Sunday 11 June 2017
Photos by Erika, Philip, Brian and Carol
Brian led 15 walkers on what I consider to be one of the best walks our club offers to members each year. The 11km walk combines sections of a number of walks in the Murramarang National Park – Durras area, starting at Wasp Head and ending at North Head. The walk includes sections along existing tracks, retired tracks no longer maintained by the Park Service, some bush bashing and beach walks. As Brian says, ‘you can’t get lost as long as you keep the ocean on your left’. The terrain is undulating, nothing too steep or too flat, so the walkers are kept interested for what comes next. The walk takes us through a wide variety of vegetation types from tall stands of Spotted Gums with an under storey of Burrawangs to areas on the cliff tops with stunted Spotted Gums surviving the strong coastal winds.
The track took us from forest trekking, to cliff tops with magnificent views of the beaches, down onto the sands for brief strolls along the beaches before heading back into the forests. Brian seemed to know when to take us to a lookout so that the wild life could make its appearance as if they were paid entertainers. We saw a pod of dolphins, two sea eagles soaring directly overhead, the mandatory Durras kangaroos on the beach and pods of whales heading north, some of whom put on spy hopping displays just for us.
Even the car shuffle was well organised so that the walkers arrived to find the drivers waiting at the walk start and vehicles left at the finish. I have to give Brian an 8 out of 10 for this walk. I’m leaving him the opportunity to earn 2 more points when he does this walk again next year and adds some new surprises.
Rob