Bouddi National Park

[iceman]

On Sunday, myself, my wife and our 3 kids went for a bushwalk in the Bouddi National Park (http://adunk.ozehosting.com/bouddi.html), near Killcare on the Central Coast of NSW.

What a beautiful spot, very nice walks and when you get to the cliffs, wow what views! :eyepop: There are some longer walks down to the beaches below, but we were carrying our 11 month old so we'll save that one for next time.

Here's a few pics from the day..

I'll start with the spectacular panorama/mosaic shots, created using "autostitch".

This one is a mosaic of 8 images.. shown here is a fraction of the original size. Click here to see a larger one (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-pano1-large.jpg) (600k). The original, uncompressed mosaic was a 14 meg jpeg :) Click here to see a resized compressed single frame. (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-pano1-single.jpg)

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-pano1-prv.jpg


This one is a mosaic of 3 images.. shown here is a fraction of the original size. Click here to see a larger one (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-pano2-large.jpg) (600k). The original, uncompressed mosaic was a 14 meg jpeg :) Click here to see a resized compressed single frame. (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-pano2-single.jpg)

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-pano2-prv.jpg


Banksia

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-banksia-prv.jpg


Some lovely small flowers that looked like a bell

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-bell-prv.jpg


A lovely shot of the bush we walked through, with cycads and grass trees galore.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-bush-prv.jpg


More cycads.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-cycads-prv.jpg


A couple of huge grass trees.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-grasstree1-prv.jpg

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-grasstree2-prv.jpg


And lastly, a rather large spider.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/images/images/nonastro/20050424-spider-prv.jpg


All photos taken with a Sony DSCP100, in full auto mode. Resized and heavily compressed to fit for forum.

It was such a lovely spot, we'll definitely go back again soon.

[Robby]

Nice Mike. Looks like you guys still have a bit of Summer.. It's been freezing here the last few days.
Cheers

[frogman]

wow
seriously they are damn good quality/artistic shi. umm photos.
Well done.
Anthony

[[1ponders]]

Lovely shots Mike. Looks like a beautiful place. Those little flowers that look like bells look like Correa and one type has the name "Dusky Bells" :P

The big spider is a Golden Orb spider. Very similar to one type we get up here.

[Rodstar]

Mike, it sure is a lovely spot to go.

I have been on the walk down to Maitland Bay Beach on two occasions, and also I have done much of the coastal walk from the main public beach further south. The bushwalk covers a range of flora types, and as your pictures show, there are some beautiful views. I understand that much of that waterway is protected from fishing, and there is a ship wreck near the mouth of Maitland Bay that is a favourite for divers.

Maitland Bay is also a well known local spot for skinny-dipping if you are into that sort of thing (!)

The first time I did the walk down to Mailtland Bay Beach, I went with Jack (then aged about 3). It was an unplanned amble in which I ended up walking all the way down to the beach. I didn't really think about how hard the return trip would be. To cut a long story short, it was late in the day when we started back, and darkness quickly fell. Jack freaked out, and I had to carry him the WHOLE way (40 mins steep walk uphill). My back was so sore that for the last 500m or so I could only carry him for a few metres at a time, before putting him down to rest. Sheer agony!! Not sure how I avoided hospitalisation...

I have since been told that there are some fire trails that allow more direct access to the coastline. It sure is beautiful, and worth the effort if anyone is interested in exploring the area.

The NPWS runs guided walks of the park at various times of the year. In fact I have a vague recollection that last year they may have run an "introduction to the stars" night, which involved some night walking and binocular star gazing.

Thanks for posting the pics Mike. How did your kids stand up to all that walking??!!

[beren]

Nice shots Mike , looks like a great place to visit , luv bushwalking and getting out in nature

[iceman]

Thanks for the comments guys, and a great story Rod! That's the reason we didn't go down to the beach..

We started walking down and stopped at the first lookout spot, and asked someone how far to the bottom.. he said about 20-25 minutes walk.. we weren't keen to do that with the kids (thinking about the "back up"), so we headed back and turned into the side track that lead out to the point where these shots was taken from.

The kids handled it VERY well, they were great. They had a good time walking, it was at least 20-25 minutes in and again back out, but it was mostly flat. We carried Abbey though, and she got heavy and a bit bored especially on the way back, which made it harder.

Next time we'll borrow a backpack to put Abbey in, and head down to the beach for a picnic.

Perhaps we should meet up and walk down there together with the families - make a day of it, picnic lunch etc. ??

[toetoe]

Great shots of a great place there Mike, love coastal areas like that, and if your spiders are that big where you are Paul i am going to cross Nambour of my visit list.

[Rodstar]

Sounds like a great idea Mike....maybe we can hatch some plans at the Star Party on the 7th.

[Crash Nebula]

eek! I hate spiders!!! you should see some of the ones i get at my place :/
:eek: :eek: :eek: :( :( :( :scared2: :scared2: :scared2: :scared3: :scared3: :scared3: :scared: :scared: :scared: :eyepop: :eyepop: :eyepop:
:P
Crash