Escape to Hawks Nest

This tale starts on a Monday morning, we have the week off and the forecast is for sunny weather. Do we believe the weather report? The weather has been so crazy lately, we chance it and book a house at Hawks Nest for 5 days. Within two hours we are packed and on our way North to sunshine and fun.

We settle into the house, unload the bikes and head off to Winda Woppa to check out the beach. There is not a soul around, the tide is out, the sand is hard so we can ride our bikes all the way out to the point. Rosco runs along gleefully, stopping every now and again to tackle the waves.

The rest of the holiday is a mix of bike rides, beach walks and lots of swimming and chasing birds (the feathered kind).

One of the adventures we went on was a ride to Johnsons and Shellys beach. Along the way we met Roy, at 72 years old he was testing out his new bike on the same track as us. Now that’s something to aspire to as we get older.

At  Johnson’s farm we saw where the kid’s started their journey to go to school. First they had to row their boat across the river with the horses tied behind, then ride their horses 9km to grandmas house and finally walk the last 2.5 kms to school. That’s what you would call commitment to an education.

Back on the beach early in the morning in the dark before sunrise we discovered an interesting phenomena. As we walked on the beach our shoes and the surrounding sand had glowing specks whenever we moved.  When Rosco ran a trail of greenish glowing dots followed him. It turned out to be Noctiluca scintillans, commonly known as Sea Sparkle, it’s a marine-dwelling species that exhibits bioluminescence. It must have been washed onto the sand with the tide. We had never seen it before and thought it was pretty cool.

By the end of the trip we had identified 44 bird species and discovered a lot more of Hawks Nest and the Myall River National Park.

After 5 days of sunshine as we headed back into Sydney the rain started, a great holiday was had by all.