Road trip with lighthouses (and birds!) #3: Crowdy Head

Australian Pelican (Pelecanus conspicillatus)

With no good weather news coming in, we decided to make a dash for Sydney. Lunch was cooked, luggage was packed; the car was loaded and moving by 0815. As we moved further south the skies cleared but the winds increased and could be felt buffeting the car.

But I couldn’t resist the idea of visiting another lighthouse (and anyway everyone agreed it was time for lunch), so I took the turnoff to Crowdy Head.

Road trip with lighthouses #2: Coffs Harbour and surrounds

Smoky Cape Lighthouse, Hat Head National Park

10 October 2012

We started off early for Coffs Harbour, with a side trip to South West Rocks and the Smoky Cape Lighthouse.

Road trip with lighthouses #1: Port Macquarie and surrounds

Tacking Point Lighthouse, Port Macquarie

A planned road trip to the Gold Coast (Queensland) with family (689km, 7 days) was truncated for reasons of distance/time and became a New South Wales-only holiday terminating at Coffs Harbour (536km, 5 days) before the return trip to Sydney. The revised plan involved driving to Port Macquarie using the fastest possible route, staying for two nights and then moving north to Coffs Harbour to stay an additional two nights, with an option to extend through Sunday if necessary. The return journey would be a slower one via coastal roads rather than solely using the Pacific Highway.

Here are some photos from Port Macquarie and its surrounds.

Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

Bobbin Head, Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park

Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park is part of the Hawkesbury River system and in fact is where the Hawkesbury meets the sea. These photos are from a short day trip I made to this location.

The Temple of Baal, Jenolan

A constant dripdripdrip of water falls onto this formation

On the 18th of April Hapsis and I visited the Jenolan Caves with the cunning plan of visiting two of the pay-to-enter caves (and the free one as well) all in the same day.

Georges River National Park

Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae)

On this sunny Good Friday the family headed for the Georges River National Park for a picnic. The site was fairly crowded and opportunities for exploring were very limited as often happens when in mixed company, but Hapsis and I had great fun photographing the seagulls and other wildlife that ventured our way.

Wentworth Falls and the Blue Mountains Drive

A view from Jamisons Lookout, Wentworth Falls

A very short visit to Cape Solander

Cape Solander, NSW

The Kamay Botany Bay National Park comprises the two headlands at the entrance to Botany Bay, La Perouse in the north and Kurnell in the south.

Cape Solander on the Kurnell Peninsula is named after Swedish botanist Daniel Solander who arrived with James Cook’s expedition on 19 April 1770.

Wentworth Falls, Blue Mountains National Park

The view from Jamison Lookout

These photos are from a trip I made to Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains National Park in March 2010.

The Orient cave, Jenolan

Columns and stalagmites

The Jenolan Caves (S33° 49.280′, E150° 01.141′, 814m) in New South Wales are among the oldest caves in the world. Australian geologists have estimated their age to be 340 million years, which places their origins in the Carboniferous Era.

The Orient Cave is one of ten caves that are open to the public, and the most highly decorated of them all. All tours are guided with the exception of the Nettle Cave/Devils Coach House tour. Fees apply.