CENTRAL COAST - Avoca Beach - surf - 25 July 201

 

Great day!

Warm and sunny.

Avoca solid hard breaking right and left waves.

CENTRAL COAST - Terrigal Beach - bodyboarding - 24 July 2011

 

It was a beautiful sunny and warm winter's day. The surf was looking a bit over the top so I headed down to Terrigal for a coffee.

People were strolling around and there were a number of bodyboarders in the water riding a small shore break. I drank my coffee, chatted with a few friends and photographed the lads in the water.

CENTRAL COAST - Munmorah SCA - North Birdie and Wybung Head - HIKE - 19 july 2011

What a day! I just had an hour and a hour surf at birdie beach in great waves with noone out for the first hour. Unfortunately, with the other surfers came the wind.

I went for a walk to the headland at North Birdie. This area is  nude beach and it was well used and paraded.

Anyway, the lagoon was small and interesting and the headland was a nice rock hop. It became too difficult to cross at one point so I turned back and drove to Wybung Head.

This was only a short walk but it had great views along the coast to the north and south.

CENTRAL COAST - Kantandra Reserve - HIKE - 16 July 2011

I parked at Kantandra at the end of Kantandra street.

I followed the track to Seymour Pond, which was pretty. I then followed the Waterman track through rainforest skirting the various water flows to Seymour Pond. This walk was easy and very calming.

The track lead upwards towards St Johns Lookout. I didn't go to the lookout but followed the track around the base of the cliffs below the lookout. The cliffs were high and overhanging in some places. very spectacular.

I eventually joined up with Graves Track which lead back to the parking area.
The walk took just about two and  half hours.

CENTRAL COAST - Terrigal Haven n Forrester - surf - July 2011

 

A huge swell has ben running for a week. Some guys are out there doing it but most are watching.

The haven had some big sets but bumpy conditions. Forries was big.

A movie was being filmed so there were tow-ins and a lot of film equipment around.

CENTRAL COAST - Mangrove Creek - kayak - 9 July 201

Mangrove Creek is next to Popran NP. I checked it out the other day before a walk and it looked good with a good launch/parking spot near junction of Mangrove Creek and another creek.

I decided to kayak up Popran Creek into Wentworth Valley. I couldn't find a good launch/parking spot due to mangroves or step banks. I drove back to mty original site but there were a couple of guys there launchiung and going downriver son I decided to go upriver.

It was a hard paddle as the tide was against me both ways.

It was a pretty paddle with cattle drinking at the water's edge and a few birds sunning in the overhanging trees.

CENTRAL COAST - Bouddi NP - Strom n Turkey Trail - MTB - 8 July 2011

I had collected some maps for mountain biking on the Central Coast. This ride was labelled as easy. Still, there were some steep sections, loose rocks and mud.

At the bottom of a few runs there were pools of mud. I went through a few and decided to take one of them at speed as i was feeling more confident. All the other pools were very shallow but this one was a foot deep. Consequently, the spray soaked me but luckily, I didn't come off.

It was a good workout!

CENTRAL COAST - Wamberal - surf - 7July 2011

Great day! Seven nice fun breaks along the beach. There is footage of Rob, Jim, Micheal and Jeckle.

Indonesia: - mix of incidents - 2011

While i was in Indonesia, there were a few happenings that stood out from the rest of the trip. i put together videos of some of those events.

CENTRAL COAST - Popran National Park – Mount Olive, Emerald Pool, Donovan’s Forest - HIKE - 5 July 2011

I set the GPS for Ironbark Road.  The road was labeled sealed and unsealed but the last 200 metres were 4w drive to national park car park.

The day was sunny but strong wind was predicted. The wind increased through the walk but it wasn’t a problem.

The planned walk entailed Mount Olive, Emerald pool and Donovan’s forest.

The walk started as a trail with a variety of wild flowers growing along the edges. The bottlebrushes were in full bloom in shades of red and yellow.

Turning off the trail, I followed the track to Mount Olive. It was an easy climb with a nice view over the national park.

Returning along the track, I followed the trail to the turnoff for Emerald Pool. This was fun track that ran beside a small creek that skirted to Hominy Creek. Hominy Creek had a flow of water running over sandstone. In parts it funneled, formed small pools or cascaded widely over the sandstone.

A track leads down 50 metres to Emerald Pool. It was a very pretty sight. The pool is a light green and deep. I thought about a swim but he water was icy cold. I sat down on a sunny slab of sandstone and enjoyed the serenity.

I backtracked a short distance, then followed the track to trail 248. At junction of the tracks I took the trail to the carpark via Donovan’s Forest. The forest in contrast with the surrounding area of open bush to a shaded forest that was floored with bracken fern that swayed in the breeze.

I continued along the trail to the carpark.

Thoughts

This walk would be better by cycling along the trails.

CENTRAL COAST - Wyong River - kayak - 3 July 2011

 

I launched at River Street, Wyong and paddled upriver.

I took a turnoff to the left that went under a low bridge. The creek was narrow with vegetation overhanging the banks. Along the way, I over landed it twice through blocked sections. The way back was great as the water was fast moving and there was a section of small rapids.

I don’t think this creek can normally be navigated by kayak but here had been a lot of rain of late which had raised the water level.