Patonga

This weekend I went out of town and into nature, which was great.

I went together with my housemate Anna to camp at Patonga beach, which is located 1.5 h drive north of Sydney at the mouth of Hawkesbury River, surrounded by two big National Parks, Brisbane Water NP and Ku-ring-gai Chase NP.

I love the name of the place -- Patonga! It sounds just like a South Sea island. The beach is a serene spot, with calm sea, good for swimming, and a lovely view. In the distance you can see Barrenjoey Head (with the lighthouse on top, at Palm Beach) -- some of you might remember I climbed this headland last year in the very last trip I made with my campervan.

I still haven't bought a car (but I still plan to buy one), so we hired a rental car and shared the cost, and Anna had bought herself a tent, so we could go on a campsite. It was very full on the campsite, being a late summer weekend, not raining and close to Sydney, but luckily the beach was not overcrowded.

The weather was sunny and hot -- 31 degrees or so. We spent most of Saturday at the beach, and in the evening we went on a walking trail to a spectacular lookout high above the sea.

On Sunday we went separate ways. Anna took a ferry to Palm Beach. I went on a river cruise from Patonga to Bobbin Head, going through the ramified (vielverzweigten) river and creek system. The waterways are sea water: they are drowned river valleys, also known as rias. They were valleys in the last Ice Age when the worldwide sea level was 120 metres lower than today, and were flooded when the sea level rose again to its present level. I think Sydney harbour must have looked similar before the location became a city.

Sorry, this is a long post, but I have another two photos I want to show you. First is this beautiful shot made in the evening light. I love these warm colours.

And the last picture for today is this super-iridescent beetle, which I found sitting on our tent as we unrigged it this morning.