Saturday 27 January 2007

South Cape Bay - 26th January 2007

South Cape Bay panorama - 26th Jan 2007
Went off for another walk to South Cape Bay yesterday, as my personal celebration of Australia Day. Actually, I have a new camera, and wanted somewhere to try it out. Everyone else seemed to be going there too, including one large group that I suspect was from the Hobart Walking Club. I didn't ask.

South Cape Bay view showing exposed rock and changing shape - 26th Jan 2007The shape of the beach has changed again since I went in December. A lot of bedrock remains exposed at the eastern end of the beach, but the sand seems to be returning slowly. There's a sandy protrusion in the middle of the beach, seemingly produced by the effect of reefs, and it looks like the beach is slowly reforming outwards from this area. The geomorphology of beaches seems to be fairly complex!

Tessellated sections of rock, South Cape Bay - 26th Jan 2007
I noticed that there are what appear to be tessellated sections of the bedrock at the north end of the beach. They seem to have (broadly) three sets of cracks, and my recollection is that this is the case at the Tessellated Pavement near Eaglehawk Neck. I'll have to check. I've never noticed these before, and I wonder if in past years they've been covered with sand or kelp. They're only visible at low tide at the eastern end of the beach.

Echidna, South Cape Bay track - 26th Jan 2007Saw an echidna on the way back. He was quite unconcerned at the presence of three bushwalkers within about 2 feet of where he was digging for ants on the track. My kids want to know if he was looking for jackjumpers, which made me wonder if he was, and whether he was immune to the bites...

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