Rocks and rockpools at Bermagui

Here are some more photos from my visit to Bermagui, two weeks ago.

Firstly, here is a view of Mt Dromedary ("Gulaga" - to the local Aboriginal people) as seen from the boat harbour at Bermagui.
Mt Dromedary is a huge granite outcrop, and so it is the remains of huge igneous forces. Although its top is now about 1000 metres, it is estimated that it once stood 3 Km high. The formation of Mt Dromedary has left geological "reminders" along the coast from here to Narooma, some 60 Kms to the north. There are historic gold mines in the Tilba area, and even in a large vein of Quartz rock, close to Bermagui, near Camel Rock (the Montreal Goldfields".

From the boat harbour at Bermagui, one can climb down the point above the mouth of the estuary to the rock shelf below, just above the ocean. Around this point, the rocks are mostly soft mud-stone rocks, but there are some veins of quartz. You may recall that last week I showed some of the heavily metamorphosed rocks from the beach, near Camel Rock. Presumably this reflects the huge eruptions associated with the formation of Mt. Dromedary.

This patch of mud-stone rock has been lifted up. The vertical veins are left over from patterns of sedimentation, when the rock was laid down, in a horizontal position.Because it is relatively soft rock, it is eroding. It has left an intriguing small hole through which one can look to the sky.

or one can look back through the rocks below the cliff.

In the same area, I found this interesting large, smooth lozenge-shaped rock. It is sedimentary in origin, but has been subjected to pressure, with a thin vein of igneous rock injected through it, under intense heat and pressure.
By contrast, here is an interesting lozenge-shaped rock, with delightful pink stripes and soft tonings. It is clearly formed in a very different manner from the soft, smooth rock above.This was from the beach near Camel Rock.
Here are some shots from various rock pools.

A green Sea Anemone.

Some red Sea Anemones in different stages of "opening"
of their flexible tentacles.
These Sea Anemones are on a vertical side of a small rock pool.

UPDATE: I am endebted to Tsun-Thai Chai for identifying the red Sea Anemone as a "Waratah Sea Anemone" and the beaded algae as "Neptune's Necklace" (Hormosira banksii). By sheer coincidence, the first image I found of that Beaded Algae species is illustrated here, by another colleague of mine, James, of "Dermal Denticles". Small world!

Here is a dark Sea Urchin with its hard spines.
There is an interesting article on how to treat an injury
incurred by falling onto a Sea Urchin's spines.
Best to avoid, I think.
In the world of rock pools, this is what passes for "lunch".
A school of tiny fish swimming in a rock pool.
One hopes that they escape at the next high tide.