BATEMANS BAY BUSHWALKERS INC.

Thursday 18 August 2022

Karen enjoying the track

The lake track was mostly above water level

Except in a few low lying spots

Looks more like a bayou

Karen, Rob, Donna and Simeon

Simeon and Rob at the Discovery Trail

And encountering a small obstacle

Durras Lake closed to the sea

Photos courtesy of Karen, Donna and Glenn

The purpose of today’s excursion was to walk the entire length of Durras Lake. The lake track starts on Mt Agony Road and joins the lake at its northern extremity. It then follows the lake all the way to where it meets the sea. Although at the moment, it doesn’t meet the sea and consequently the lake is overflowing its banks. The track was under water in a couple of spots, but not deep enough to worry our walkers.

We made a quick detour to explore the Discovery Trail located halfway along the walk. Judging from the amount of cleared timber, National Parks have spent a lot of time trying to keep the trail free of obstacles, but we still had to detour around a couple of fallen trees, and there is one giant spotted gum across the track which looks way too big to be removed. We found the location of the old observation tower and axe logged tree, which is now a pile of burned debris and fallen logs.

The walk ended at North Durras Beach where we paused for lunch and watched a pod of dolphins floating around near the shore.

Karen

Saturday 13 August 2022

Photos courtesy of Rob

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Seven walkers, including two entertaining visitors, braved an uncertain weather forecast for what turned out to a lovely day of walking around three historic gold and silver mines close to the township of Moruya.

Silver and gold was first reported in the area in 1839 however it was not made public for fear of sparking a gold rush. Word did eventually get out in the 1860’s and the first silver mine was opened. This mine yielded not only silver but also gold to a lesser extent. The ore was heavily impregnated with sulfides so it was sent overseas for both sale and processing. In later years the ore was able to be treated at a smelter in South Australia and an unsuccessful attempt was even made to treat it locally in Moruya. A concrete smelter was built for this purpose but abandoned soon after, in 1914. This roaster was our first stop and it was amazing that it was still in a remarkably good condition, having stood there for just over a hundred years. Although vines and fallen trees have now made their mark upon it.

We then visited another mine site where a ten head stamper, various sheds and a miners cottage were all located in reasonably good condition. Extensive mullock heaps and large holes reminded us of just what a thriving area it would have been in the day. It was great to see that the 2019/2020 fires had stopped just shy of this area, thus saving the wooden and iron constructions from becoming a pile of rubble like so much other mining infrastructure has sadly become after burning to the ground in the surrounding districts.

Following morning tea at the site, we commenced a walk along the nearby creek. The Myrtle trees and moss covered logs provided a lovely backdrop and almost made up for the treacherous creek crossing that consisted of slippery slimy rocks. One wet shoe was, thankfully, the only casualty. After leaving the creek we followed a ridge where we arrived at our third site. This site contained further artifacts and infrastructure from the mining era. Of particular interest was a boiler that had been part of HMAS Sydney (WW1) which was decommissioned in 1928 and scrapped the following year.

After spending some time investigating the area it was time to head back down the ridge to the creek where a pretty lunch spot was waiting. After lunch we followed the creek where further diggings were spotted. Then it was time to walk up the inevitable hill and back to the cars to complete a nice days walk.

Donna

Wednesday 10 August 2022

Heading down

Three amigos at the helm

There is a trail here, I know

Is there?

Tooth ache tree

Lush tree ferns on the ridge

Photos Peter 

With noisy friar birds warbling in the treetops, ten Batemans Bay bushwalkers set out to hike 8kms just south of Durras Drive. The group immediately plunged down a steep track into a section of forest that had been spared by recent fires and its undergrowth was lush.

What goes down must go up, well that’s the case in bushwalking, so soon the hikers were all getting a cardiovascular workout as they ascended the gully’s other side.

Trees species were an interesting mix. Iron bark, spotted gum, stringy bark and black butt gave the forest much visual appeal.

The next decline was bottomed by a small, briskly flowing creek that walkers crossed whilst admiring the many varieties of fern.

The trail sometimes petered out, but our leader’s navigation skills led us to the road above, a comfy log for morning tea and a short rest. Bird song was loud, and one wonders just what they are “talking” about. Perhaps the coming spring, building nests, the pros, and cons of last year’s decisions.

