Date: 4/7/2025
Trip leader: Bruce Stafford
Party: Alice (Yiran), Chenglei, Chuncheng, Eloise, Eszter, Fredo, Kristina, Leesa, Nirbhay, Thomas, Xueyi, Yunci, Zhiqi
Afternoon walk: Kamay NP La Perouse, and maybe see Mercury, Fri 4th July 2025
There’s lots of photos for this walk, including 8 by Alice (labelled, thank you Alice), so enjoy.
Most of us met up at the “Light Rail” stop next to Central Station for the trip to Kingsford Juniors then bus to La Perouse. Because the tram (“Light Rail”) timetable can be elastic due to traffic lights on George Street, the simplest solution was to meet there by 1pm and then catch the most convenient tram after that. It was a straightforward tram trip and the bus wasn’t too bad as it avoided the traffic jams of the p.m. peak period, allowing us to get to La Perouse by 2pm. After a group photo and head count (14), we set off for Cape Banks, the north headland of Botany Bay.
First stop was Congwong Beach, where there was some surf after the previous days’ heavy seas (and no one swimming). Then off onto the short Congwong Beach Fire Trail to join the Henry Head Walking Track. Along the way small frogs chirped as we passed by, but would stop calling if we stopped to look for them; so we didn’t actually see any. So on we went to Henry Head where we passed by the old late 19th Century fort placed there to guard the nearby entrance to Botany Bay. Nearby there are blockhouses hurredly built in 1942 after the scare provided by the entry of a Japanese midget submarine to Sydney Harbour in 1942. It is not possible to enter any of these buildings as they are now crumbling away and unsafe.
After a short break there we moved on along the Henry Head Walking Track, still called that even though it continues past that point. It passes through heath in which there were more frogs (“Common Eastern Froglet” Crinia signifera ) and then reaches Cruwee Cove Beach. From there on there is some rock-hopping to be done before reaching the Cape Banks Fire Trail, crossing some paths of the nearby golf course on the way. From there a bridge links the fire trail with Cape Banks itself, which has several tracks all heading south to reach the tip of the peninsula. Here we spent quite a bit of time as there was a lot of photo opportunities of the waves breaking on the rock because of the still heavy seas. What’s more, it was 3.30pm by now so the winter Sun was getting lower in the sky, making for good sunset photos.
After a lengthy photostop on Cape Banks we retraced our steps back to Henry Head, trying to get shelter from the cold wind which had picked up in the late afternoon. By chance I found a nearby spot with seats sheltered from the wind and with a view west across to Port Botany. This is where I remembered that I had brought along a souvenir tea towel showing presidents of the United States (I had bought in on a U.S. cruise). As thids day was 4th July, the U.S. Independence Day holiday, I brought it out. Fredo was a bit puzzled by it until I mentioned the significance of this day’s date. You will notice from the photos that it shows all the U.S. presidents from George Washington to Jimmy Carter; there was no Ronald Reagan, no George “Dubya” Bush, and DEFINITELY NO Orange Fool! So it had most of the presidents that really mattered (except for Barak Obama who was elected much later).
After this break we continued back along Henry Head Walking Track to Congwong Beach where the sun had just set behind Bare Island at La Perouse. Then back to La Perouse for a toilet stop and then to the park to find a viewing spot to try to observe the Planet Mercury once the Sun had set. We found a rock shelf and settled down as the western sky slowly got darker at dusk. Things looked promising as there was not a cloud in the sky anywhere. Eszter decided to leave early which left 13 of us scanning the western sky for the planet Mercury. I have mentioned in an earlier trip report how it is very difficult or impossible to ever see Mercury in certain parts of the World, especially if you live north of Henan in China or North carolina in the U.S.
As time went on Mercury still had not made a show although sky maps indicated that it should be there. It was not until we had almost given up finding it that it showed up in the north-west sky, but fairly close to the horizon by this time. I was able to get a few photos of it, and noticed also that there were a few faint stars from the Constellation of Cancer also showing up (on that evening Mercury was right in the centre of Cancer). Better late than never.
I wondered why it was so much harder to see Mercury this time than last November when we did a trip here (https://www.subw.org.au/2024/11/08/afternoon-walk-kamay-np-la-perouse-and-we-saw-mercury-fri-8-11/
The reason was that we were looking initially in the wrong place as it is located in the sky north-west in Winter, unlike slightly south-west in Summer; also the path it takes across the sky is somewhat lower and shallower in Winter. Another possible factor was that Port Botany was lit up like a Christmas Tree this night, unlike last November; that added a significant amount of light pollution to the evening sky. (Note also how fast it gets dark in Sydney after sunset, something that surprises many overseas students).
So we all got back on the bus shortly after 6pm and headed back to Kingsford and then the tram back to Sydney. Several of us continued on the tram to Chinatown wher we had a meal at “The Hungry Panda” opposite the Chinatown “Light Rail” stop.
Everyone seemed to have a good time, and the weather that afternoon was perfect, a completely cloudless sky – indeed the ONLY cloudless sky all week, so we were very lucky. We had no “no shows” although one person had sent me an email just before 10am stating that she had not received the meeting place details (I had sent this to everyone the previous Tuesday). As she sent an email and not a text I didn’t get it until later in the day, too late for her to attend. I recommend not leaving it so late if you don’t get the relevant information from a walk leader by the day after you sign up for a walk.
La Perouse also has its place in Australian transport history as being where Sydney’s last original trms ran before the system was stupidly closed in 1961 by the galahs and drongos of the then NSW government. I give a more complete hostory and links about this in the trip report I linked above.
The next opportunity to see Mercury will be by chance very close to “Hallowe’en” (31st October) when there might also be a chance to see another difficult planet, Neptune, in the eastern sky.
Links: The Froglets: https://australian.museum/learn/animals/frogs/common-eastern-froglet/
Bruce Stafford,
