BATEMANS BAY BUSHWALKERS INC.

Friday 25 June 2021

Ian with the old timber tramway along the creek bank

Tramway support timbers inundated by the very high tide

Tramway timbers extending along the bank

Fleet on a sandy bar in the lower creek

Rodney and Bob among mangroves on a high tide

Linn and Sharon stopping for a chat

Photos courtesy of Karen

We chose to paddle Cullendulla Creek on a very high tide, heading upstream on slack water and returning with the tide.  The paddle is predominantly through a thick mangrove forest which was in fruit and starting to send out bud florets.  Although the creek runs very close to housing subdivisions in Long Beach and Surfside, the density of the overhanging mangroves deadens noise and gives the feeling of being a million miles from civilisation.

Apart from the mangrove forest, another feature of the paddle is the remains of the old timber tramway terminus located on an upper creek bank.  This tramway was constructed and operated by Ryan’s Cullendulla Mill located near the present day service station.  The Mill’s sawn timber was transported over the tramway on horsedrawn carts to the creek terminus.  There the timber was loaded onto barges for transit across the Clyde Estuary to Batemans Bay.  The timber was then loaded onto coastal steamers of the Illawarra and South Coast Steam Navigation Company bound for Sydney.  An involved, but necessary process in those days of few passable roads.  (Source:  Timber Tramways of the South Coast by Ian Barnes & Ian Bevege, published in The Forester, June 2013 issue.)

The morning finished with lunch on a sunny sandbank in the lower creek.

Karen

Thursday 24 June 2021

Reminder of the fire among all the regrowth

Lake views at every turn

Huge burned out tree cleared off track by NP

Remains of one of the old Forestry gates on Discovery Trail

Big tree reduced to almost nothing

Photos courtesy of Karen

Bushwalkers walked 14km through a section of Murramarang National Park near North Durras recently burned by the bushfires.  Understorey regrowth has been remarkable, and NSW National Parks have worked hard to keep the tracks open.  The bushfire, followed by several intense rain and wind storms have brought down many huge trees, which have also had to be cleared off the tracks.

The last rain event made a few short sections of the track soggy, but not impassable.  Fortunately Durras Lake is still open to the ocean, so there is no associated flooding.  The swamp on the southern section of the walk is brimming with water.  This is a fairly flat walk, and about half of it follows the lake shore so there were views at every turn.

Karen

Saturday 19 June 2021

Bengello Beach and not a soul to be seen

Well Tony looks like he is enjoying the wind

Wind whipping up the waves even on the sheltered side

Pink Rocks – a local surfing spot

Normally at low tide, you can walk on these rocks

Morning tea and still in their winter woolies

Peter and Ed looking a little windblown

Hmmm Tom thinks … Surf or bushwalk with my wife?

Shark Bay

You would think they would look a bit happier getting their free facial

Broulee bush track

Peter and the Broulee Canoe Dig tree

Photos courtesy of Karen and Gay

Thirteen hardy souls braved the forecast gale force winds and rain predicted for the 9km easy/medium walk today.

Fortunately the rain did not eventuate.  But the wind – well let’s just say the forecaster finally got something right!

With the wind howling and everyone dressed in their winter woollies, even beanies, the Walkers headed up to the headland overlooking Bengello Beach.   It was a very quick photo stop and then a retreat out of the wind heading north and down towards Shark Bay.  With the wind behind us it felt sheltered and crossing over to North Broulee beach with the sun shining and no rain in sight gave us a good feeling of being outdoors. Even some surfers were out taking advantage of some big waves at Pink Rocks.

The huge waves looking east from the island were awesome.  But the further we ventured the sea was looking fierce and threatening.  With regret, I decided it was just too risky to traverse the southern side of Broulee Island as there is no protection from the wind and waves with a lot of rock scrambling. Better to return with all walkers than lose a couple on the way!

On our return we were treated to a rare sighting…. A bushwalking surfer!

