Safari 2018 July 28th, 29th & 30th

Bundjalung National Park ,Black Rocks Camping Area, Site #10

July 28th

We packed our camp and headed north to Black Rocks Camping Ground which is still in Bundjalung National Park. The drive along the Pacific Freeway was made interesting by the massive  upgrade which is currently happening . The project is signed as 'Ballina- Woolgoolga Upgrade'. We could not believe the machinery being involved over such a long stretch of the Highway. Of course the large bridge being built at Iluka to span the Clarence River is part of this same project.

Welcoming arrangement of still life

Eventually we found our way to the Black Rocks Camp. It has 50 sites which all need to be booked online which John had done. All the sites are quite private with a BBQ unit, a small clothes line and picnic table and seats. We were welcomed by empty bottles sitting upon our table.

We have walked the Emu Loop which is a short walk through the bush and along Jeruslem Creek. The bush is most attractive with quite a few flowers in bloom including banksias and lovely grass trees. As well as this there are lots of birds..including the Superb Blue Wren, Rainbow Bird or Bee Eater, Lewin Honeyeater, the White-cheeked Honeyeater, an Eastern Whipbird and a number of Brush Turkeys wandering through the bush. There is much chatter to be heard when we are sitting outside.

Late in the afternoon we walked out to see the beach with the tide coming in. The beach is lined with large black rocks which are rather soft and slippery. 

Beautiful russet coloured Coastal Banksia

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July 29th, 

John went for a long walk along Jeruslem Creek..over 9 km in length. I chose to do a shorter walk, of about 2km, through some low bushland. The track was wide, sandy and rather uncleared. It was a delightful walk with the pungent aroma from all the flowers in bloom. The bush was really pretty with grass trees and banksia bushes and to add to this there were tiny White-cheeked Honeyeaters diving around enjoying the sunny morning.

Banksias & Grass trees

 I spent a lot of time today stitching my eco dyed wool. Mid afternoon we walked the beach for about 45 minutes. It is a wide, wide flat beach..especially at low tide. Black rocks line the cliffs of the beach. these black rocks are easily eroded. They are soft sponge like rock known as Coffee Rock or Black Rock..

One interesting visitor to the camp ground today was a goanna. Evidently  they are common and like to raid camps for any food left out.

Black Rocks of the beach

 July 30th.

Two Blue Native Iris

 Our day began with an early walk across to the beach to see the high tide. The sea and the tides are quite fascinating for us. Later in the afternoon we walked for an hour, in a northerly direction, along the beach on wonderful hard sand at low tide. In the distance we could see menacing smoke billowing into the sky..a controlled burn of the bush we suspect and we hope not an 'out of control' burn.
Much of our time has been watching and listening for birds. There are so many of them near our camp. John was lucky to see a Scarlet Honeyeater which is a beautiful brightly coloured bird of red, white and black. Another couple of birds to be added to our list are the White-bellied Sea Eagle and two Pied Oystercatchers. 
Another walk along the 'bush' track gave a lot of pleasure as we looked at all the flowers- including quite a number of beautiful blue/violet native irises.
Yes, we did see another Goanna  searching around a newly vacated camp site. This one was much darker in colour than the one we saw yesterday.