Fri, 1st May, 2015 Lagoons Beach Campground (sightseeing)

Beautiful clear blue sky, 13 degrees. Mr Possum didn’t come and get his food last night, must have been too full from the night before. Packed up and headed back up Elephant Pass again.

The top section of the road is narrow enough that they don’t even put dividing lines on it so you can’t get in trouble from crossing the double lines.

Stopped at the Mount Elephant Pancake Barn.

Great sign.

Inside were two magnificent carved chairs and hundreds of other elephants.

Great view back to the ocean.

Ordered coffees and a Rocky Road pancake. Yummy.

Map showing this area.

Drove through St Marys and turned off at Cornwall to check out the Miners Wall. The Pyramid is clear today. There is a challenging walk to the top which we may check out.

Still a few homes in Cornwall – all the names around here show the heritage of the area, English, Scots and Germans.

This is a tribute to all the miners in this area, who hand-tunnelled a coal mine beneath Mt Nicholas range. Coal was discovered here in 1843.

The houses are all on the side of a hill with great views over the Fingal Valley.

Heading back towards St Marys, the Pyramid (St Parick’s Head) greets us.

Next was the South Sister Lookout. Up an old forestry road heading towards Germantown then we turned off and headed up a mountain. Stopped beside a Telstra station. Great view over valley and edge of St Marys.

We noticed a path and headed up it, climbing over rocks with a pipe handrail in some places.

Stopped to admire the view – and catch my breath. Looking across St Marys Pass area.

Then Ironhouse Point.

Then back up the Fingal Valley.

The sky had been so lovely and clear and now the clouds are closing in on us. Took another set of photos.

Zoomed in on St Marys, way below us.

With wobbly knees we made it over the rocks and the few steps then up the steps to the platform area.

Wow oh wow what a view. We are at 831 meters.

Breezy on the northern side but not too bad. I took a video as I walked around the platform taking in the 360 degree view then I took photos as I walked around. Starting with Mt Elephant then around over the Fingal Valley, across Mt Nicholas then North Sister and all the mountains to the ocean.

Zoomed in on Georges Bay and St Helens in the distance.

St Helen and Paddys Islands.

Scamander and the Scamander River.

Falmouth and Henderson Lagoon.

Then across to St Marys Pass area. We could see the cars on the road.

Ironhouse Point again.

St Patricks Head which doesn’t look much like the Pyramid from this angle. After this fabulous view we don’t have to bother with the walk up it now. Steve sighs!!

And back to Mt Elephant.

Around the other side and I zoomed in on Stacks Bluff in the far distance.

The rocks are just balancing.

Now that our knees have stopped wobbling it is time to descend.

Back to the truck and down the road a bit, we stop to look up at the tower we just climbed to.

Back down to St Marys and we look back to South Sister.

Zoomed in on the tower.

Back through St Marys we spotted this carving. No info about it though.

Turned off to check out St Patricks Head Reserve to have some lunch. Unfortunately there was only a turnaround area and it was a 2 hour hike to the summit. Near here is what is left of Irish Town – now just a couple of houses.

Must get wet here as they give the sheep gumboots!!

Down St Marys Pass which was built by convicts, taking 4 year to construct. Another narrow one.

Back to the main road, looking back at South and North Sisters.

Zoomed in on the tower.

Into Falmouth that was the first coastal settlement in 1835. Throughout history Falmouth has been a port, a centre for coastal transport and popular destination for gathering, rest and recreation.  The waters of Henderson Lagoon reaches the sea here. Across the mouth is the remains from European settlement – an old stone road that ran between Scamander and Falmouth in the 1860s. It was described as “a rudimentary, treacherous track” behind the coastal dunes, which frequently bogged the coaches!

We know where all the shells are now as the other beaches we have been to have had none. There a millions of them here. Steve is having fun being the beachcomber and finding more shells for the van.

Beautiful beach here too.

Went for a drive around checking out the homes – this one has a great view and is different.

Someone made a dinosaur out of whale bones.

This is an exclusive accommodation area.

Complete with their own beach.

A couple of Cape Barren Geese in with the sheep.

Back on the main road heading back then we turned off to Four Mile Creek. Another beach shack area. A couple of Clydesdales – one needs a haircut!!

A house with a grass roof sits down in a sand dune.

Past Ironhouse Point which has more exclusive houses plus the brewery and the winery. Next stop was Little Beach Conservation Area. It wasn’t in the Camp 7 but there is room for some vans etc. It has a creek running through it and out to sea so it is subject to flooding. A couple for Swansea (down the road) were camped out the front with a fabulous view. Bit of a pain to get to the beach though.

Steve got the fire going but the timber we picked up was damp but he managed to get it going just as the rain started to sprinkle. A black kitten came in for some food – reminded us of Midnight.