Digi Dave and myself headed down to Royal National Park on Sunday for a short walk to check out some places for photography.
We started from Wattamolla – always a beautiful place with a nice lagoon and beach. From there we headed south along the tops of the cliffs towards the twin creeks of Curracurrang and Curracurrong.
An abundance of wildflowers added colour to the coastal heath. Below the cliffs a high tide made itself felt with powerful waves pounding the rocks.
We soon arrived at Curracurrang. It is a small sheltered inlet. No big waves here. We stopped for a few photographs and then explored up the creek. Not far up is a nice campsite (now not used) and an excellent pool with a small waterfall.
Back on the main track, we headed south once more to Curracurrong. This is a creek of similar size to Curracurrang, but quite different in its meeting with the sea. No small sheltered inlet. Instead, the creek tumbles over a high cliff with a waterfall. It would be truly impressive in high water. We only had a trickle.
Nearby was Eagle Rock – an impressive “beak” of sandstone that juts out over the sea. Out with the cameras and tripods once more. Conditions were bright and sunny – and it was hard to get a long exposure photo of the sea hitting the rocks. I had to resort to low ISO, f22 and a variable ND filter set on max.
On our way back, at one rock slab, I wandered over to check out some flannel flowers. Nearby was a goanna warming itself in the sun. I called over Digi Dave and some passing walkers. One lady identified it as a Heath Monitor.
A nice day out! More photos are on my website here.
I did some checking and it is definitely a Heath Monitor, which has dots on legs rather than bars like the Lace Monitor.
Thanks Ken. The lady we met on the track that told us it was a Heath Monitor seemed pretty sure. She took a GPS reading of the location and said she was going enter the sighting in an “atlas”.
Dave