Looking ENE from the western end of Jibbon Beach.
Jibbon Beach basically marks the northeastern corner of the Royal National Park. Depending on to whom you are talking, the Royal National Park is either the oldest (Aussie speaking) or second oldest (Yank speaking) national park in the world, the rival being Yellowstone. The scale and variety don't rival that of Yellowstone, but the beauty does. It it certainly much more convenient and accessible, being on the southern outskirts of Sydney. It is minutes from our base in Kogarah.
Next stop: Wattamolla Beach. But first, at the parking lot I snapped a (poor) photo of a few birds that I've been seeing around since I arrived in country but had never really got a good look up to this point. Here's a cropped and lightened version:
The first time I noticed this species was on our first incursion into the RNP, when I photographed Claude trying to get buddy-buddy with a cockatoo. I was intrigued, but never got close enough to attempt identification until now. With a little help, the species has been positively identified as crested pigeon, by no means rare but a little exotic-looking nonetheless.
Getting back to the original mission, we headed down to the lagoon. From this vantage point, it appears to be a river.
Looking "up-river".
This body of placid water is cut off from the open ocean by a sandbar most of the time.
That sandbar is the beach. Apparently at very high tides it is submerged.
Wattamolla is an idyllic spot, fairly unusual in its combination of attributes. The lagoon is a nice calm place to swim, and the water is crystal clear both in the lagoon and of course in the ocean, as it has been all along the coastline that I have so far observed.
Lagoon in the foreground, ocean in the right background.
The sandbar/beach is much broader than it appears at first sight. It's still a couple of hundred meters from the beach to the mouth of the little harbour.
Looking out to sea at Wattamolla.
Wattamolla is almost halfway down the park, and there are several beaches and areas of coastline that are accessible between there and Jibbon, but none of those are accessible by car. Most of them require a significant hike to see them.
Leaving Wattamolla and heading south(ish), the road winds and climbs through dense forest to over 700 feet (215 meters) of elevation at Otford Lookout. Although as usual, photos can't possibly do it justice, but I'll let you make up your own mind as to the quality of the view:
From the Otford Lookout looking south toward Wollongong
There is another lookout at Stanwell Tops Park, but it was quite busy and not that different from Otford, so we kept on truckin' to Sublime Point Lookout, which is over 1200 feet (365 meters) elevation. Another of the local residents that seems out of place in significant numbers in total freedom:
Lorikeets at the Sublime Point car park.
Sublime Point was the literal climax of today's excursion, with fantastic views overlooking Wollongong and its adjacent suburbs along the coast. It's unfortunate that the day was hazy.
The view to Wollongong and beyond from Sublime Point Lookout. It was all downhill from here.
We intended to take the most direct route home though the park, but immediately took a wrong turn and ended up making a grand loop to the west. As is often the case, that turned out to be a pleasant, although completely different, jaunt through a rural countryside, with a bonus crossing of the Georges River National Park (official link) near the end.
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