22nd and 23rd January 2011

We had two weeks at White Beach Cottage and this was the middle weekend. We were just across the road from the water with a little beach to safely launch the kayaks from. Finn dived around the kelp and seaweed just off the shore, with Mark as support vessel to take him further afield.

We had passed the Coal Mines site many times on the way to and from camping at Lime Bay but had never stopped. We were surprised just how much was there. It was a beautiful bush setting near the coast and was very peaceful. Those poor convict men would have had a terrible time there. The underground cells were very, very dark even without doors on them, I can only imagine and shudder at what it must have been like to come up from the mines only to be locked in another dark hole.

The air shaft was kind of strange and unexpected. It was at a distance from everything else and apparently there are no remaining records of when or why it was built. It is beautifully built in sandstone and goes a long, long way down.