Sunday, October 23, 2005

The Basin

We decided to head out to a place called The Basin today which is situated in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. We'd heard it was a great place to go and picnic, so we wanted to check it out for ourselves.

The first port of call was Cottage Point for a coffee!! We'd been here on holiday and it's a little cafe which is built right on the water's edge overlooking the water and moored boats. It's a great relaxing place to enjoy a coffee while watching the boats and the occassional seaplane taking people to the posh restaurant next door. The seaplanes bring people from Rose Bay in the city and fly along the coast to the restaurant. Very expensive, but maybe a special treat one day.

This photo is of the fish that were hanging around the bottom of the boats. The water was so clear and the sunlight was bouncing around the surface.

After feeling recharged we headed off for The Basin, driving the scenic route along the waters edge and over to the other side. After parking up, we unloaded the gear and all the picnic stuff and headed off along the track. It was a hot day (as usual) and we didn't realise what a long walk it would be!! Bloody tourists! I think it was a total of 3km, which seemed like miles while loaded up like a carthorse with drinks and goodies to eat.

The last of the track was a steep slope which made it's way to the Basin itself. We had a sneak preview between the trees of what was in store and we were so looking forward to a refreshing swim by this stage!


We made our way down and the path became steeper and steeper, knowing full well that we would have to walk back up! I was determined to eat everything and drink everything while down here to make sure things were lighter to carry.


As we entered the place it was definitely worth it. We also found out that you can catch a ferry from Palm Beach which brings you straight here and avoids the steep track! D'oh!! So the only people here are those that have arrived by ferry or have dared the track. It was very quiet and a peaceful place. On one side was the sea, while on the other side was a stretch of water which looked like a lagoon. This water was amazingly still and lovely and warm.



We camped by the tiny little beach on the lagoon end and relaxed away the afternoon and ate and drank. Lots of swimming to freshen up and make another great day exploring. We of course stayed as long as we could until we felt ready to tackle the steep climb out. It took us a lot longer on the way out but there was no rush and there were lots of wildlife on the way too.

All around The Basin live quite a few Wallabies and their babies. We saw some on the path coming down and later on as the sun went down, a few came out onto the grass to feed. You could get quite close for a photo, but they soon scarpered if you invaded their personal space. This one in the photo is carrying a young and you can see his little head just poking out. How they get in there, I'll never know, but it's spring time and lots of babies were being carried around.