Lovely Jervis Bay National Park (pronounced JAR-vis), 3 hours south of Sydney, is renowned for its white sands, great diving and snorkelling, and abundant wildlife. We visited during a rainy spell, but we lucked out and got several hours of clear weather. The bird photos were taken at a designated picnic and camping area frequented by crimson rosellas, Australian king parrots, rainbow lorikeets, and kookaburras, not to mention a few wallabies here and ther. Visitors are not supposed to feed the animals, but they seem to get their share of the picnics anyway. In fact, some of them get downright aggressive. We watched a small flock of birds swarm around and land on a group of picnickers, and man, were they persistent.
The picture of Laurie on the viewing deck was taken near the ruins of an ill-fated lighthouse that was built in the 1800s without properly surveying the location. In fact, nearby Wreck Bay is aptly named, because there were nearly 200 shipwrecks in a period of 10 years. It makes for great diving now, but that probably wouldn't have consoled those who were injured and died. Eventually the lighthouse was demolished in order to keep from confusing sailors, and a new one was built a few miles away at Point Perpendicular.
