peteg's blog - noise - beach

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Late morning snorkel with Rob. After the recent heavy storms the water was way too turbid to see anything, but my spring suit made it pleasant enough. Some fairly large waves.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Snorkeling with Rob at Little Bay, the old Prince Henry Hospital site now being turned into apartments. (We'd been to "Little Bay" before, but that was in fact Long Bay.) Very clear, not too cold (in a springsuit), some fish to see and loads of interesting rock formations. Lunch at Paris Seafood at La Parouse in what turned out to be a pleasant autumn afternoon.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Midday snorkelling attempt at Gordons Bay. A bit too rough and turbid to make out much, though the water was pleasant enough once in (at least in a spring suit).

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Early afternoon paddle at Gordons Bay. Quite warm out of the water today too, at 24 degrees.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Morning snorkel at the north side of Gordons Bay with Sarah. I, wimpishly, broke out the wetsuit for the first time this season (in Sydney). It wasn't that necessary in the water but it did help immensely with the scoot in the windy shade back to the car. Once again, loads of fish and the weather was beautiful. It seems the blue gropers assemble just east of the ramp, out in the mouth of the bay.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Very brief snorkel off the north-eastern rocks at Gordons Bay in the early afternoon. The wind made the scamper up to the car pretty uncomfortable; the wetsuit would block it much better than a dripping wifebeater. Loads of fish again today, perhaps the most variation I've seen there yet.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
After putting my parents on the plane to London-via-Singapore, I went for a swim at Gordons Bay. Beautiful autumn weather presently, though I feel the need to wear a wifebeater in the water now, it makes just enough of a difference.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Mid-afternoon snorkel at Gordons Bay. Loads of fish, including a solitary blue groper, thousands of the usual stripey little fellers, a school of thin, long-nosed silver ones (swordfish?) swimming just under the surface. The water was quite pleasant once in, though staying in is getting harder. Time to get out the wetsuit, methinks.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Mid-afternoon swim at a flat-as-I've-ever-seen-it Coogee. It was quite cool on the promenade while I was waiting for Lev.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Early afternoon paddle at Gordons Bay. The beautiful weather continues.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Mid-afternoon dip at Gordons Bay. Quite warm in and out of the water, very sunny and clear.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Early afternoon snorkel with mrak and Deb at Balmoral. Absolutely perfect day for it, apart from some fairly cloudy harbour water.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Late afternoon swim at Coogee. The days are getting quite short. Quite a few people there, pleasant water and cold sand, classic dumpers.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Swim at Gordons Bay. Very pleasant weather for late April.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Mid-afternoon swim at Coogee.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Early-afternoon swim at Gordons Bay.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Quick morning dip with mrak at Coogee, featuring some classic shorebreaking dumpers.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Swim at a quite flat Bondi with mrak in the mid-afternoon.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Quick dip at an incredibly flat Coogee. The tsunami warning was a bit of a furphy.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Early-afternoon paddle at Gordons Bay. Some people were trying to sun bathe in a fairly strong and not too warm easterly.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Quick early-afternoon swim with Jen at Gordons Bay.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Quick late-afternoon paddle at Gordons Bay. Ran into a blue bottle and didn't last too much longer. (Just a mild sting across the back of the knuckles.)

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Mid-afternoon swim at a mostly-empty Coogee.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Very quick dip at Coogee in the late afternoon.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Late afternoon snorkel at Gordons Bay. Loads of fish, including a large blue groper.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Early afternoon swim at Coogee.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Quick late-afternoon dip at Gordons Bay.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Quick dip with Jen at Clovelly in the late afternoon.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Mid-afternoon swim at Gordons Bay. Beautiful day, with the chill in the wind signaling the end of summer (though there be another two or so months of beach swimming left).

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Mid-arvo swim at Gordons Bay with Jen. Loads of people snorkelling.

Heroic Bushwalk: Cowan to Jerusalem Bay, and up to Brooklyn.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link

Shelly drove Iain, Vicki, Eoghn and I up to Cowan, where we proceeded to take a wrong turn and needed to bushbash our way back to the pedestrian bridge over the F3. The walk from there down to Jerusalem Bay was not too hard, and it was a pretty spot for lunch and a swim. It's a semi-popular spot to head to on a boat, and somewhat strangely goes from half a metre to two metres very quickly.

