Morton National Forest to Ulladulla
Distance Travelled - 180.4 km
The sound of rain landing on my tent woke me once during the night and then again at about 5.30 am. There did not seem to be any serious depressions in the top of the fly so I assumed the rain had not been that heavy or consistent during the night but the cloud cover probably stopped the temperature from getting too low. Finally summoned the courage to get out of bed and face the windy conditions at about 7.30 am.
Had just got out of bed when light rain began to fall and the sky looked like it might deliver more quickly so I rapidly packed away the tent, wet fly and all and got ready to head off. Drove into Jervis Bay and saw a sign promising a market day and was looking forward to going there but could not find it. Went to an antique shop that was open and wandered through there for a while and found out the markets had been cancelled due to impending bad weather.
After leaving the antique shop and waiting for the Visitor Information Centre to open I wandered the streets and had some breakfast from the bakery. Went back to the Visitor Centre at 10 am when it opened and spent some time looking through there and talking to the lady about the lighthouse ruins at Cape St George. Access is through the Booderee National Park which involves a $11 entrance fee but seeing as I ws going to photograph ruins and lighthouse at the same time I decided that was worth it.
Drove through and found the ruins quite easily but was disappointed with the thick black fencing that surrounded it making photography somewhat difficult. Not long after I got there had a phone call from Janine in Southern Cross filling me in on some work related news. Had a good chat to her and then proceeded to start my photos. Luckily the fence was easy to scale and I was able to get to the positions I wanted without too much trouble, now I just hope the photos turn out ok, having looked reasonable on the camera screen but not yet transferred to computer.
After finishing there I headed off to Ulladulla and the Warden Head lighthouse located there. Went to the Visitor Centre only to find that it closes at 2 pm on weekends - surprisingly early for visitor centres, most open until 4 pm - so headed off with vague directions to find the lighthouse. Found that quite easily and took a few photos in the mid afternoon light with large amounts of cloud around. A little bit of sun poked out so I decided to race back to the visitor centre where there was a large open car park and set the tent up to dry in the light sun and reasonable breeze. Got the tent dry in about an hour while I sat in the car and read.
Decided to see if there was a Baptist Church in town and whether it had appropriate buildings that would shelter my tent for the night and found one not far away. Drove over and got there about 5.30 pm. There were several people inside so I went and introduced myself and asked about setting the tent up outside and got a resounding yes, coupled with an invitation to have tea with them before I headed off to do night photos of the lighthouse. Thought that sounded good so agreed and then found the catch, tea was pumpkin soup. Oh well, eaten with some bread it disguised the taste somewhat and helped warm the insides against what was probably going to be a cold time outside at the lighthouse. Chatted for a while over tea and then left for the lighthouse.
Spent an hour or so at the lighthouse and think I got some ok shots before getting into the car to escape the cold wind and write the blog and then sort photos. Once this is done I will head back to the church and set up for the night. Tomorrow I will head towards Canberra, and use the camp spots along the way to determine how far I actually travel tomorrow. Once in Canberra I will visit the War Memorial and museum for a day or two and then decide what else to look at before heading back out towards Bateman's Bay and back down the coast.
Warden Head lighthouse, night view
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