SOUTH COAST, NSW – 18 – 21 May 2023
When Trish put the Murramarang South Coast Walk on the calendar a couple of months ago, it sounded like a good idea, I’d always wanted to explore further down the NSW coast. The walk started inauspiciously with me saying “I don’t really like walking on sand” and from Trish “What do you mean? It’s almost all on beaches!” … “Ah, yes, well, I’m sure it will be fine I’ll be able to walk on the hard packed sand!” Amazingly, I didn’t mind the sand!
Cathy B drove to my place on Thursday morning and we started on our road trip down to Coalcliff to meet up with Trish and her partner Peter T. Cathy and I were doing well navigating through Sydney until we got to a roundabout which we felt was ambiguous and instead of going straight ahead, we made a rh turn, stopped about 50m from the roundabout and put Coalcliff back in the SatNav and The Stupid Woman had us do a big circuitous route back onto the freeway (about a 15 minute drive), and then back to said roundabout, all because The Stupid Woman didn’t want us to do a U-turn across double white lines. From then on we didn’t trust the SatNav Stupid Woman and double checked her directions with Google Maps.
Once at Coalcliff, we had a quick walk out onto the Sea Cliff Bridge to meet up with Trish and Peter. The bridge is pretty cool! Then we went off to find a nice place for lunch. (Photo courtesy of Visit NSW)
After lunch we basically made a b-line for Pretty Beach, where we would stay the night, do a quick car shuffle and then start the walk.
The wallaby population at Pretty Beach was impressive, and they were very tame. When we were having our dinner under the BBQ shelter, the possums paid us a visit, very cheeky!
We took a quick trip down to the beach to look at the way forward, and enjoy the sunset … nice sky.
The campsites are ok but the best part of Pretty Beach is the hot showers!
Day 1 – Pretty Beach to Depot Beach – 10k – This NPWS multi day walk has only been open for three weeks. You have to book on the walk, and campsites are reserved for you, there are quite a few campsites along the way (including unofficial ones). Trish had booked us into Pretty Beach (the start of the walk), Depot Beach, and then Oaky Beach, finishing up at Maloneys Beach where we’d left my car (we did a 40 minute car shuffle). Trish and I had driven down, and I was so careful about taking my key with me, that I popped it in my pocket before I got out of the car. It’s really embarrassing when you get to the end of a trip and the person whose car is waiting for you says that they left their key in the other car (has happened on a few trips I’ve been on!).
It wasn’t until we got back to Pretty Beach, that I realised that I hadn’t locked my car. Oh well, no-one can steal it, the worst that can happen is my lovely powder blue North Face puffy jacket might get stolen (it didn’t!).
The (almost obligatory) death photo – so that if something happens at least everyone knows that you were having a great adventure! (l-r – Cathy, Peter, me and Trish).
We started walking around 10.30am; the tides were good and we were on nice hard packed sand.
At the end of the beach, the track took us on a lovely rock shelf. Roughly a quarter of the coastline on the walk has these lovely rock shelves, but you can’t just follow them because you never know whether they’ll continue or not. I suppose if you’d looked on Google Earth or Six Maps you would be able to see whether or not the shelves continued to the next beach.
We came to this little beach which we thought might be “Singing Beach” as the sound of the waves on the pebbles sounded lovely, but it was just the first of many pebbly beaches that we passed.
NPWS have done a lot of work on the track, there are good sandstone steps when you have to go up or down a steep slope.
Just one of the many shots I took of the beaches, it’s not known as the Saphire Coast for nothing! It was around about now that we saw our first pod of whales, an adult and a juvenile, they are making their way up the coast at the moment. We made sure to take the time when we could to look out to see to see if there were more.
Roughly two thirds of the way along the first day’s walk, Peter’s long standing leg problem, which he thought would have been ok, resurfaced, so, he took a rest and then continued along slowly with Trish.
Cathy and I went on ahead at our own pace, we were to all meet up at Depot Beach.
