February 9 – Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park, Sydney, Australia

Today the storm was over and we have only scattered clouds in the morning…and pretty warm temperatures.  

We walked down to Circular Quay to catch our all day tour.  On the way out of town the bus wandered by this beauty salon.

Our destination today is the Ku-Ring-Gai Chase National Park north of Sydney.  The park includes a large harbor similar to Sydney although it isn’t really used as such.  The first stop was at the West End overlook where we could see parts of the surrounding headlands and islands.

We also saw some pretty magnificent red gum trees,

an Australian Brush Turkey, 

and an Australian Magpie.

The guide also pointed out a Banksia Serrata that had a number of interesting “cones” or “plumes” in varying states of maturity...all on the same plant.

We then drove to Elvina Trail where we hiked out a short way into the bush to a major aborigine site (the park has over 1500 aboriginal sites).  

We saw several carving including a image of an emu transforming into a man (or visa versa...don't remember which).

a couple of birds, 

some shields,

Daramulum (a sky hero, protector of shamans, and shape shifter),

an emu,

several fish,

and the Rainbow Serpent.

In addition, there was a large area of squarish carvings in the broad expanse of relatively smooth rock.  

He showed us an aerial picture of the area in which you could see the entire rock area.  And the carvings made the rocks look like the gigantic head of the Rainbow Serpent.  You could see the eyes and tongue…and the squarish carvings were the serpent’s scales.  It was pretty darned dramatic.

Next we were off to Akuna Bay for a cruise through the bay and lunch.  

Along the shores of the bay were a few aboriginal sites, including a cave used by the aborigines,

a drawing of a fish,

and outlines of hands. 

They also showed us a number of aboriginal items including boomerangs, a club,

communication sticks,

and a didgeridoo.  

All of the men on board got to try playing it but not the women.  Apparently the aborigines do not allow women to play the instrument and our guide honors that restriction.  Only one of the men was almost able to get the deep sound from it.

We were back to the wharf only slightly late and immediately headed to the wharf to catch a tender to the ship as it was leaving in about an hour.  We very much enjoyed our second trip to Sydney but we likely need to come back for some more touring.