A walk from Port Elliot to Murray river

Port Elliot has a good range of walks along the coast and today I spent 5 hours hiking along beachfront trails and cliff edges. Travelling along the coast to Middleton and the Murray river I find a wide range of wildlife including seals, oyster pickers, pelicans, common lizards (one basking on the path) while the surfer dudes braved the afternoon waves ;). The coastline has a range of features one of which, stopped me in my tracks - it looked like a huge pile of 'Star Trek' tribbles all over the beach of a bay outside Middelton. They turn out to be balls of fibre (The course material balls are large while the finer material balls are small but stack up to form drifts which are very spongy to walk over). I met a very knowledgeable local man who explained that the balls are formed from some kind of sea grass stems and leaves rolled into balls by the tidal flows within the bay and anchored by claw like razor stems at their ends (I was told the Latin name but can’t remember it!!) He also showed me the beak of a squid that are commonly washed up on the beach and explained that as the Murray river had been in flood the sea was filled with crabs, which attracted rays for a feast (I did not see any rays but there were very large numbers of crab remains around the mouth of the Murray river).
Middleton bay is one of the best places in the world to observe whales :) However, this is seasonal between July and August when hundreds of whales pass through and calve in the protected bays around Middleton then spend several weeks feeding their calves in preparation for another marathon sea journey. Must be a magical site and well worth a return visit :)
After 5 hours in the coastal sun I am feeling a little red… So remember to use sunscreen even if it is overcast in Oz as the sun is strong, especially if you are going to be out in it for a long time.