Stage 5 - Jervis Bay to Ulladulla |
Jervis Bay to Sussex Inlet
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Once again we followed a disappearing - reappearing track under GPS guidance, climbing steadily up through an area of forest that had been burnt by the bushfires that had destroyed a large part of the Park four months earlier. Against the stark background of blackened eucalypt trunks and burnt out heathland, the cycle of nature had started to turn again; green epicormic shoots were appearing on the burnt eucalypt trunks, grass trees were reshooting, banksia cones had exploded in a shower of seed and seedlings of many plant species were appearing in masses in the ash-covered soil. The battle for survival amongst these would soon be on in earnest. |
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We entered Booderee National Park and quickly turned south again along the 9 km long dirt road to Christian's Minde, a small privately owned block within the National Park that had been settled in the 1880s by a Danish immigrant. The road passed through areas of the Park that had not been affected by fire and we walked under a canopy of white-flowering eucalypts before dropping rapidly down to the shores of St George's Basin.
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The road followed the eastern shoreline of this large tranquil body of water and the forest changed character once again, with taller species of eucalypt, cabbage palms and groves of soft tree fern, some over 8 m tall. |
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Sussex Inlet to Swan Lake
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We left the village and passed through a kilometre wide stretch of old high dunes, covered with coastal forest. Descending the last dune we trekked down the soft golden sand of Cudmirrah Beach. The high dune backdrop, steep slope of the beach, big surf and stormy skies gave it a wild and isolated feel. Human presence was insignificant in this place.
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Approaching storm |
Dunes of Cudmirrah |
Eventually we came to a gap in the dunes that led into the even smaller village of Cudmirrah, nestled between the surf and the quiet waters of Swan Lake. But something was amiss - had they got the name of the lake wrong? Not a single long-necked black bird was to be seen on the lake, not even a tutu-clad corps de ballet. We suspected that all the black swans might have flown to Lake Woolumboola for the swanfest we had witnessed a week earlier. |
Rainbow lorikeet feasting on eucalyptus blossoms |
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The clowns |
Swan Lake to Lake Conjola
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A good place to shelter |
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Monument Beach |
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Re-enactment of "The Crossing of Lake Conjola" - the sandals are missing and the load is smaller but this is more realistic than Cecil B deMille's re-enactment of Moses crossing the Red Sea |
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Lake Conjola to Ulladulla
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Mollymook Beach |
Rock garden south of Mollymook |
Some desirable coastal real estate |
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A few portraits of feathered friends from Ulladulla |
Rainbow lorikeet |