Thursday 5 April 2018
Photos by Carol, Helen, Mary and Brian
Fifteen walkers enjoyed a very pleasant 13 kms hike from Maloney’s Beach to Murramarang Resort (Durras Beach). Our walk leader, Mary, had the car shuffle well organized which is always a good way to start a long hike.
Entering the forest of Spotted Gums (Corymbia Maculata) Mary took us to the “canoe tree’ where indigenous people cut out a large section of sapwood to create a canoe. No one was able to tell us how long ago this was done. We then followed an old forest road for 1.5kms that felt more like a steeplechase as trees had been felled every 30m across the track to stop 4WD vehicles. This track used to follow an old property line so additional hazards of barb wire from a fence long gone were encountered. We even saw some old concrete mile posts attesting to the age of this road.
The track then took us into the National Park proper and up and over some very steep dirt barriers used by the local mountain bike clubs. We then headed down into a valley where we came to an old gnarled spotted gum said to be of similar age to ‘old blotchy’.
We had lunch in the forest overlooking Dark Beach and before venturing on had to remind our two surfers (Brian and Phillip) to get out of the water as they were on a hike. The water did look inviting and Brian said the water temperature was great so I can’t really blame them for the short delay.
The last section of the walk was along Mill Beach at the resort where we saw a mature sea eagle catch a fish and circle overhead. The three fishermen watching with us felt very upstaged as they had caught nothing but felt somewhat relieved there were fish in the local waters.
A great hike with lots of interesting features. Well done Mary !
Rob