Rocking the Rock Pools.

On Friday I was too tired to swim or do anything. I noticed the beautiful flame trees on the way home. Saturday is cleaning my house day, then I went swimming and ate dinner out.

Flame Trees, Sunny Bay.

Discovery Bay at night.

Out on Saturday Night.

I had intended to get up very early on Sunday and head to Stanley before it got too busy, but I've been soooo tired this week. Maybe it was my covid jab. I don't know. I heard my alarm clock ringing, switched it off and went straight back to sleep.

When I did get up, I decided exploring somewhere nearby was the way to go as everything would have started to get busy, so I decided to walk to Discovery Valley Road and find the rock pools that I have heard about. People mentioned that it is possible to swim there. I did see a couple of people swimming and the water was a nice temperature, but there's not really a lot of room.

Discovery Valley Road,

Discovery Valley Road.

I liked the look of this tree.

It did not take long to reach the rock pools. Basically there is a stream that starts up in the mountains behind Discovery Bay. On its way to the sea it forms several little waterfalls and lots of rock pools: some small, some large enough to swim in or at least cool down in. The paths to the rock pools are not really clearly marked. There are several places from which they can be accessed. All of these involve a bit of scrambling through bushes and clambering over rocks. I even walked along the edge of the stream for a while. This is easy in some parts and hard in others. I put my feet in the water expecting it to be cold, but it was actually quite warm. I did not realize at the time but when I took my shoes off, my ankles were devoured by mosquitoes. I didn't swim though as I was going swimming at the sports club swimming pool later on that day.

Rock Pool.

Rock Pool.

Rock Pool.

Rock Pool.

Rock Pools.

Rock Pool.

Rock Pools.

Rock Pools.

Once I had explored the rock pools, I still had lots of energy left, so I continued up the road towards Discovery Bay Golf Club. This is a private, members only club and costs a small fortune to join. I am not a member and I don't play golf, but I have been here, as on week days non-members can use the putting green and the driving range here. I used to come up with my husband and a close friend on the golf club bus to do both these things several years ago. The driving range involved hitting golf balls out over a small lake. They were special lighter golf balls that floated. One poor man's job was to go out on a boat and collect them all back in. The boat had a sort of cage around it to protect him from the balls people were hitting all around him. On trips up here we usually ate in the Golf Club Restaurant, too, but they made it harder for outsiders to do that, so we largely stopped going.

On the walk up the hill there were several places which had beautiful views over Discovery Bay, Disneyland, the sea and even Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, though both were hazy yesterday. It always seems to be hazy on Sundays.

Views.

The hillsides all-around me were covered everywhere in a blanket of flowers which were red, pink and white. Apparently these were rose myrtles. They were really beautiful.

Flower covered hillside.

Flowers.

Flowers.

Flowers.

Flowers.

Flowers.

Flowers.

Flowers.

I decided to cut off the road and head to the lookout point that I have been to before. This route was a much easier way to get there than taking the broken, uneven stairway I had followed before. I sat at the lookout point for a little while to enjoy the views, take advantage of some shade and take a little rest. There was a lady with three dogs who kept attempting to leave the lookout point, but her highly disobedient dogs kept running away from her and coming back to the lookout. It was quite funny and made everyone there laugh.

View from Lookout.

View from Lookout.

I also took some photos of the mountains all around, which as I said before, were really colourful due to all the flowers. I guess the mountains are worth repeat visits as they will be different in each season

Mountain.

Mountain.

Mountain.

Path with Flowers.

Path.

After visiting the lookout point, I then walked back to the road and climbed further up to Discovery Bay Reservoir. On route I passed some very expensive houses. These are real houses with gardens, rather than flats, but they are not village houses. This is rare in Hong Kong and they are very expensive. There were lots of colourful flowers in the communal gardens in this area which made the mountains look even lovelier.

Posh Houses on way to Golf Course.

Mountain with Flowers.

Mountain with Flowers.

Mountain with Flowers.

Past the houses was the reservoir on one side of the road and great views over the winding road and the sea on the other. At the end of the reservoir, I decided to head back down into Discovery Bay. This was when I returned to the rock pools to bathe my feet.

Reservoir.

Reservoir.

Reservoir.

Reservoir.

Reservoir.

Reservoir.

Views.

Back down from the mountain, I wandered around the far end of Discovery Bay before heading back home to escape the humidity and heat. There were lots of lovely flowers and beautiful tumbling waterfalls. I later found out, when I returned home, that I had got quite sunburnt.

Waterfall.

Waterfall.

Waterfall.

Flowers.

Flowers.

Flowers.