A (more or less) annual tradition continued with a family holiday to Bermagui on the beautiful Sapphire Coast of southern NSW in January 2024. Society members Nell, Raoul, Sal, Tim Briscoe, Dom, Dan, Isaac, Bella, Archie, Hamy, Pippa and Paige gathered for a week of beach time, hanging out, Hero Quest and (of course) exploring!

Memorable explorations included an epic attempt to hike the coastline from Cuttagee Beach to Beares Beach on the Bermagui Coastal walk early on the morning of 13 January by Nell, Sal, Tim Briscoe, Dan, Dom and Bella. Walking the long and virtually deserted stretches of beach north of Cuttagee was a wonderful experience on what was a perfect summer’s morning.As we hiked north however the track, such as there had ever really been one, became less and less defined leaving us to scramble around the coastal rocks, ford creek outflows and ultimately cross farm paddocks containing quite large bulls (friendly) to rejoin the road.

The spirit of coastline exploration continued with an expedition north from Beares beach by Archie, Hamy, Dom, Bella and Dan on 16 January with the objective of going as far as the Blue Pool. This was challenging, as we clambered around rocky outcrops and discovered a succession of little secluded bays. We did get within sight of the Blue Pool! This expedition led to a desire for a future project for the Society - to map the whole of the coastline from Horsehead Rock to Beares Beach through a series of expeditions, including naming all bays and features of interest. We commenced this with the naming of the ‘Dragon Head’ rock formation discovered.

After this expedition we were amazed to watch a number of enormous Lion’s Mane Jellyfish in the waves just off of Beares Beach.