The group’s return hike used some of the same trails, but as the walkers paused to admire a spectacular strand of tree ferns lining the top of the ridge, some commented they had not noticed them at the walk’s beginning. How different a view can be when seen from the opposite direction.

It was a morning well spent in a beautiful part of the south coast, getting exercise, in good company. What more could you want?

Denise

Sunday 7 August 2022

Walking through the mangroves.

View back down the river

Our own Robinson Crusoe, Lesley with beach drift wood.

Soldier Crabs on the march

Crossing from the island on low tide

Heading back around the Island past remains from the old wharfs

Karen explaining the history of the graves on Toragy Point

Photos courtesy of Mary and Peter

Bushwalkers explored another pocket of Eurobodalla National Park on a sunny Sunday morning. This was an Easy 5 km walk at Moruya South Head, starting at the Quandolo Island carpark. The carpark is adjacent to a backwater of the Moruya River which was once a thriving port before the granite breakwalls were built. There you can still find the rusting remains of an old jetty.

It was dead low tide so we were able to walk across the river mudflats and through the mangroves to Quandolo Island to circumnavigate it before heading over to Shelly Beach for a morning tea break on the grass above the beach. Then it was up the hill to Toragy Point, stopping on the way at the lookout to admire the view north to Guerilla Bay.

We paused at the historic cemetery at Toragy Point where we found the headstone for the first burial on the Point – that of Mary Jane Wyatt who died in 1858 aged 3 months. Her father was a punt operator, then Agent for the Illawarra Steam Navigation Company, and lived near Preddy’s Wharf. The Wyatt family buried another child, Sarah Ann 4 years later.

The best-preserved headstone is that of Joseph Loutitt who died in 1895. All of the headstones were badly vandalised in the 1970’s, and the Loutitt family rescued the broken stone, reinforced it, re-erected it, and put a plaque on the back of it detailing Joseph’s life. He was the original Loutitt to travel to Australia and eventually settled in Moruya where he owned and ran the southside granite quarry. This information comes from the excellent Moruya & District Historical Society website at mdsociety.com Search for Toragy to find the story of Toragy Point Cemetery.

After leaving Toragy, walkers descended on the coastal bushtrack with views south along Dolphin Beach, and then turned inland again to the carpark.

Karen

Saturday 30 July 2022

Heading out to explore

Sharon leading the way

Explaining Burrawang biology

Viewing Deep Creek dam from the new lookout.

The group heading for the arboretum

Photos courtesy of Brian and Helen

A warm sunny day drew out 17 walkers on a visit to the Eurobodalla Botanic Gardens.

The Gardens were devastated by the 2019 fires. The Shire and Gardens volunteers have done a fantastic job resurrecting the trails and botanic displays for its visitors.

We were very fortunate to have Sharon and Di, two of our members who are Gardens volunteers, accompany us on our travels along the 5 marked trails and give us a history of the Gardens and answer all of our obscure questions.

For those of you who have not been to the Gardens since the fires it is well worth a visit and a mandatory stop at the gift shop and café afterwards. There are about 5kms of trails which took us 2hrs to complete. The Gardens are open Wed-Sun 9am-4pm.

Rob

One of our members, Peter T has written an article published in the current edition of Great Walks Magazine (August-September 2022) called  In The Club.  Great Walks joins the Batemans Bay Bushwalkers in southern NSW on a social and scenic day out.

Peter, who was already an experienced bushwalker when he moved to the south coast, talks about why he finally joined a bushwalking club and how that turned out for him (fortunately, quite well).

We have a couple of copies of the publication which we will bring along to walks for those of you who are interested.

And thanks to Peter for his kind words about bushwalking clubs in general, and Batemans Bay Bushwalkers in particular.

Karen

Wednesday 27 July 2022

Sunny morning start

Surfs up

View from Meroo Lookout

Boots off

The track or maybe a stream?

Boots off again

Heading North

Heading South

Photos courtesy of Amanda, Philip and Erika 

We had a beautiful winters day for this varied coastal walk. It was sunny and warm with nary a cloud in the sky. We were to find however that the rain on the previous day, and days before that, had made many of the inland tracks very wet underfoot.

Not long after our start, as we made our way to North Beach, we were surprised to find that Willinga Lake entrance had recently opened to the sea. This necessitated removal of shoes and socks and finding a shallow enough place to wade across.

