EstuaryWatch Data Portal

Cody White; age 8 assisted with monitoring & reporting.

Estuary appears to have been artificially opened.

State recorded as "Perched".  Although observation was only half an hour after high tide; there was no flow present at that time, but clearly there had been recent flow, and the "berm" was effectively a moist sand watercourse.

The mouth is open at high tide with the ocean overtopping the berm. At low tide the mouth was closed with the berm being 0.3m above both the sea and the estuary and 65m in length. The water level rose from 1.72m at 9.30 to 1.74 at 16.55

The estuary opening and flow was at the extreme eastern end of the inlet and hard up against the cliff face.

Quite heavy rain overnight >16mm

Summer holidays, so lots of visitors on the beach

Estuary open

Estuary is open, so no berm measurement taken.

Estuary had been artificially opened during the week.

Still open and no berm measurement taken.

Signs that waves have washed overb the berm and into the estuary.

Unable to do photopoint & berm measurement at preferred time of hightide: 17:20.  However there is little variation between high and low tide on this day.

I've noted Mouth State as "Perched" (?)

The berm is present with breaking waves washing over and into the estuary.

The mouth is in it's natural state with recent intervention or "un-natural" opening.

Estuary open, no berm measurement taken

Thankyou for replacing the AHD gauge.

AHD Gauge is partly detatched from its support and is very dirty and difficult to read. Creek level is so low it is below the AHD Gauge, so creek level is a best guess/estimate.

Estuary is open and no berm measurement taken.

Estuary open"berm not measured.

Creek level was so low AHD gauge was unreadable.  See photo.  So AHD is best estimate.

Estuary mouth open - no berm measurement taken.

Conditions overcast

Estuary open.  Berm not measured.

Vegetation is starting to block view from Photopoint Pp1_1 (191).  Estuary is flowing to/open on the left hand side of photo and not really visible in the photo.

Rivermouth artificially opened in the week leading up to measurement.

No berm measumement taken , only weather observations & Photopoint photos,

Rivermouth recently artificially opened.

Artificial opening channel through the berm is still in place and visible although there is no flow at the time of measurement.

Tide times mixed up and measurement done at low tide rather than high tide.

Estuary open after artificial opening on Thursday 8/8/2019.

Berm measured just before the artificial opening of the estuary

Berm height above sea greater than 2 metres

Wet sand indicates waves have washed over the berm at high tide.

A very dirty AHD sign has made it difficult to accurately guage water level.

Estuary had been artificially opened

Expect mouth to be open at next high tide

Egrets x 2

Swans x 2

White Faced Heron x 2

Rufous Bristlebird at PP1

Estuary has been artificially opened, sometime between 18-20 June 2018.

Extra photos show the height of the channel created by artificial opening

Swans x 6

Coots x 10

Willie Wagtail x 1

Swans x 3

Coots 10

Berm height above the sea, could not be recorded because greater than 2 metres.

On the Painkalac:

Swans x 7

Egret x 1

Cormorant x 2

Coots x 10

On the ocean rocks:

Hooded Plover x 1

Pacific Gull x 1

Heavy Rain

Windy

Physical condition data taken from Willy Weather website.

An extra photo was taken the day after monitoring, thought that we should include a better shot of where inlet had been recently opened.

Earlier in the week, there had been an area roped off at the mouth to protect nesting Hooded Plovers. This has been removed.

Berm height on sea side was higher than berm pole.

No berm measurement taken as estuary had been artificially opened.

• Looks like someone tried to artificially open the estuary.

Noticed flood water sensor light was flashing, at the bridge, when measuring AHD water level

Coastal Court not monitored as platform under water.

• evidence of water overtopping the berm at high tide.

No berm measurement taken. Mouth appeared open, with water flowing out to sea over the sand. No channel to speak of, and some over-topping inwards with bigger waves.

Have included a photo of some beach goers attempting to dig a channel out to sea. They appeared to give up on the task after awhile.

• Water quality monitoring only conducted from site P2.  All other monitoring sites were under water.

• Looks as if sea is over topping the berm at high tide.

The appearance of the sand suggested overtopping at high tide

Photos taken on 12/11/2016 did not show estuary clearly.

Re-did photos 13/11/2016, water level remained the same, and estuary closed.

Extra photos were taken of curving channel opening, not clearly visible from photopoint site

Unsure if we can say 'perched' after one observation? The definition says "consistently above MSL".

Two large sandstone structures. One on left has gone. Must have collapsed. Located to the left of the estuary. Good flow.

At the time of monitoring estuary was not actually open, but evidence of over-topping at medium-high tide. Only a couple of metres of flat sand between swash limits, no berm to measure.

• estuary artificially opened on Friday July 22.