For geological info about this place click on the link: Cornelian Bay
Weather:
Very thin cloud. watercolour bright wash sky, light breeze from north
Sounds:
Gentle murmuring wavelets on rough rocks.
rumbly industrial hum - trucks/mooring work?
Southern point of Cornelian Bay - TC page of Nature Journal
PM Journal:
PM journal entry
Pat “journalling”
A flock of coots were busy in the shallows nearby where the fresh water comes up through the sand.
The Cornelian Bay Cemetry site is an ancient (Tertiary Period 40-60 Mya) volcano.
Walked around from cafe area along behind the boatsheds. Past a cliffy section where swallows or similar have made a tunnel into the hillside. After the boatsheds there were a few seams of clay, a small beach and rusty industrial relics of slipways and boatyards. Beyond the point where we settled you can see the bridge to the far right and look across the river to the East. This looks to be an aboriginal midden site as the sand is dark between the broken shells.
Observations:
Feels very calming and gentle. I notice how the white oyster shells line the shore off into the distance, and nearby. So bright, so clean, blinding like the white froth of ocean waves or the residual patch of snow on a sunny mountainside. Reminds me a bit of the broken plates collection at the Japanese restaurant. A butterfly is attracted by their brightness. I assume they are native oyster shells but possibly not.
Picked up very blood red brown rock (not cornelian). Also a lovely ochrey pebble. The ochre colour was stable but the red was reducable.
Oyster shells - Pacific or native?
Swallows nesting in the soft mudstone behind the boatsheds
A few remnants of boat fixings from previous maritime activities near the slipway.
return to main page... Rockhopping