Once on the other side we continued to the end of North Beach, then up through the bush and out to Nuggan Point. A group of board riders had gathered on the point to take advantage of the powerful surf conditions; together with several photographers with large zoom lenses, ready to capture the surfers in action.

From Nuggan Point we headed inland along the waterlogged track, down onto Meroo Beach, and followed the beach northward. At the end of the beach we passed Meroo Lake (extremely full due to the recent wet weather) and stopped on the rocks for morning tea. After morning tea we left the rocks and took an eroded wet track (more of a cascade) up onto Meroo Head and paused at the lookout to admire the beautiful view. Then further along the track and down the steps to Termeil Beach.

At the northern end of Termeil Beach we reached Termeil Lake and Termeil Point. Again we were surprised to find that Termeil Lake entrance had also recently opened to the sea. Luckily, since we were heading back from this point, that did not cause us any problem.

We took an inland route back south behind the dunes, meandering through the banksias and burrawangs that had recovered well after the bushfires. Before returning to Termeil Beach we had lunch at a bench near the carpark. After that we retraced our steps over Meroo Head and along Meroo Beach. Rather than return via Nuggan Point we started to take the track inland to Willinga Lake but soon found the track covered with a significant depth of water, so we made our way through the scrub onto North Beach.

At the end of North Beach we waded back through the narrow Willinga Lake entrance and walked along the road to our cars at Bawley Beach carpark.

Philip

Sunday 24 July 2022

Pleasant stroll in the sunshine

Taking in the bush

Now that tree is carrying a load!

Photos supplied by Rob

Eight club walkers enjoyed a pleasant hike to Tuross Lake on a sunny and warm winter day.

This walk is only 3.5kms but it took us through a wide variety of vegetation. We started in eucalypt forest up near Hector McWilliam Drive, and as we headed downslope we went through a myrtle forest to the shoreline. The track along the river traversed a casuarina forest with many elkhorn ferns.

We also noted the presence of pencil orchids which preferentially grow on the trunks of the moss covered casuarinas, and were starting to flower and should be in full bloom by mid-August.

Finally we walked across a mangrove swamp to the river for morning tea. This walk was timed so that we did this last leg at the maximum low tide to avoid getting wet.

We are grateful to some Tuross residents who maintain this track with chainsaw and brushcutters.

Rob

Thursday 21 July 2022

Group on setting off on Bengello Beach

The rainbow promised a good walk

Bev and Chris brighten the day with brolleys

Shock, horror! Some-ones pulled the plug out! A “creek crossing” resulting from an over full lagoon, is this a first for an easy walk?!

Group at the bridge on the Bengello track

Photos courtesy of Helen

Beneath a heavy grey sky and expecting rain, six walkers, led by Helen, headed off along the beach towards the Broulee Surf Club. Firm sand made the walking easier than expected although we kept a close watch for the occasional rogue wave washing up the beach. The only challenge of the walk emerged when we had to negotiate the creek crossing which had reappeared as a result of the recent rain.

We perched on the walkway fence for morning tea before heading inland to the bush track behind the dunes to return to the cars, stopping at the bridge for a final photo opportunity.

We all agreed that the walking was easy and this allowed for constant conversation and a very pleasant morning. Best of all, the rain held off until we left the car park.

Thank you, Helen.

Chris

Saturday 16 July 2022

Karen, Heather, and Mary looking back for the photo

Looking over a giant on the forest floor

Always an obstacle

Karen, Heather, Denise, and Bruce at the lake shore

Morning tea Kathy, Helen, Bruce, Brian and Chris

Photos courtesy of Mary and Helen 

A 14-degree maximum temperature tempted several Batemans Bay bushwalkers to put on beanies instead of sun hats. Some even wore gloves, as well as three layers of clothing.

Eleven club members braved the cold to walk a 6km circuit on forest tracks starting at North Durras Lake. Mary, our walk leader, lead us behind the caravan park, through mud, past feeding kangaroos and into the forest. It was a very pretty walk, with bird song and even a few wildflowers. The wattle promising to bloom soon.

What a delight to see spotted gums, straight and tall interspersed with round topped cabbage palms, green above their charred trunks. A leisurely morning tea was enjoyed on the banks of Durras Lake before embarking on the return journey.

At the walk’s finish a ‘thumbs up’ was given by all even if one member expressed disappointment that the nearby coffee shop was closed. Oh well, you just can’t please everybody.

Denise