BROUGHTON ISLAND, PORT STEPHENS, MYALL LAKES NATIONAL PARK, NEW SOUTH WALES, NSW

Departing from Nelson Bay, the sea journey is a kaleidoscope of sea cliffs, swells, terns, flying fish, dolphins and salt spray. Most visitors come for what lies below the water: snapper, drummer, kingfish, flathead and groper. For scuba divers there are undersea caves, coral, sponge gardens, boulders, sandy gutters, ledges, sheer walls and marine life of every type.

From the hill atop Broughton Island, Yaccaba Head and Cabbage Tree Island are visible.

Broughton is packed with life. In the warm months of the year thousands of shearwaters (or muttonbirds) enter their underground burrows at night, firstly to hatch and then to care for their single chick. Growing up, the young birds are left alone for long periods while their parents feed.

Chicks in the nest make a lot of noise at night, like babies crying. Muttonbird parents arrive on silent wings after dark. Swooping low, they alight on the springy vegetation and run straight down the burrow. Each year they will fly up to twenty thousand kilometres around the Pacific, but, for this colony, Broughton is special. Here they were born, as were their parents and their parents and so on, for thousands of years. This island, and the food supply around it, are a vital link in the life cycle of the muttonbird.

Viewed from near the lighthouse, a huge wave crashes into Seal Rocks.

Broughton Island is part of the Myall Lakes National Park. It is essential that it stays free of predators such as dogs, cats and foxes. A torch and the willingness to walk about the island at night are all you need to observe yet another bird that breeds and sleeps underground.

This island is close to the northern limit of the range of the little penguin. As soon as it is completely dark these diminutive black-and-white birds pop out of the surf and walk up the beach to their underground homes. By early summer their chicks are big and confident enough to wait outside the burrow or at the edge of the beach for the homecoming and welcome food. Adult penguins are sleek and glossy from a day's fishing, in contrast to the chicks, which resemble soft, downy footballs with a beak and flippers.

On the southern side of Broughton is a rocky isthmus known as the seagull rookery. Just after winter silver gulls lay their eggs upon the rocks, shells and pebbles. A little later in the spring, terns use the same site, laying a creamy, brown-specked egg on the ground. At any approach the birds take flight, screeching and swooping until the threat is over. Chicks and eggs are well camouflaged-this is no place for careless feet.

Rugged, wind-swept Broughton is a green oasis of safety set in a sparkling blue sea, sufficiently far from human society to preserve its timeless life cycles.

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