A bit of a lateish start to a hike to Yacaaba Head at Hawks Nest.
We parked at the end of beach road and decided to walk across the sand dunes rather than along the beach. Straight away we saw a number of birds and a glimpse of an azure kingfisher.
It was such a good idea tramping along the soft sand of the dunes in the hot weather. Anyway, I was trudging up one dune when I also stepped on a brown snake. Not a good idea as they are fairly deadly. I got a few photos before it slithered into the undergrowth.
We now decided to walk along the beach to the start of the hike. It was nice watching the waves break crisply on the shallow sandbanks and say hello to passing people.
The hike to the top of the headland was dry and steep in parts. Towards the top, we were rewarded with a great, expansive view of Hawks Nest, Tea Gardens and the surrounding hinterland. Nice.
On the way don we had a glimpse of a large brownish goanna.
Next stop was Tea Gardens for petrol, water, coffee and lunch.
We drove back to Banksia Green. The camp area was filling up due to a long weekend. Luckily, we got the last spot. After establishing ourselves, I went down to the beach for a sit and a swim.
I decided on a mountain bike ride from roughly Bennetts Green to Dark Corner along a number of tracks between the main road and the waterway. The tracks were rough with a number of broken branches littering the ground. After the snake this morning, a lot of branches suddenly looked very snake like. It was an okay ride with a number of tracks leading to deadends.
Back to Banksia Green camp for a rest and read. Later in the afternoon, a large goanna was just behind our camp site. A number of birds also visited.
After a good sleep, we headed back home checking out Tea gardens for a coffee, Hams Beach near Newcastle for surf and Red Ochre Beach at Munmorah SCA for surf. The surf was not good but at Munmorah we watched a pod of dolphins catching waves.
The last stop was home - unload, clean up and cruise the afternoon away.
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