Rocks. You don’t normally see many in Hong Kong unless they are part of the rubble from a demolished building. We always think of Hong Kong as high rise apartments and skyscrapers, which is what a lot of Hong Kong is covered in. However we got to discover some of the geological and cultural history with a tour of the Hong Kong Geopark. The geopark is an area of Hong Kong, predominantly islands out near Sai Kung, where you can see different rock structures and coastlines preserved to showcase some of Hong Kong’s natural beauty.
The tour we went on used a boat to take us around to various locations. Our first stop was Sharp Island where the kids explored the coastline for shells, walked up the trail in Kui Tsui Country Park and got to see a “pineapple” rock.
These boulders scattered along the shoreline and tidal bridge are named after ‘pineapple’ buns, which have this lined and lumpy texture and actually have nothing to do with the fruit they are named for. They are created from weathering, contraction and expansion of the mineral makeup of the rock. On Sharp Island we also got to see quartz outcrops. I got to show the kids a few examples around the shoreline where they could see the translucency and difference between it and the surrounding rock. The kids loved exploring the rocks after that, realising there was more to the rocks around them than what they thought.
We hopped back on the boat and were taken around some rugged coastline. We travelled past virtually inaccessible but incredibly private beaches, water bashed caves possibly used by pirates centuries ago and even a stone arch.
My background in geography and geology meant I was totally fascinated by the structures we were seeing, but the kids also seemed to take an interest in what was around us which was great to see.
After stopping on an island for a seafood lunch (included in the price of the tour), we hiked up over the island and the landscape eventually opened up to this …
I couldn’t believe we were still in Hong Kong. This was the last thing I expected to see … a near tropical beach with crystal blue water. Needless to say were were very taken by the breathtaking view and the cleanliness of the beach.
The kids could have stayed here all day and so could I. The guide told us you can actually pay to use an area just off the beach to pitch tents and camp here. If I can ever convince Titus to go camping, this beach would be an awesome place to escape from everything. The hinterland around the beach had wild cows – their parents were just left there many years ago and the cows have continued to thrive in a small herd since.
The final stop on our tour was to an abandoned Hakka village – ‘Yim Tin Tsai Village’. The only part of this island that seems to have had any preservation on it is a church which is kept in beautiful condition. Everywhere else you look you see abandoned ruins of what I can only imagine would have been a very quaint village in times past.
The ruins were beautiful in their own way, surrounded in lush green foliage as the jungle slowly grows over the homes. No one could tell me why the residents deserted the island. I can’t help but wonder as these houses would make very nice homes by Hong Kong standards if they were renovated to their former glory.
Most of the village looks out over salt fields. Villagers used to harvest salt but now only the tidal crabs seem to make use of the fields. The fields were bordered by mangroves offering a barrier between the sea and the land.
We walked around the village through bamboo forest, eventually coming to what we thought was a dam, but turned out to be a breakwater barrier which acts as a typhoon shelter. The barrier connects the island with the Kau Sai Chau golf course.
On our way back to the boat, we passed an abandoned girl guides complex. Surrounded by prison fencing and masses of rusting barbed wire I couldn’t help but wonder whether the barriers were put there to keep the girls in or to keep everyone else out. It certainly would make an interesting setting for a horror novel. 
As we rode our boat back to Sai Kung pier the sun was beginning to set and the kids quietly pondered everything they had seen. Mitchell sat at the back of the boat mesmerised by the waves and foam forming in the wake of where we had been.
I wasn’t sure the kids would enjoy a day where we spent a good part of it looking at rocks, but they did. In fact everyone on our tour came away with a new appreciation of what is hidden in Hong Kong if you just take the time out and the effort to explore.
