Last Wednesday rain kept our little walking group indoors, but we made the best of it with bubbles and board games on Jocelyn's patio, followed by lunch at a local restaurant. This week some of our hikers were camping at Fingal Head, so Margot and I drove down to join them, fully expecting a long hike south to Kingscliff. Helen met us at the caravan park and drove us to the headland where she said the others were waiting. She walked us up past the lighthouse, then put up a big umbrella in front of us and insisted we watch the ground as we walked until she revealed all. Fully expecting a spectacular view of the coastline, we were not disappointed. BUT, there was more ... The happy campers had set up a lovely spread for morning tea, complete with table and chairs and bubbles. Morning tea turned into a long leisurely affair as we watched whales putting on a display in the deep, and dolphins playing and surfing the waves near the shore in front of us. After two hours we were still oohing and aahing out loud as we saw each splash of a breaching whale or leap of a dolphin. With reluctance we eventually packed up and went to explore the headland and nearby Giants Causeway. There are walking tracks all over this area. The headland itself is the result of a lava flow from the now extinct Tweed Volcano. About 500 metres offshore from the headland is Cook Island, a rocky uninhabited isle first charted by James Cook in 1770. The stretch of water to the island is called the "Giants Causeway", named after the famous Giants Causeway between Northern Ireland and Western Scotland. The local indigenous Goodjingburra clan's name for Fingal Head is Booninybah - Home of the Giant Echidna: "Booniny" means Giant Echidna. The spectacular columns of Fingal Head resemble the spines of an echidna, and so the Goodjingburra believe that the spirit of the echidna inhabits the headland. We followed our strenuous morning with lunch at Kingscliff and decided this had been the perfect way for the hungry hikers to spend the last day of winter. Next Wednesday we must walk!
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