Wednesday 15 May 2024
Photos courtesy of Philip, Helen, Mary and Barry. Walk report courtesy of Walk Leader Donna.
The Booderee Circuit is a 15.5 km walk in the Booderee National Park, formerly known as the Jervis Bay National Park. This park is jointly run by the local indigenous community at Wreck Bay and A.C.T National Parks. This walk was run as a day walk with the expectation that participants would take advantage of staying at nearby accommodation options. Most of the eighteen participants did so with nearby hotels, motels, caravan parks and even friends houses providing adequate places to stay. Of course there were the usual camping cohort who took advantage of the campgrounds within the National Park, making good use of the hot showers and fire pits within.
This walk was essentially a test case to see if an `Out of Area Day Walk’ would be something that members would support. Fortunately we were not disappointed! The weather leading up to the walk was, frankly, abysmal, however all of those who put their name down for the walk held their bookings and turned up for the walk on the day and what a stunning day it was. The sun was out, there was no wind and we were rewarded with great walking weather.
We started the walk at the Steamers Beach car park and headed off to Brooks Lookout which provided nice views out to the sea and also to the north. We then made our way to our morning tea spot at St Georges Head. On the rocks we were able to enjoy distant views out to Pigeon House Mountain and observe nearby seals and dolphins making the most of the lovely conditions. After morning tea we traversed a lovely coastal track which provided great views down to Kittys Beach, Black Harbor and Whiting Beach.
We soon arrived at our lunch spot at Blacks Waterhole. Even though recent rains submerged our prospective lunch logs, we were able to find some suitable nearby spots for lunch. Serenaded by happy frogs and birdlife it was time to conquer the final three kilometers of the walk and return to the cars. A few boggy areas were able to be safely skirted around without the need to remove our boots so that also proved to be a bonus!