Just to give everyone a little taste of what they missed on the southern rocks of Broulee Island, we headed back over to Shark Bay and down along Bengello Beach.  For a low tide, the waves were coming in high on the beach and we had to use the dunes to reach the safe haven of the protected bush.  But everyone seemed happy with their free beauty treatment – A Free Facial from sand blasting!

The meander through the Broulee bush was a nice reprieve from the wind.  A stop at the Broulee Canoe Dig tree and a lesson from Glenn on geocaching had us all looking for a ‘treasure’ but no luck today, unfortunately.

The return walk was back through the bush and local streets to avoid the beach and get my trusty followers back to their cars without any more wild weather to contend with.

Gay

Wednesday 16 June 2021

Pool in base of mallee formed Spotted Gum

23 Walkers enjoying the sunshine and views

Bob, Ainslie and Simeon on a horizontal tree branch

Views of Dark Beach, end point of Sydney sandstone

Simeon and Geoff keeping watch for whales

Tree clinging for dear life on cliff

Mike and Sharon crossing logs on Flat Rock Headland

Mike, Donna and Tony negotiating fallen trees

View from end of headland looking north

What a photo!

Bob and Rodney tackling the obstacles

Photos courtesy of Donna and Ainslie

What a delight it is to walk through sunlit forests with ocean views and good company.

The walk on June 16th saw Sharon in charge of 22 other walkers setting out from the car park at Murramarang Resort in South Durras heading into Murramarang National Park. This is one of the few parts of our area unaffected by the 2019 bushfires, and it was a pleasure to see.

The route took us through coastal forest of Spotted Gums, many trees gnarled and twisted by the winds that often blow on our coast, but which, on this day, were but gentle zephyrs.  A dark coloured swamp wallaby hopped away as we set off, following a track close to cliff-top, with sparkling ocean views.

During a refreshment break above Dark Beach we spotted our first whale of the day.

We moved on to Flat Rock headland, and found many fallen Casuarinas along the track, making our progress slow. It was worth the effort, as the view from the headland is one of the best, and more whales were seen out to sea.

We returned to our cars  by a slightly different route, well satisfied with our morning out.

Mike

Sunday 13 June 2021

Rob and Barry doing a bit of bush bashing

Barry doing the limbo

Rock Pool

Lovely rock pools caused by the geology of the area

Rob watching over his walkers

Rob checking out the waterfall

Barry enjoying the sunshine and water views

Rob, Barry, Tom and Donna having a well earned lunch break

Photos courtesy of Tom, Amanda and Rob

Five walkers set off to explore the creeks and rock outcrops seen on aerial photos in the Comerang Mountain area.  50mm of rain fell in this area a few days before the walk so the creeks and waterfalls had plenty of water and offered spectacular views.

This area was burnt in the fires of 2020 so gaining access to the creeks through the regrowth was a challenge.

The geology of this area is really interesting with fractured sedimentary rock forcing creeks to make sharp right angle turns and producing resulting cascades, waterfalls and deep pools. A number of the pools are over 2m deep and will make a great place to cool off when the weather is warmer.

Rob

Thursday 10 June 2021

A happy bunch of bushwalkers

That looks like a big rock

The Big Rock

Tom on the feature

Discussing the feature

Ros and Gay with yet another feature

Where’s Gay?

Coming out of the boggy bit, with a few leeches too

Photos courtesy of Gay, Amanda and Tom

Seven brave souls took the chance and joined Donna for a 14kms walk in the Bodalla State Forest.  Prior rain and a dismal forecast for the day didn’t ‘dampen’ enthusiasm so a punt was taken and we were rewarded with a good day for walking.

This walk is a new walk so it was a great opportunity to explore some areas of the forest not previously traversed by the club.  We started our walk from Big Rock Road and passed a number of quirky ‘sculptures’ constructed by locals from various materials found on the surrounding ground.  A teepee, crocodile and stickman riding a horse were just a few of the creations that we passed.