As the NPWS website says:

Jerusalem Bay Track (to Brooklyn)
11 km, 4.5 hours, difficult

This track covers a small section of the 250 kilometre Great North Walk, which goes all the way from Sydney to Newcastle. Starting at Cowan station, take the steep descent through thick scrub, across a creek, past the ruins of Rhodes boatshed and on to the beautiful Jerusalem Bay. From here you can grit your teeth and head towards Campbells Creek and Brooklyn (where you can catch the train home from Hawkesbury River station). Expect spectacular views.

The "grit your teeth" stage was pretty exhausting, but at the top we found this section of the Great North Walk to be a fairly wide and easy firetrail. Bloody hot day, not at all ideal for such an arduous trek.

Here is a Google Map of the area. I'll see if I can plot a rough route and annotate the map... apparently this requires JavaScript, which is going to hurt. Mapstraction looks like it could save some trouble, if it doesn't cause more.

Update: on André's advice I had a look at tinymap.net, which does the trick. I'm too lazy to render this walk as polylines though.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Made my annual pilgrimage to Bondi in the early afternoon. Not too busy, some nice enough surf to swim in but nothing large. Very pleasant.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Early afternoon swim at Coogee, before the thunder storm kicked in. Some classic strong but not high dumpers, and a mix of accents in the surf.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Early evening swim at Clovelly, after a day without rain. Quite a bit of leaf litter and rubbish near the sand.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link

Mid-afternoon dip with Jen at the Redleaf Pool at (the eastern bay of) Double Bay. In no sense is it a proper sea pool such as one might find at Coogee; it's simply a bit of beach ringed by a (shark proof?) fence, containing two pontoons. I reckon we saw a tiny little stingray (perhaps a foot wide) just near the sand. The coffee shop there is top-notch, and parking is free and plentiful.

Googling for "Red Leaf Pool" makes me think the place is perhaps most famous for the public facilities it provides, listed in the National Public Toilet Map. I am both surprised by the existence of the website itself and that there are still free public facilities in Sydney at all. Perhaps this is what all the pay-to-pee money goes towards.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
After-dark dip with Pete R. and Vicki at Clovelly. Very pleasant, a great night for it.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Mid-afternoon dip with Jon at Coogee. Quite busy for a weekday afternoon.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Getting lazy: first trip to Coogee in a few days. The weather has been perfect, the will weak. Loads of seaweed today, not so many people. It's starting to feel like summer is waning.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Afternoon paddle at Gordon's Bay. Loads of people, beautiful day for it. Coogee was packed.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Evening swim with Marc at Clovelly, quite pleasant.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Evening swim at Coogee. Large-ish surf (for Coogee) and lots of seaweed. Very pleasant at that time of the day.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Drove down to the Royal National Park with Vicki. I missed the Bundenna turn-off so we ended up heading towards Stanwell Park and were waylaid at a pleasant little café at Otford. Made our way back up to Audley to the info centre to get a map, and thence to Wattamolla for a swim and a walk.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Mid-afternoon paddle at Gordon's Bay, very pleasant.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Mid-afternoon swim at Clovelly. It's been thunderstorming here recently, and according to the EPA that's the beach to swim at if one wants to avoid blowback... around here at least. The really health conscious head up to the Northern Beaches.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Evening swim at Coogee. Some people around, quite convivial.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Midday snorkel with Rob at Little Bay. Absolutely beautiful day, loads of fish and a surprising number of people hanging out with their dogs on the little beach there.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Late evening swim with Marc and friends at Clovelly.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Back in salt water, swimming in the blowback from the ocean outfall. Midday swim at Gordon's Bay, quite pleasant with the storm clouds blowing in.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Tripped up to the insular peninsula for a late-afternoon walk and swim with Vicky at Manly Dam. (We had plans to head up to Avalon but Pete R. and fam were indisposed after a night of coping with Jack's stomach upset.) It's a beautiful area just off the main drag heading up to the peninsula proper. Had dinner at the Newport Arms afterwards, which was humming when we got there and two-thirds empty when we left. Strange for a Saturday night.

/noise/beach/2006-2007 | Link
Late evening swim with Pete R. at Coogee, after some dinner with the fam and Beth's sister Vicky. Beautiful time for it, loads of people milling around the streets.