The brilliant hidden beaches of Lake George

The Canberra Times

Unlike the western shore of Lake George, which is wedged up against an imposing escarpment, the eastern shore of this natural NSW gem is punctuated by a series of dramatic rocky peninsulas and hidden beaches. Tim the Yowie Man takes you there.

Transcript

00:00This is Lake George, like you've never seen it before.

00:03After first leaving the site of the old tourist wharf on the western shores at

00:11dawn and exploring the wonders of Deep Creek, one of several waterways that

00:16flow into the lake's eastern side, it's time to find out if a rocky point along

00:23the eastern shoreline lives up to its notorious reputation. So we've made it to

00:29Hurricane Point, which according to the the authors of the Town and Country

00:33Journal on the 5th of March 1892, describe it as so named after an account

00:40of the terribly choppy and dangerous sea that that gets up here even on a very

00:46moderate breeze. Well lucky today we've got almost perfectly still lovely calm

00:53conditions. Hurricane Point, not really living up to its name today.

01:00I'm hoping my next stop on this circumnavigation will live up to

01:06expectations, for I've packed my beach cow, really. Who says the Canberra region

01:12doesn't have good beaches? Have a look at this beautiful fine white sand, lovely

01:19calm conditions. Welcome to the Lake George Beach on the eastern side of the

01:25lake. It's almost as good as the beaches on the south coast.

01:32But a sun-drenched crescent of white sand isn't the only beach on this seldom

01:39visited eastern shore of the lake.

01:44One of the locations the 1892 circumnavigation of Lake George

01:50highlighted was this quartz reef, which the authors of the article refer to as

01:55the White Beach. And from a distance you can see the sun reflecting off these

02:00polished pieces of quartz from quite a distance. So yet again another very

02:07unusual feature on the eastern side of the lake that if you just drive along

02:12the western shore near or along the Federal Highway you wouldn't know this

02:17was here, a real treasure. You don't really realise how big Lake George is

02:24until you get out into the middle of it. Look at that, it's huge. You can see

02:29Geary's Gap off in the distance, Bungendore's right down here on the southern

02:33side of the lake, as far as you can see. And we're at the edge of what early

02:39European pioneers called Port Jackson, a big bay here on the northeastern side of

02:45the lake. And hopefully we're gonna find a stone wall because apparently there

02:52are some natural formations that look like giant stone walls on a point

02:56between here and Collector. Off we go.

03:01The stone walls were hidden in a forest on private property behind this beach of

03:12sun-bleached rocks, so we couldn't check them out. But on the 20-kilometre voyage

03:18down the western shore we did stumble upon a silver gull colony. Yet another

03:24surprise on Lake George that is much, much more than first meets the eye.

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