As we are heading into autumn and the days should be getting cooler, my daughters wanted to go to the beach while we still have some hot days. My eldest is getting closer to finishing her driving hours and wanted to get as much driving time in as possible, so she talked us into going to Port Noarlunga. “It's only 1 hour away” she insisted. It really is not!
We set the SatNav to take us to the Esplanade, Port Noarlunga, but the only thing that came up was the Esplanade near Port Noarlunga. I figured that would be close enough. Over two hours later, timing it terribly and hitting the rush hour traffic, we parked overlooking the sea. After sitting in the car for so long, I was happy to see toilet facilities at the start of the nearest path and not have to hunt for them.
The pathway to the beach went downwards and the beach itself was fairly narrow, with signs that the tide comes in quite close to the rock face. I could help thinking that you wouldn't want to be there in a storm.
First priority for my youngest, Izzy, was setting some towels down so we could eat the noodle bowls we'd brought with us. My eldest, Angel, was already in the water with her body board before I joined them after my restroom break and wondered why we were just sitting down and not in the water with her!
While it's a sand beach, there are a lot of rocks there too. In places I could walk on rock platforms as I paddled through the surf and when the waves came crashing in I could hear the boulders clunking as they pummelled against one another.
I'd be nervous of letting small children paddle there unless it's a calm day. Izzy came out with a fair few bruises and some scratches where she kept falling among the rocks. Angel's body board helped keep her afloat above the rocks a bit better as she swam out to catch some waves back in. It didn't save her from wiping out onto them once back in the shallows, however!
There were quite a few surfers out in the waves, from kids to adults. One of them with an oar, which is a new one on me.
Further out and visible at low tide is a reef. Unfortunately, it wasn't visible for us as the tide was already well in and edging still further in. Due to the reef, the area has a protected status which means fishing and crabbing is limited.
On Adelaide’s more northerly beaches there are always plenty of shells washed up, but not so much here. I'm guessing only the tougher ones survive the pounding against the rocks. In this case the moon snail shells survived better than their preys' shells.
There were a few other interesting bits of sea life washed up too, including a sponge and colourful looking seaweed. Perhaps these came off the reef.
We'd come a long way, so I wanted to make the most of the journey and do a little exploring, but Angel only wanted to play on her body board. I didn't want to leave her alone in case something happened. So Izzy decided to stay with her and do some photography.
I hadn't been to Port Noarlunga for about 10 years and was sure it was the beach where the Onkaparinga river meets the sea. I wasn’t seeing said river, though, so I thought I'd walk along the surf to see if it was around the corner. Walking south I noticed what I initially thought was layering in the rocks, but quickly realised it was manmade. At one point there must have been some sort of building there.
Further along were the remains of maybe a boat ramp?
As I approached the edge of the beach it became rockier and painful on feet used to being in footwear. I peered around to the next beach, as best I could, but saw no signs of the river mouth.
Returning to where the girls were I had a look at Google maps on my tablet and it showed the river coming out on the beach to the other side. It seems we landed at Port Noarlunga South, not Port Noarlunga. Well done Navman!
We moved a bit further northwards along the beach and once we'd settled again, the indicator on the map showed us as being fairly close to the river mouth. Although it was past 7pm by now and sunset was just before 8pm, I decided to risk it and see if I could reach the river before it set.
As I walked the glow of the sun dropping in the sky hit the rock mounds to the right of me, making them glow reddish gold.
I picked up speed as best I could with my feet sinking into the sand. The map hinted that I was getting closer to my goal, the location indicator sat on a curve of coastline which made me think that it would be just around the next corner...maybe the next corner then. I kept walking, the sun got lower and the tide came ever closer to the rock face...
...the indicator on the map stayed in the same place!
There was seaweed gathering in piles now...
Just after 8pm I'd reached another rocky area which I wasn't about to be able to cross barefoot without pain. I couldn't even see around to the next beach. Game over.
Disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to get some photos of the river mouth, I turned back and put on another burst of speed to get past a particular rocky outcrop before the tide cut me off. NOW the location indicator on Google maps decided to move with me! I was never that near to my goal after all!!
The waves were already caressing the outcrop, but allowed me to paddle through. I was never in any danger as I could always have headed back up to the road, but my bare feet wouldn't have thanked me for it.
Past the outcrop, I could slow down and enjoy the sun setting over the sea.
Back with the girls, Izzy was eager to show me the photos she'd gotten, better than mine as always!