Walking Tuesday has now become Walking Wednesday [work related,] so yesterday saw us setting off south from my home at 7am for the 150 k drive to our coastal walk between Lennox Heads and Ballina in Northern New South Wales. Travelling 40 mins on an 8 lane highway and the remainder on 4 lane highway made the journey far more pleasant than last week's commuter crawl.
We pulled into the Pat Morton Lookout car park at nine, to be greeted by this grand vista. The headland to the north is Byron Bay, the most easterly point in Australia.
After a cup of 'lemon ginger' coffee, we headed up the slope to the crest of the headland and entered a leafy grove.
On exiting we were greeted by more spectacular coast line. Point no 5 [centre, horizon] was where we were headed.
The sun's rays shimmered across the ocean, but I was unable to fully capture its dance, with my small camera.
Much of our coastline is either bush or suburbia. We were thrilled to be walking these grassy slopes with an uninterrupted view of the breakers forming and surging towards the shoreline.
I've been fortunate enough to walk this trail on 2 previous occasions and each on a sunshine plus day. As I viewed the above scene, I was stunned to realise that the devastating storms from earlier this year, had actually managed to topple 2 massive basalt outcrops.
June 2013
May 2012
On dropping down to our 1st beach, we made the decision to continue on grass rather than on the rounded basalt boulders and stones. The blue of the sea, black of the wet boulders and green of the shore edge were begging to be photographed.
Looking back from where we had come from.
About to climb another headland.
From here we descended to the 1st of 2 beach walks. The 2nd being less protected,
was where all the erosion of the shoreline took place.
12 k's saw us reaching the Richmond River breakwater where I love to spot dolphins, but on this occasion we were being buffeted by a freezing southerly and so kept walking to find a sheltered spot for lunch. This unnamed bird kept watch. Possibly an egret. Further research to be done.
We crossed the bridge over the impressive North Creek to make our way to the bank of the 'mighty'
[ in my late Father's words], Richmond River.
Looking back to it's mouth and upstream.
Time was wasted watching the pelicans.
We arrived in Central Ballina with just a 20 min wait to catch a bus back 2/3 of the way to our car. Standing waiting, I happened to look to the south and and was confronted with a rapidly changing sky.
Court House clock tower.
Our final leg was along Boulder beach and up the headland again to Pat Morton Lookout. The weather had changed, but we delighted in the different moods it cast on the seas surface.
We became aware of a loud rumbling noise and were unable to work out what was causing it. We
finally realised the tide was full and the wave surge was tumbling the boulders over and over. The sound in this video is not wind, but the rocks tumbling.
As we crested the headland we took a final look at it's spectacular view. Turning to continue, we gasped at the heart stopping scene before us. Police, ambulance, winches - with relief, we learnt that this was a practise exercise.
As we reached the car, the sky ahead was still quite clear, but we'd hardly sat down when the 1st raindrops fell. Tired but dry, we reflected on our rewarding 18ks and how yet again the weather Gods were looking out for us. Unknown to us then, they had one more surprise for us. During the last 20 mins of the return journey, we had been observing the cloud patterns changing in the west. Suddenly the sun sank in a brilliant red glory. A more than fitting climax to another walk down under with friends.
Happiness is.........
spotting a dragonfly.
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