Digi Dave and myself headed down to Royal National Park for a day of photography.
We started off at Audley and went a short way up the Hacking River to kook for birds. Well, some magpies and ducks were not that interesting, so we instead concentrated on photographing some of the many dragonflies that were flying over the river. The ones here did settle on reeds but it was very hard to capture photos of them in flight. They moved far too fast.
Next, we headed to Bundeena and went to the Bonnie Vale Wetland. Again – mostly only ducks. But as we wandered along the side of the wetland, we noticed a large goanna prowling around. It was slowly coming our way, but the amazing thing was its escort. A group of about 20 ibis were following it watching it very intently. Were they watching it to see if the goanna unearthed any insects as it moved? I think it more likely that they may have had nests or chicks nearby and they were making sure the goanna didn’t go close. Anyway. it was very interesting to watch. The ibis stayed close to the goanna for about 15 minutes. We stayed close too, with our cameras out.
We had also observed at the nearby beach – quite large waves travelling right up Port Hacking. A lot of surfers and paddle boarders were out enjoying the waves.
We then went to the end of beachcombers Road at Bundeena and set out to walk to the coastal cliffs. But the track was closed due to track work (it is currently only open on weekends), so instead we headed to Wattamolla.
At Wattamolla, we walked the short distance out to Providential Head and again stopped for some photography. There was a powerful swell, and impressive waves were breaking against the cliffs. A solitary cormorant sitting on the rocks added some scale to the photos.
While we were there, two sea eagles flew past.
We finished the day with some more dragonfly photography near the carpark. The dragonflies at Coote Creek were hovering quite nicely.
More photos are online on my website here.
