Wattamolla and further south

Robin had requested that we do a drive south of Sydney to the Royal National Park and then a bit further south to Coalcliff.

It's a pretty crappy and busy drive out of Sydney but eventually you get to a turnoff for the Park and after a few miles you can stop in an idyllic spot. A couple of kookaburras watched our arrival.

A swamphen. Overseas birders must love coming to Oz to see so many birds that they can't see at home.

Bridge over the Hacking River that we would cross in a little while.

Looking down stream. It is so peaceful here compared to the hustle and bustle of the city only a few miles away.

Another kookaburra.

Shy cockatoo.

The road to Wattamolla.

The Wiki article talks about how three explorers, Flinders, Bass and Martin were exploring south of Sydney in 1796 and to escape a gale in their small boat, they somehow managed to cross the sandbar into this lagoon.

It is a very peaceful and beautiful spot. It's years since we visited here.

Wattle, the national flower, is common during winter.

I walked down to the jetty.

Clear water.

The sand bar. It must have been quite a storm to get your boat over that.

There is sometimes a small waterfall if it has rained recently.

I think if you had your house here, you would never want to leave. 

Sandstone formation.

We then drove through the dense eucalyptus forest towards Coalcliff.

As usual we stopped at Stanwell to look at the view.

Quite a few tourists posing.

The sea bridge. We drove down to the other end of the bridge. 

View north from the bridge.

And finally, the grave of my convict ancestor. Marianne has been doing more genealogy research and she has traced a link to this gentleman. His sons went on to help develop the gold mines at Mount Morgan in Queensland.