The portion of the reef close to shore is covered by mangroves, and further out the rocks are covered by rock oysters, then bare.

Remove the rock oysters from their shells and lightly poach in the fish stock.

The candle-lit table on the edge of the Pacific is laden with fresh local rock oysters and prawns.

Each offers a taste of the city, starting with the gastronomic experience that is most quintessentially Sydney: a plate of rock oysters.

Bluff oysters have never been cultivated, but various attempts were made to cultivate the rock oyster.

Then in 1970 another oyster started outgrowing the native rock oyster.

Native rock oysters are plentiful on the rocky shores, and the introduced Pacific oysters flourish lower in the intertidal zone.

Thousands of tons of rocks were placed along the shorelines to act as an additional substrate on which the natural rock oyster could grow.

The food, from rock oysters to the lamb for an Irish stew, is sourced from the market below.

But what you will not forget, and will long for later, are the rock oysters from Skye, which speak volumes about the bounty of this country.