9 The Coastal Sandstones - Sapphire Coast

9. The red and white coastal sandstones and the taleof a stolen riverThe coastal journey will reveal sandstones that are a lot younger than the Ordovician,Devonian and Cretaceous rocks. Pause at the Tuross Heads turnoff on the PrincesHighway south of Moruya where that first full view of Gulaga can be seen. At this sitethere is a basalt flow sandwiched between two outcrops of sandstone. Minerals in thebasalt have been dated at approximately 31 million years, the middle Tertiary period.Good exposures of the sandstone can be seen from the Michael Lerner Lookout 3kmsouth of Bermagui, forming the cliffs to the south of the town.The textbook image of the Tertiary Sandstones is at the Pinnacles in the northernsection of Ben Boyd National Park. The red iron rich sandstones are from the LongBeach Formation.