Sunday 15 May 2016
Photos by Kay
After admiring the serenity of the waters, bird life and distant mountains, seven walkers set off across Wallaga Lake boardwalk in a southerly direction. Thence a coastal forest was entered on a track that weaved in and out of it, for most of the journey.It was a balmy autumn day with hardly a breath of wind. The first view of the ocean was at Camel Rock where the party scrutinised the shape of the rock that gives the beach its name, and watched dolphins surfacing and splashing in the waters.
Further on, leader Kay pointed out two mine shafts that belong to the Montreal Plateau mines and explained that they contain alluvial gold deposits being transported by water, unlike the mines seen on the club’s Mogo walk the previous Sunday. The nearby Montreal goldfield is an intact example of alluvial diggings in the 1880s and the only goldfield in Australia that goes into the sea.
The bush was very dry but there were patches of Epacris reclinata (native heath), Correa alba and Correa reflexa (native fuschias) to give it colour and cheer along with birdsong. Prior to a lunch stop at Keating’s Point the walkers paused and viewed the many water fowl on a reedy swamp behind the sand dunes. Lunch was eaten watching the ocean below, also a pelican, and a white bellied sea eagle that dipped and soared directly overhead.
After lunch the group continued south, veered west onto a track that led the way through a small swamp – home to an escaping Red Belly Black Snake, then on to the footpaths of Bermagui township. Not tempted by the aromas of their famous fish and chips, it was straight on for the gelato shop, and then on via the headland from where seals were spotted, to the end of the ten kilometre walk at the Blue Pool.
Denise