The grand plan for this trip was to
walk from Mill Beach at South Durras entirely on coastal rock
platforms to North Head Beach in Murramarang National Park where we
would have bicycles stashed for our glorious ride back to Mill Beach
after vanquishing various and many difficulties.
Spacious rock platforms near Wasp Head
The reality was somewhat different.
Firstly, on the topographic map, the road ends on a ridge top about
1.6 km north of North Head Beach. For us, this was a good thing as
our $10 tip shop bikes, and 53 year old bodies would not be up to a
steep ride uphill but, being old mountaineers, we could walk forever.
In reality, the road extends all the way down to the NP campground
at North Head Beach and this is where we locked our bicycles before
ruefully driving back up the steep hill and along the Old Coast Road
to Mill Beach. There was little doubt in my mind that I would be
pushing that 30 kg bicycle back up that hill at the end of the day,
but then, wouldn't the downhill ride be all the sweeter?
Gulch near Emily Miller Beach
The distance from Mill Beach to North
Head Beach as you follow the intricately carved coast is about 13 to
15 km, so we aimed to start two hours before low tide. Presumably,
unless we crawled the entire distance, this should give us enough
time to stroll along North Head Beach as the tide was gently rising.
And, it all started well. The rock platform around Wasp Head to
Wobbegong Bay is capacious and backed by scenic carved sandstone
cliffs. Wobbegong Bay is backed by a tussle of large fallen blocks
of sandstone at the south end of which is a narrow gulch carved
between overhanging sandstone walls. Essentially, you walk right
through the pointy headland that extends almost a kilometre to the
east from Wobbegong Bay.
Wobbegong Gulch
Sensibly, Doug went through the passage
while I just had to go around the headland. Except, of course, I
couldn't. I got right around the point on a rock platform that
gradually delivered me up to the top of the cliff which was covered
with dense bush and fallen trees where I was effectively marooned on
an island. Back I went, but not before bashing through the bush in
search of a shortcut, which obviously did not exist.
Rock platforms near Dark Beach
Doug was waiting for me on an upper
rock platform overlooking Emily Miller Beach. This early in the trip
we were still feeling purist so we tried to gain Emily Miller Beach
by walking along the cliff edge until we could descend but a huge sea
cave bars progress so we had to backtrack (second time for me, but
who's counting) to the track and then take the normal route down to
the beach.
Slippery cliffs near Dark Beach
The next headland south has another
great rock platform which lured us all the way around until we were
almost on the grey shingle sands of Dark Beach, but, we got stuck
again above another cavernous sea cave. This time, we were able to
bash along the cliff top above the cave in native bush. We tried to
climb down the cliff on the west (beach side of the cave) but got
stuck at a tricky and slippery step and, you guessed it, backtracked
again. Continuing further west you can either descend down a steep
loose dirt rib to rock platform or go a little farther in the bush
and follow a minor drainage down. Doug did the latter while I took
the former route and had to wander around a bit looking for a route
to downclimb off the rock platform to the beach. The rock step I
climbed down would be underwater at higher tides.
Flat Rock Island
The next headland south is Flat Rock
Point and I was optimistic about getting right around this point on
the rock platform. We got within 40 or 50 metres of the final point
before getting shut down by a deep watery gulch. Back again to Dark
Beach where we scrambled up a dry creek-bed and found a faint track.
Purism was gradually being replaced by reality and instead of walking
out to Flat Rock Point and scrambling down onto the rock platform
simply to walk around to Myrtle Beach we decided to cut the point off
and took the track down to Myrtle Beach.
One of the smaller sea caves
Halfway along Myrtle Beach there is a
small outcrop of rocks that is passable at pretty much any tide, and
then a narrower rock platform heads south towards Richmond Point. I
had grave doubts that we would pass this point on rock platforms as
Doug and I have landed the kayaks on Richmond Beach and the cliffs
run right into the sea on the south side of Richmond Point. The
cliffs themselves are steep, often undercut, rotten and covered with
dense coastal scrub. If that sounds impassable, it is.
Hidden Beach south of Richmond Beach
This time I would guess we got to
within 500 metres of the point before we had to turn back to Myrtle
Beach. There seemed little point in bashing through the bush when a
good track was available so we walked out to the Old Coast Road along
the walking track, then followed the gravel road south to the
Richmond Beach track.
Tilted Strata between Richmond and Little Oaky Beaches
All this backwards and forwards had by
now consumed all of the low tide, some of the rising tide and was
threatening to also consume the rest of the daylight. Doug was ready
to pack it in, but I thought that we might get to Little Oaky Beach
or, if we were really lucky, Oaky Beach so we continued south from
Richmond Beach. A tiny little pocket beach of sand, inaccessible at
high tide, lies under rotten white cliffs, and then tilted up strata
leads all the way around to Little Oaky Beach - almost. There is
actually a little hook of land and a rock island at the entrance to
Little Oaky Beach and deep surge washed channel. It was no go again,
so back to Richmond Beach.
Stepping into the light
We now had two options, one was to walk
the gravel Old Coast Road (which we had already driven along) out to
North Head Beach to retrieve the bicycles where, instead of a
victorious downhill run we would have an wearying uphill grind. The
other option was a relatively swift and painless walk out to Cookies
Beach on old forest tracks. I had done this a few days previously
and knew that it took less than an hour. It was the walk of shame,
minus the hangover and dirty underwear.
Pretty cute
Actually, it was a pretty pleasant
walk. The spotted gum trees are beautiful, the old forest tracks are
spongy underfoot, the day was still warm, and a profusion of
kangaroos were grazing on open grass as we ambled into South Durras
and strolled around the last rock platform to Mill Beach. It was a
day well spent.
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