Hat head bushwalk in wildflower and whale watching season

 

We went for a great shortish (7km) walk in Hat Head National Park.

It was a perfect day!

The sun was shining but it wasn't hot and there was a nice breeze blowing.

It's a great time of year as the wild flowers are out and the whales are moving back south to Antarctica.

The walk starts at The Gap which is on the ocean side of Hat Head rather than the bay.
There is a car park but no facilities. If you need the loo before you start you have to go to the caravan park.
There are two tracks here.
One goes around Korogoro Headland and the other goes south to Connors beach and beyond.

The path to Connors beach is a well-formed track up and over a little rise but then it gets a bit tricky.
Walk along Connors Beach and at the south end you will see a sign on the rocks.
Scramble up there and follow the well-worn foot pad as it winds in and out of a couple of gullies and past Third Beach.

Unfortunately the gullies and the track are getting a bit choked with nasty invasive bitou bush which makes it a little less pleasant.
National Parks and Wildlife Service are getting a round to spraying this but there is a lot to be done.

Fortunately there are lots of wildflowers in between - flannel flowers love this part of the coast!
There were yellow isopogons, assorted pea flowers, native violets, little tiny blossoms, and eventually we found some orchids! With the help of an orchid hunter.

Along this stretch we were entertained by a pod of whales! They hung around for ages. About five big ones and a baby,  they were quite close in.

After about three and a half kms you get to the grassy headland of Kemps Corner.
It was a strikingly clear day!
We could see Crescent Head, Big Hill, North Brother mountain and Tacking Point at Port Macquarie.
It's a great spot for morning tea or lunch.

You can also walk here from the road that goes past the Hungry Head camping area.

Then walk back the way you came.

As an added bonus you can swim at Connors beach on the way back.

 

Paradise. Better known as Lord Howe Island.

What a surprise!
Who knew that Lord Howe Island is soooo beautiful?

For those of you who don't know....Lord Howe Island is a little speck about 600kms due east of here.
It's part of New South Wales and hence Australia and is literally a sub-tropical paradise.

It's only about 11kms long but has two awesome peaks at one end and a few other little nobbies.

It has a coral reef!
Which is totally amazing.
It is the southernmost coral reef in the world.
It has this due to warm currents swirling down from Queensland and warming the waters enough for coral and some pretty gorgeous fish.

You have to fly on a little plane as there is only a little runway.
Planes fly from Sydney every day and from Brisbane once a week at this time of year.
More frequently in the summer and there are flights from Port Macquarie too I believe.

On the second day we went on a boat trip on the lagoon and did some snorkelling.

The boat people supplied us with wet suits and all snorkelling gear.

It was amazing!

There was lots of very pretty coral, all sorts.

And many many fish.

I wish I could remember them all. 

There was one that Ken our captain described as a Ken Done fish - it was so brightly coloured.

We even got a glimpse of a turtle.

G went on a guided walk (walk!) up Mount Gower which is the taller of the two big fellas.
You can only go on a guided tour.
G is a very fit fella and he said it was a tough day. There were ropes to hang onto and hard hats to wear to sidle under the cliff above.
It's a long 9kms, or an 8 hour day.

There are lots of other little walks though.
This one is to Kim's Lookout and Malabar Hill in the north of the island.
Good views, eh?

From here you can see Ned's beach on the left.

Which is where you can snorkel straight from the beach.
There is a little shed with wetsuits and snorkelling gear you can hire. It's a honesty system.
Great coral here too and lots of fish.

A couple of days later there was low cloud over Mount Gower, so G was glad he had gone up Mount Gower earlier.

This is Blinky Beach which is more of a surf beach, but there was no surf pumping when we were there.

But we did hire a kayak and paddle over the lagoon, first to North Beach....

and then to Blackburn Island.

As well a walk over Settlement Hill, we walked up Transit Hill where there is a good lookout over the island and you can see Ball's Pyramid in the distance but it was a hazy day.

The vegetation is very lush with banyan trees, kentia palms, big elkhorn balls. Lots of plants that are endemic to Lord Howe.

We even went snorkelling from our local beach, Settlement Beach.
It was pretty good.

We'll be back!

WOW! World of Wearable Art.

Wow! Indeed!

We had read about this interesting-sounding museum in Nelson on the south Island of New Zealand, but we were totally blown away by the display.

So colourful.
So inventive.

So bizarre.

A bit scarey.

A bit phosphorescent.

Every year there is a competition for designers of wearable creations and they are selected and actually worn at a theatrical event which would be such fun to see.
In another section of this museum is a an old car collection.
Something for everyone!