For quite a few ks we were in a lovely spotted gum forest, the walking was very easy, despite our 10k packs.
Eventually we caught up with Trish and Peter at Pebbly Beach (just a few k from our destination at Depot Beach). Peter’s legs weren’t any better and we decided that it was safer for Peter to drive between each of the beaches that we’d stay at, after all, the following day was a 16k day!
Peter & Trish asked a tourist if they’d drive Peter back to Pretty Beach to pick up the car, and then he’d meet up with us at Depot Beach. Whilst this would have been disappointing for Peter, it was a bonus for the rest of us as he’d transport our heavy packs from campsite to campsite and we’d only have to carry a day pack!
After Peter drove off with the tourists (Trish stayed behind with all our packs), Cathy and I headed back down to the beach to continue on to Depot Beach.
The headland before we headed around to Depot Beach.
The Depot Beach campsite was a “drive in” one which meant that caravans and camper trailers could use the campsite, and there were cabins that you could hire. When Trish and Peter arrived (about an hour after Cathy and I arrived), we set up camp and took advantage of the lovely hot showers (in a brand-new amenities block). The campsites weren’t that great, but I suspect that NPWS will be upgrading this camping area to accommodate the multi-day walkers.
Peter & Trish went off in their car to pick up fire-wood as the campground had been picked bare, so we had a nice fire that night. And bonus, we had plenty of wine – which we wouldn’t have had if we’d been carrying our heavy packs. Quotable quote from Cathy – “I wasn’t planning to drink anything on this trip”, well, yeah, now that we had a vehicle with bottles of wine, that wasn’t going to happen! It had been a long day so after dinner we had an early night.
Day 2 – Depot Beach to Oaky Beach – 16k – We were up and on our way by 9.30am, having packed our overnight packs into Peter’s car. Whilst we would be walking 16k (thank goodness without the heavy packs!), we’d be stopping half-way to meet up with Peter at South Durras beach and having a decadent lunch before continuing (this is my kind of walk!).
We followed the track up to a look-out which gave us a view of the way forward. There’s a lake that is often closed to the ocean but at the moment the entrance is open, and low tide wasn’t going to be until 2pm, so we’d have to find a way of crossing without being in water up to our armpits. Fortunately, we found the phone number of a person who apparently would ferry us across the opening!
The walk down to the beach was very pleasant, lovely gumtrees and lots of cycad ferns.
Looking down at the beautiful blue waters of the beach.
At the bottom of the headland, as we walk towards the lake’s opening. We needed to be there by 10.00am.
The beach walk – we were actually quicker than we thought, we told the kayak guy we’d be there at 10.30, when we actually made it by 10.10am.
We arrived in plenty of time to catch the boat across (kayaks really), at $20pp. Cathy was a bit worried about the kayaking – she hadn’t done it before, but looks like she’s gotten the hang of it.
On the lake, the ride across was very informative, the kayak owner runs an ocean kayaking business so knows a lot about the area.
Back down to the beach and on our way to Durras.
A small creek to cross, apparently this can be wider than what we encountered. We all kept our shoes dry.
We’d been told that we could head around the headland on the rocks by doing a small climb. We took a look at it and decided the climb was too sketchy for us.
Eventually we got to South Durras Beach and found Peter. The beach is an NRMS camping area, lots of cabins along the beach and heaps of tent and campsites. The lunch was pretty good, hamburgers, milkshakes and coffees, I could have sat in the sun indefinitely! But, we had to get a move on.
For this section we were more inland and the vegetation was different, but the track was very good.
We’re almost at the end of this long section, and we decided that we’d take the opportunity of walking along a fire trail, rather than continue on the beach.
Interesting vegetation.
And beautiful spotted gum forests.
And then we’re on the fire trail, heading down to the Oaky Beach campsite. We were unsure what we’d find and whether or not Peter would be able to drive in as the campsite had shown up as “closed” on the website, just a few weeks ago.