We made our way to a big granite rock, no guesses for where the name Big Rock Road came from! and then continued onto Stony Creek where we observed an old log in the creek, a remnant from an old bridge previously used by loggers many years ago.  Who said this walk had no features!!  After a nice morning tea stop, serenaded by a particularly chatty lyrebird, we continued along various bike tracks, ridges and of course the odd incline (aka hill) or two, or maybe three, hmmm well perhaps four.  We made our way down through a lovely fern covered gully and then through a marshy area which fortunately was easily crossed without any boots becoming wet, although a few hitchhiker leech’s were quickly discarded.

Lunch was abruptly cut short due to a short five minute downpour so we donned our rain gear and picked up the pace for the remaining few kilometres.  The weather gods were in our favour as we were able to make it back to the cars just in time to beat a heavy downpour.

Donna

Saturday 5 June 2021

Jill’s friends

A big group of walkers enjoying the gorgeous day

Karen, Leader Jill and Denise heading down to Pretty Beach

Taking advantage of low tide

Just a bit of seaweed to navigate

Some geological specimens

Ainslie and Mike

Ailza and Gay checking out O’Hara Islet from a distance

Morning Tea

Jim and Karen with new members Paula, Grant, Jill and Ian at morning tea

Bob, Elaine and Heather at morning tea

Leader, Jill and Rodney trying to spot the whales

A rare sighting – Tony and Donna together on the trails

Viewing platform at Snapper Point

Jill Whispering Whales

Rounding the headland back to Merry Beach

Heather in the wattle

Gillian and Rodney coming onto Merry Beach

Views back towards Pretty Beach

Photos courtesy of Lesley, Ainslie, Gay, Rodney, Mary and Bob

With her usual sunny disposition, Jill soon had the milling crowd moulded from a herd of cats into an organised group of 21 bushwalkers.   After leading us into the wilds from Merry Beach, she introduced us to her many macropod friends, who patiently waited for the intruders to pass by, before resuming their important basking and other social graces.

Around to Pretty Beach for the mandatory morning tea and toilet stop, we had beautiful clear views down the coast to Gulaga, over a lively sea, with a solid swell decorated by surfers.   As the heavy swell made it risky to venture out to O’Hara Islet, we turned east for Snapper Point, where Jill, “The Whale Whisperer” showed off her talents by encouraging a pod of lively Humpbacks to cavort in front of us.

The welcome descent to Merry Beach led us back to the cars for a sumptuous picnic lunch for some, and a dash back to attend to chores for others.   A very pleasant day out for all.

Bob

Wednesday 2 June 2021

Walk beginning on new Batemans Bay Bridge

Removed road section of old Batemans Bay Bridge

Part demolition of old Batemans Bay Bridge

Leader, Joan, with a few facts about the bridge

Photos courtesy of Joan and Lesley

A perfect sunny day gave 17 bushwalkers a feeling of anticipation at beginning this first walk by the club over the new Batemans Bay bridge.  Before starting the walk the leader gave a brief summary of a few facts about the bridge, namely the length being 307m,  the height allowance for boating of 12m and the budgeted cost of $274m.  In order to arrive at the bridge the walkers were led from the car park to the Surfside roundabout, up and on the footpath around to the caravan park, then followed the directions up to the start of the bridge walk while inquiring from bridge employees as to the reason for a very large hole being excavated – answer was that it will be sediment collection pit.

Once on the bridge all walkers changed into strollers while discovering various sights and work in progress to absorb and photograph.  This was also an excellent opportunity to view the demolition of the old bridge as well.  Once over the bridge the walk was led to the foreshore coffee precinct and then to the walk conclusion at seating on the end of the longest pier out over the water where the ferry to Nelligen was admired making its way under the new bridge.  The return to the Surfside car park was the ending to an enjoyable memorable historic walk by club members.

Joan