Tiliqua scincoides

Here’s an animal that every Australian knows. The Blue Tongue Lizard is common in bushland and suburban backyards of Eastern Australia, but even the familiar has the capacity to surprise as I found out with this one! The family was visiting friends in Gerringong 1 1/2 hrs south of Sydney. The kids came running in from the back yard saying they they had found a snake. We went out to take a look and found what was clearly a Blue Tongue Lizard half obscured under the back step. It’s legs were tucked under it’s body so it’s understandable that the kids though it was a snake. There was a small crowd of us watching it when it started to slowly lumber out of it’s hiding spot. The lizard seemed quite fat even for a Blue Tongue which I commented on, then all of a sudden a fully formed baby lizard popped out from the underside! It was a mum giving birth!

For fathers day day this year the family took a trip back to Muogamarra Nature Reserve. Muogamarra is located about an hour north of Sydney just off the old Pacific highway past Cowan. Visiting is a bit of a treat as the reserve is only open to the public for 6 weeks per year. It’s closed at other times to protect sensitive natural and cultural heritage areas. It rained a bit on the way up but by the time we got there it had cleared. much better than last year. We opted to do the point loop trail. Even though we’d done it before it was the best suited for the time we had. Also one of the Nation Parks and Wildlife ladies said that the wildflowers were especially stunning this year and could not be missed! The point loop is an easy 2km loop with a lookout over the Hawkesbury half  way along. The flowers didn’t disappoint, there were seas of yellow bush peas and pink wax flowers. Also a stunning Waratah by the side of the trail, a much better specimen than the one we saw last year.

I wrote an earlier post on a spot at the tidal limit of middle harbour creek called Bungaroo where Governor Phillip and an exploration party camped on April 16th 1788. It appears John ( who inspired my original post ) is still hard at work trying to uncover old records and get some official recognition for Bungaroo. As part of his research John said he’s now considering that the Bungaroo site of Governor Phillip’s April 16th camp may have been at the tidal limit of Rocky Creek rather than Middle Harbour Creek. It sounded plausible, and a good excuse to head up Rocky Creek again for a closer look! To get there I headed north on the trail that follows the west bank of Middle Harbour River.  Upon hitting Rocky Creek the trail heads west to where the creek can be crossed on foot near the tidal limit. When I got there the tide was low, the fresh water was cascading into the salt just below the crossing. At this point I left the trail and kept heading up Rocky Creek. About 100m further upstream the creek deepened to the point where I could not see the bottom, then a little way past this was a lip in the rock ( about 50cm high ) where the fresh water cascaded down. I’ll have to go back to confirm but I reckon this could be the point where fresh water meets salt when the tide is high. With the cascading fresh water meeting the salt at a deep pool this looks like a plausible alternate location of Governor Phillip’s Bungaroo camp.

I found out about Muogamarra nature reserve from a friend a few years ago and have been meaning to visit for a while. Muogamarra is located near Cowan just north of Sydney. Due to the sensitive nature of the local environment and cultural sites it’s only open to the public for 6 weekends every year during August – September. I made it out there with the family last weekend. Even though it was pouring with rain we managed to have a good time. To get there you take the old Pacific Highway and turn off a bit past Cowan, there’s a short drive on a fire trail and you’re there. Maybe the rain scared away the casual visitors, the place was a bush enthusiasts paradise, there was a photographic display of local plants and wildflowers, a small army of National Parks volunteers and a large supply of information sheets on what to see. After talking to the volunteers we decided to do the 2km point loop trail, an easy flat walk along the ridge top. Chris, one of the volunteers offered to come on the walk with us.  Chris provided commentary  on what we were seeing and what to look out for, he was very knowledgeable and made the walk fun for the kids.  Thanks Chris! I learnt a few new plants, and the proper pronunciations of a few old ones ( It’s hard when you only ready the names in a book ) We only saw a very small section of the reserve, it was clear there was so much more, we will be back again.

I really enjoyed looking at the photos of the construction of Lady Game Drive, something that kept popping up in them was Little Blue Gum Creek. I must have driven down there a million time but I couldn’t place it.

Little Blue Gum Creek : Lane Cove National Park (1939 ?)

After a quick search I found were it is, and also that there is a short boardwalk through the bush at the creek. It’s nearby so in between rain showers last weekend we ducked down there with the kids to take a look. There’s a small parking lot right out the front on the corner of Lady Game Drive and Grosvenor Rd. It’s a really nice little walk, raised boardwalk the whole way weaving through lush vegetation and what must be a grove of tall straight blue gums. Information plaques say the area is also home to a colony of microbats, there is a sculpture at the end of the walk that doubles as a bat refuge. It really is a short walk, can’t have been longer than a few hundred meters. You can hop off the boardwalk at the end and continue along a narrow bush trail, I would have liked to have done it but it had started raining again while we were there so decided to leave that to next time.

The Cascades is located at the junction of Middle Harbour and Frenches creeks inside Garigal National Park. Here both creek beds open from narrow winding channels onto wide expanses of potholed and weathered sandstone. It’s a picturesque and popular location with 3 well maintained fire trails leading into the area from Belrose, Davidson and St Ives. In another exchange with John I learned that the Cascades has an interesting history. As a depression era work project a dam wall was built at the base of one of the two large natural pools to create a large public swimming pool. John sent a photo of how it looked when it was in operation. It reminds me of the ocean pools that occupy the rocky headlands of the nearby northern beaches.

Bungaroo is an area located within Garigal National Park around the tidal limit of Middle Harbour Creek. It’s accessible by boat (at high tide) or bush track, even so it’s a wild area with a feeling of remoteness, it’s easy to forget how close it is to civilization. Bungaroo is also of historical significance to the early colony of New South Wales. It was at this spot that Governor Phillip camped with a small exploration party on April 16, 1788.

[update] – The source of the pumice is likely to be from the 2012 Havre Seamount eruption 800km NE of New Zealand. The eruption of this undersea volcano produced floating rafts of pumice estimated to be up 26,000 km²! Thanks for the info Matt! These shelled creatures are known as Gooseneck barnacles. They were covering the recently washed up pumice on Elizabeth beach. Many of them were still alive, you could see them extending their fan like fronds. Pumice forms in violent volcanic eruptions with explosive ejections of magma that cool so quickly that they solidify with fine bubbles of gas throughout. The resulting rock is of such low density that floats on water. The volcano that this pumice came from must have been a long way away, nothing like that near the east coast of Australia.

We took a day trip up to the mountains to visit the Mt Tomar Botanic Gardens and the Zig Zag Railway.

We took the Bells line of road to the Gardens, it was wet and cold but we got the raincoats on and still managed to have a good time. The kids appreciated the run around after being in the car for so long.

The Zig Zag railway was a bit of an adventure. We rode on the steam train, it’s a beautiful engine and the volunteers running it seemed pretty proud. Not long after we departed the train went into a tunnel, it was pitch black in the carriage for a good minute or two. Will was on my lap not not making a peep. When we came back into the light he looked a bit traumatized. It was a leisurely trip to the bottom of the hill with one stop to change direction on the zig. I took Will off between showers to see the steam engine but it was too late for him. I think the dark tunnel, sitting cramped in the carriage and the lack of day sleep took it’s toll and he lost it. He was wailing for mummy, and then when I got him back he kept saying “no moor, no moor, back car”. Then we found out that the steam engine had broken down and we would have to wait for the diesel rail motor to come down and rescue us. Will was really making a scene, we bought the cafe dry of milk, that satisfied him a bit.