Jervis Bay Things to Do

You may well ask what the Duke of Wellington and the Liverpool to Manchester railway has to do with this town, so far removed from either. It so happens that the village was named after William Huskisson, secretary of the colonies and House of Commons leader for two years (1827-1828).
In a quirk of fate, he was chatting to the Duke at the opening of the aforesaid railway when he was run over by a locomotive. It begs the question as to how such a thing may have happened but here my research has run dry.
The timber industry that helped kick the town off originally still survives today but in a much diminished form. Today, tourism is god, the attraction being the gorgeous beaches that ring the inside of the bay and Huskisson has various forms of accommodation to cater for them.
I actually stayed at a caravan park by the river and that is where the initial photo was taken

The Bay itself is around 15km long and 10km wide. Its depth of 27 metres means it is probably the deepest sheltered harbour in Australia. The pristine waters are remarkably clean and the colours range from aquamarine to a deep blue.
The fauna and the flora are diverse. There is eucalypt forest, woodland, swamps, dunes, mangrove, rainforest relics, coastal scrub, grassland and a heathland rich in wildflowers.
Some beaches, particularly just east of noted for their length and the remarkable whiteness of their sands.
There many middens and rock shelters indicating Aboriginal presence and, given that the Bay is thought to have been formed only 11 000 years ago, it is highly likely that the Aborigines have been there from the beginning.
The Aboriginal settlement continues with one community still living in a protected area near Wreck Bay on the southern peninsula and the Jerringa people still live in an unprotected area on the northern peninsula.
A few eucalypt trees in the area still bear ancient scars from those occasions when bark was stripped for shelters and canoes. Their diet consisted of shellfish, fish from the estuaries and small marsupials, penguins and mutton birds from excursions to Bowen Island. Tools for cutting, chopping, scraping, sewing and killing were made of Captain Cook sighted the Bay in April 1770 while sailing north along the coast. In his diary he wrote of a 'point of land which I had discovered on St George's Day, and which therefore I called Cape George' [Cape St George].

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This is one of a number of access points to the ocean in Booderee National Park. Stoney Creek is an area where you can park and walk down a few steps to the creek shown here and this leads to the ocean.
There's an area where you can fish off the rocks here as well.
It's all located on the southern peninsula of Jervis Bay and you have to pay an access fee.

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I love this, a tale of bureaucracy gone mad.
Someone decided that a lighthouse was required back in the mid 19th century, a decision reached due to the number of wrecks that were occurring.
So, someone wrote out where it should be located. Off went a party to build said lighthouse but they couldn't quite work out exactly where it was supposed to go, so they built it here.
At the time there were more knowledgeable people who said it was wrong and they should stop immediately. They didn't and, as it turns out, they were horribly wrong. So wrong that when it eventually rebuilt it was built on the headland on the opposite side of the bay.
So, what do you do with a disused lighthouse? Blow it up of course. All that lovely sandstone now lies decaying on the hilltop, a monument to lack of planning.
Actually, they had to blow it up to avoid confusion with the other one.

Jervis Bay is a great place to unwind and get your batteries recharged. One of the ways to do this is to partake in any one of several seaside strolls. Just walking along listening to the lapping of the small waves or venturing out onto the rocks will take your cares away.
This shot was taken at Huskisson Beach.

Hyams beach is in the Guiness book of records as having the whitest sand in the world (there is even a sign which proclaims this)
It is a secluded settlement on the southern shore of Jervis Bay
This is a favoured spot for a shore entry dive, the exceptionally clear waters are ideal for snorkelling and diving