Shipwrecks, Seals, Snakes, Stone Trees and Surprises
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| Calcified Forest |
OK, I have got your attention under slightly false pretences. Today involved only one shipwreck, Seal Rocks (but no seals) Copperhead Trail (but no snakes seen), the Calcified Forest -which technically never were trees and Surprise Bay.
Since last night was a much quieter night, with a calmer start to the morning the south-western section of the island seemed a good choice for the day.
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| Ettrick Rocks |
What I presumed to be a misinterpretation of Google maps instructions took me via some holiday homes labelled Ettrick Rocks, amongst the rather more luxurious end of King Island accomodation options at over $6K for a week, and along a short and correspondingly named section of coast. The coast line had some stunning rocks but very much of the take no prisoners variety.
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| At Ettrick Rocks |
Further down the coast a memorial and a cairn marking a mass grave commemorate the dark and stormy night in 1845 on which the Cataraqui came to grief, just 100 m offshore, with the consequent loss of 399 lives. Only nine survived with the help of a former convict, David Howie.
Howie not only assisted the 9 survivors, but was reimbursed for his efforts and commissioned to bury the dead. Apparently his daughter reported he was never the same afterwards, having consigned more than 200 to a mass grave that he dug.
The Cataraqui was Australia's worse maritime disaster. Many of the passengers were immigrants, travelling under the bounty immigration scheme. A sobering place to visit and while I was there on a relatively calm day, I can only imagine how awe-full, in the absolute sense of the word, it would be to be offshore in a boat in a storm.
From there I headed down to Seal Rocks, with its lookout over the rugged coastline.
I did most of the adjacent walk along Copperhead Cliffs, but increasing difficulty in spotting the next track marker, plus time and uncertainty about how much further I needed to go, had me turn around probably 15 minutes before the end of the walk. So I shall remain ignorant of the surprise that awaited me; this, apparently, was indicative of King Island humour, should I have reached the destination.
I enjoyed the wildflowers along the way
I was quite excited to find leaves and seed pods of an orchid, later identified as Caladenia latifolia, and leaves of helmet orchids.
The coastline here really is incredibly rugged and, apart from the facts it's in the path of the roaring forties, early navigators could be very confused about the lights from different lighthouses, (Cape Otway flashed, Cape Wickham didn't, but what might be interpreted of the Cape Wickham light as the ship dipped down and up in the swell?) Also, the rocks say that many just would not stand a chance should the ship come to grief on those reefs.
It was an enjoyable walk and the wind, while a reasonable breeze, was not unmanageable.
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| Calcified Forest |
From there I went onto the Calcified Forest and was interested to read that the structures I could see had never been trees, but they had formed because of trees along with the general geology of the land.
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| At the Calcified Forest |
Then onwards to Surprise Bay; I wasn't sure how close I might be able to drive but I followed the Surprise Bay road which then went on to a private road to Stokes Point; a sign told me to give way to kelp trucks and travel at no more than 20 km an hour, both of which were fine instructions.
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| Surprise Bay |
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| Surprise Bay |
I continued past Surprise Bay as the coastline was quite fascinating. More rugged rocks and waves breaking upon them, and the colour of the sea is just beautiful.
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| From the Stokes Point Road |
I didn't quite go all the way to Stokes Point, simply because there was a very large puddle in the middle of the road and I wasn't sure how deep it might be.
So I retraced my steps and made it back to Currie shortly before 5:30, in time to purchase just a few necessary supplies from the shops in town.
Since this is my birthday week holiday, I am allowing myself some dinner treats. So when I got back to my Airbnb I prepared the food ready for dinner and then sat down with a glass of wine and some cheese and biscuits.
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| Cheese and biscuits and a glass or wine before dinner |
Tonight will be stir fried vegetables which will be flavoured with a blend of ginger, chili, curry leaf and lemongrass, served with slow cooked abalone with a dipping sauce creatively made from ingredients that I have available; then followed by a platter of fruit and a few Macadamia nuts.
And it seems that tonight sunset will follow the fate of last night's as the sun has just dipped into the rather heavy cloud bank on the horizon.
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