Yesterday some friends invited us to visit Paradise Cove with them. We have lived back on the coast for a few years now and every so often we hear about this place.
Sadly Miss and Mrs TasTrekker were away but the boys and I jumped at the chance to visit this mythical destination. A couple of hours before low tide, we headed east from the Penguin viewing platform at Lilico Beach.
The foreshore reserve varies in width so a GPS ensured we were steering clear of the surrounding unfenced private farmland. The excitement started to build as we roudned the last hill and saw the double curve of Paradise Cove. The first half is a rocky beach but the second half features a beautiful arc of sand seperated from the sea by an inter tidal lagoon and rock shelves.
This would be a great place to visit at high tide when the sea reaches the sandy arc. However, steep cliffs either side of the cove prevent access without straying onto private property.
Sadly the small dunes of the cove are being devoured by sea spurge. There are also problems with erosion where stock have wandered down steep banks to the foreshore. On a good note though we noticed some shrivelled cape weed in the pastured sections of the coastal reserve. Someone has done some hard work on that score.
On the way back, we marvelled at the columnar rock formations and wondered at the almost black sand of the next bay to the west of Paradise Cove. To top off a ripper walk, a penguin at the viewing platform decided it would have an uncharacteristic stretch in the afternoon sun, much to our delight. As if that wasn’t enough, we rendezvoused with Mrs TasTrekker who was waiting at Don Heads with a delumptious hot dinner.
