Crackneck Lookout to Shelley Beach
Whenever we are out walking especially in the areas of beauty around our place on the Central Coast we pay tribute to the Awabakal and Darkinjung peoples and this makes us a little more aware that we walk on sacred ground and reminds us to pay attention and just ask and thank our entry into a place . this of course is only a small section of the national Park which clings to the narrow line right along the coast. For us there are three main walks :
1 Crackneck Lookout to Shelley Beach and picked up at end (north) Ocean
2 Crackneck Lookout to the Trig station and back (south) Ocean
3 Magenta ( lake side) to Canton Beach north (Lake )
Winter is the perfect time for stepping out into our local Wyrrabalong National Park (gazetted in 1991) has the best of all worlds , the wonderful Australian Bush with its Red Gums, Blackbutts and Spotted Gums and Scribbly Eucalyptus, the lingering of wattle and other Acacias, Hakea, Myrtles, Banksia and the promise of the odd siren of a red Waratah . (Good to know where they are so you won’t miss the October bloom.) This is backgrounded by the coastal bird life with the iconic crack of the Whip Bird and the spectacular glimpses of the blue reminding us we are walking in a rare piece of land where the bush meets the sea.
Michael gave the walking a miss today but drove me to Crackneck Lookout where we joined with many watching the wide blue sea for the whales travelling north. Excitement each time there was a blow of spray or the break of the water and a silver streak of a tail appeared. Of course they are very distant and only those with binoculars and one woman I spoke to with a highly magnified camera. (So interesting as she is a poet and writes haiku and uses her photography and poetry together.
Michael left me to walk down to Shelley Beach and he drove down set up the picnic and read his Kindle. The path has been newly upgraded. In a way I preferred the old ramble of a track. And I was distressed at some damage along the sides where they haven’t worried about Grass trees and flannel flower plants and other small planting I have been aware of in the past. No doubt next time I come nature will have overcome the damage and be back to it s beauty. The blue glimpses and lookouts give a lovely touch to the walk as it clings to the coast as far as safely possible.
Brush Turkeys There was activity with the brush turkeys sometimes called scrub turkeys or bush turkeys. I observed three hens grouped and a bit lost, you could say. I walked on and saw the male rooster cocky as ever coming down off his huge mound of leaf litter, twigs and dirt, which I presume he built although who knows??? but just along the way he met a few more cocks all up tight . Were they fighting over the same mound I am not sure but they flew at each other and chased each other. They all landed on a tree and stalked each other trying to win the battle to be the main cock . . so funny. I was caught in this wonderful display.
One stalked the other not knowing he was looking down on him from on high. It was a marvellous bush experience to watch. Not having any understanding but still fascinating. The photos demonstrate some of the activity. Of course the noise as they clashed and fought cannot be captured. Bush energy at its best.
Yes I know some of my friends shoo these scrub turkeys away and dislike the way they wreck their gardens but they have wonderful things going for them for us to be aware of .
1. They are the most ancient member of their family dating back 30 million years so that should humble us. 2. They have a hard beginning because their parents don’t care for them after they are born . . .they have to defend for themselves 3. they make compost in the name of love as they rack the garden into a mound so the heat can build up inside for the eggs and to attract the female for firstly they are built by the male to attract a mate. And then the eggs follow.No wonder there was such a frenzy going on during my walk.