CENTRAL COAST – 3 & 4 January 2020
With so many National Parks closed, and high temperatures forecast, a couple of beach walks seemed like a good idea. Normally not blog-worthy, I thought I’d post because some of you might think I am languishing in front of the TV feeling deprived. The legendary Louise joined me for both days and Marcia joined us for the hottest day, Saturday.
On Friday Louise and I did the Maitland Bay to Putty Beach walk through sections of Bouddi National Park, a mere 6k return trip, but with the heat, seemed like a lot longer! We did have a swim at Putty Beach and another one at Maitland Bay to cool off.
One of the things I love about the walk into Maitland Bay are the red gums.
More Red Gums.
On the way to Putty Beach, looking down on the rock platforms. As far as I can see, there’s no way to walk along these rock platforms.
The Tessellated Rocks high above the sea, and a fascinating rock formation. As you can see, the weather wasn’t the best. You can just see on the horizon the Palm Beach headland, normally this would be easy to see, but with the amount of smoke in the air, you could hardly see anything.
Along the way, Louise and I checked out a few gullies, hoping to find a good creek to abseil down (we are suffering “canyoning withdrawal”. There was only one “likely suspect”, might be hard getting back up to the cliff-line though.
The walk took us about six hours but we did laze about in the water for a couple of hours.
Marcia helped us with a car shuffle on Saturday, which eliminated the need to walk along the Crackneck cliff-top, which would have been really hot with Saturday’s predicated high temperatures. We left her car at Bateau Bay and then drove over to Forrester’s beach.
It was close to low tide when we started around 10am and came across this little crab, we tried to persuade it to get back in the water but it was having nothing to do with getting out of the sun, or out of the way of predatory sea gulls.
I took Marcia and Louise to my “secret” cave – no “dark zone” but a nice scramble through the rock fall.
Marcia now out of the squeeze.
Louise negotiating through the squeeze.
Once through the squeeze you can get out to the rock shelf to explore the rock pools. We found lots of interesting looking “slugs”, star fish and cunjevoi (formerly a common food source for Sydney’s Aboriginal people).
From the rock shelf looking down to Spoon Bay and Wamberal Beach.
Back on track and Louise walking up to North Forrester’s.
Marcia found this cool “stingray” rock, see it’s eyes and mouth.
This is a challenging walk, a full body work-out as you negotiate the rock-strewn base of the cliffs. You can do this walk at both high and low tides, we were fortunate that it was low tide so we could get a break from the boulders on some of the rock platforms (which you can’t see here).
Looking back to the south, March on a rock slab.
I had in mind a lovely rock pool to have a swim in, but must have walked right past it. Louise in the “money shot” in the next best thing to the swimming hole I’d envisaged.
Almost at the end, Bateau Bay is beyond the headland in the distance.
Don’t usually get this close to the waves, but with the big low tide, it was pretty safe.
Louise in the middle of the pic, gives you perspective of the extent of the boulder field.
We’d finished the walk by about 2pm, Louise and I frolicked in the surf at Bateau Bay, then Marcia drove us back to retrieve my car.
What was most interesting for me was the slipperiness of the rocks, particularly up at the base of the cliffs. As we haven’t had any rain for months, there was a huge amount of salt deposit on the rocks, which made them way slippery, caution was needed.
Thanks so much for coming on these walks with me Louise & Marcia, if you hadn’t gone, I would probably have sat in front of the TV all day! Good to get out and keep my fitness up.
Thank you for the walk Marilyn,
Great photos from a fabulous day😃
Thanks Marcia!
I love that Maitland Bay walk – one of my favourites too!
Yes, it’s a good walk, and in winter you can make it much longer, also good at low tide when you’re able to see parts of the wrecked SS Maitland.
I am binge watching your adventures tonight. This walk was quite different from your usual slinking thru crevices and hurtling over cliffs! Beautiful scenery once again!
:} thanks Kathy