Turns out it had opened just a few days ago. We made our way up to the platforms set up for “walk-in” campers (like us), rather than car campers. Petty good set up, but we decided to camp closer to the car, once Peter turned up.
Yes, and where was Peter? The car was there, but no sight of him. We sat around for ages wandering back and forth to the beach, but no sign of him. Turns out he’d gone looking for us and didn’t find us.
The campsite we eventually chose. Oaky campsite will be stunning when NPWS finish the upgrades that they are doing. At the moment there isn’t any water available, but with huge covered shelters, it’s just a matter of time before water tanks are installed. Each camp site has its own camp fire ring and I expect that in the “walk in” area for those doing the multi day walk will have their own camp fires too.
Another nice campfire! By now we’re down to just one bottle of wine left!
Day 3 – Oaky Beach to Maloneys Beach – 8k – Another stunning day for our final section to Maloneys Beach. I have to say walking without that 10k pack certainly made this a much more enjoyable trip.
Next morning we started our final day, walking up from the beach onto the headland.
Easy walking through the open forest.
Then we’re down on another pebbly beach.
And then back up into the open forest and the cycad palms.
Walking first thing in the morning is stunning with the sun shining down on the ocean.
This has to be one of the most beautiful coastal walks I’ve been on.
We’re getting close to Maloneys now and came to the trig on a side trip out to a point.
Looking to Yellow Rocks in the distance.
Yellow Rocks up close, I’m pretty sure you could scramble out onto these rocks, locals would surely go out there, possibly fishing.
The final stretch, looking down onto Maloneys Beach.
And finally, the route down onto the beach. You would think that they could have made a more “interesting” descent! Pete met us at the bottom of these stairs.
The car hadn’t been broken into (big sigh of relief), and we found a choko vine across the road, so Cathy and I looked for chokos on the public side of the fence!
And so ended our Murramarang South Coast Walk. Would I do it again? Definitely, although I’d do three nights and four days, spreading out the middle section. You could also do it as a “cabin” walk taking advantage of the cabins along the way, would be great to have a comfy bed each night (and a hot shower). There are some options to make the logistics easier, ie picking up walkers from the beaches where you can drive in, taking you to boutique accommodation, then dropping you back the next day. You can also get a transfer from your car at the end to the beginning of the walk, eliminating the car shuffle.
The wildlife was excellent, we saw whales twice, close enough that you could actually see them. The scenery is stunning, but this was possibly more stunning than usual because we had glorious sunny days.
Big thanks to Trish for organising this, and to Cathy and Peter for being so agreeable and great walking companions. But, the adventure wasn’t finished, once we picked up my car, we were off to Green Cape Lighthouse to do some of the Light to Light walk! With a short stop at the liquor store Cathy … “do you think four bottes is enough?”
Stay tuned.
Hi Marilyn:
Stoked to see you down in my neck of the woods and so glad you enjoyed the walk. My partner and I did the walk as a day trip two days ago on a glorious sunny day and, even though we are local and have walked and kayaked the coast many, many times, we really enjoyed the track.
Durras Lake has been open for a long time, a few years now, since we got the first rains after the drought and it looks like it will be a long while before it closes again as it is flushing very well currently. We did ford it, so it is possible, but it was waist to chest deep on me, but I am shorty at 158 cm.
Hey Sandy, nice to hear from you again. Can’t believe you did this as a day walk! you’re much fitter than me LOL. Yes, low tide wasn’t until 2pm so we figured it was better to get the ride across, it looked like you could easily cross when the tide was lower though. I’m hoping to be down that way again towards the end of the year, we’re looking for sea caves up and down the NSW coast, there is an index of them, but we’d like to GPS them and take a look in them, with a view to maybe doing a book on them (following on for our very successful publication of the Abercrombie Caves book), so we’ll be doing quite a bit of exploration in that area. Again, lovely to hear from you.