Saturday 29 February 2020
Photos provided by Joan and Karen
On a beautiful morning we met at Maloneys Beach, eighteen members and one visitor. We struggled through the mob of kangaroos and headed up Pine Knob Road, soon to arrive at a huge fallen tree. It had been logged probably over a hundred years ago when logs were pulled out by horses, but had been left behind when found to be hollow. Soon we saw three Glossy Black Cockatoos eating Casuarina cones, a rare sight.
After posing for a photo we turned east along the ridge top with views back over Maloneys Beach and southwest towards Batemans Bay, a superb view. We continued east to another small headland where we had morning tea, sitting on logs labelled “BBBW only”. From there we had a view of a small bay where there are a few houses. It was always called “the judge’s land”, but after his death the fenced off land was resumed by the NPWS for Murramarang National Park.
We followed old fence posts to the “canoe tree”, its clear canoe shape cut into a huge tree, probably about 150 years ago. Returning west we had a view down on to a beach which should remain unnamed, devoid of buildings and people, backed by green (not black) forest. Once down on this beach we found invasive sea spurge so it was not as pristine as it looked.
Ainslie