The golden warm colours of the sculpted sandstone cliffs, which are the exposed southern edge of the 280 million year old Sydney Basin, are a unique treat at Wasp Head, but the spectacle doesn’t end with these beautiful cliffs. Out on the rock ledge of the head, both south and north you will find the most amazing rock formations and evidence of many millennia and life that has gone before. You’ll need your camera as you encounter the honeycomb weathering of the eroded sandstone on the northern side of the head, that from afar looks like a discarded fisherman’s net, or in some places an elaborate spider’s web. While on the southern side the display of ironstone box work - iron rich sediment that has been formed into a box-like pattern - is spectacular and is one of the highlights of Murramarang National Park.

You’ll also see clusters of shellfish fossils, which are clearly evident, embedded in the rocks, as is an old fault plane and igneous dike, with boulders of petrified magma, now basalt, clearly visible. Dropstones and pools of sedimentary conglomerate rock, carried to the area in melt water from west to east as the earth was emerging from an ancient ice age, are also visible and contribute to the richness of this site.

How to get there: Wasp Head is about 8.5km from the Princes Highway. Take the South Durras turn-off just 9.6km north of Batemans Bay and follow it until you reach the Murramarang Resort, turn left immediately after the Murramarang Resort car park, travel along the dirt road for 230 metres and then turn left (no sign) and you’ll drive downhill to the back of Mill Beach where you will see a car park. From here you can walk to the Wasp Head rock ledge – north – and at low tide you walk right around the head. To access the southern side of Wasp Head turn left after the Murramarang Resort car park but instead of turning left to Mill Beach go straight ahead for another two hundred metres, where you will find the Wasp Head car park. Follow the track straight in front of you which is signposted,and clearly defined, for the first sixty metres, you will turn right and connect with an informal foot track, walk another sixty metres to the rock ledge. This is a good access point during high tide, when you won’t be able to walk around the rock ledge. The closest toilets are at the back of Cookies Beach at the western side of Murramarang Resort near the boat ramp.

What to do: Look for the clusters of shell fossils; discover the dike on the southern side of the headland; walk around the headland at low tide, picnic on the grass near the old boiler on the northern side. Take artistic photographs of the wonderful rock formations and patterns in this unique and beautiful natural gallery.