folk saw two whales right inside the bay, towards the chip mill.

After dealing with point 4 and some other retail therapy we headed off to Nadgee Nature Reserve.  There was a small amount of conflict between our directions to the Bay Cliff walk but we pressed on.  Parks have obviously done a lot of work on the track (I was glad we were in the Pajero rather than the Mazda).  It is interesting that in the map below the dashed red line depicts "tracks (some drivable)": this one was definitely drivable but I suspect 4WD may have been useful before the pebbles were installed.

The Bay Cliff walk was about 1.2 km in a loop with a few (unsigned) side paths.  The first offshoot took us to the shore of Lake Wonboyn

This is a Hercules Club (Pyrazus ebelinus).  I originally had it as another species (Batillaria australis) but comments on iNaturalist have clarified the matter.

Tracks: solo and ...

... formation slithering.

Lots of them

The track through the bush was bordered by Correa reflexa.  While the species is common in the area I have never seen such prolific growth.

A second offshoot track leads down to the beach.  Green Cape Lighthouse is approximately 8km away across Disaster Bay.

A view down the beach.  The arrow points to a fisherman: we didn't feel too crowded!

A view to the far end of Disaster Bay.

A Sooty Oystercatcher called by!

As did a Little Pied Cormorant.

A large lump of sandstone had fallen off the cliff, on to the mudstone platform.

These are views of the cliff. 

Frances referred to the structure as a sea stack which bemused me as it seemed to be firmly attached to the land.  However a small map in "Stories beneath our feet" shows how the cliff was a face of a sea stack which has become surrounded by sand dunes over the last 6,000 years.

Another fallen rock.

Some confusion occurred after a while.  I went up on to the rocks and followed the blue arrow around past the rock marked A - a bit tricky as there was a pinch point - to the rock platform (2).  I came an spoke to Frances who was exploring the wildlife (see below) at (1) where she was happily engaged.  I then went in the direction of the red arrow.  Frances then followed me on to the platform.  By chance I was returning at the same time, having discovered that it was possible to use a slot in the rocks (B) to avoid the pinch.  We didn't see each other!

So I ended up down on the beach wondering Frances was, while she was on the rock platform wondering where wondering where I was!  I had just realised that her tracks across the beach led up to the rock platform when she reappeared at A.  She had seen slot B but thought it looked too awkward - which it did approaching from the blue arrow, but much easier from point 2.

The following pictures are by Frances of the littoral wildlife.

A large (7cm) Chiton.  

There were a good number of Cunjevoi around, many of them spouting jets of water up to 1m as the waves ran out.

After returning to the car we headed back to the Jewfish walk.  Along the way, and at the start of the walk these rather lurid flowers were seen.  It appears from iNaturalist AI to be Hibbertia dentata.

iNaturalist reckons this is Acacia longifolia.  

The track was described as wheelchair accessible.  Perhaps with a good run up?

Cassytha is having a good year.

Perhaps having put up a shiny new wheelchair accessible sign they'll erect a replacement boardwalk sometime soon?