UP THE CREEK

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UP THE CREEK

We are about 20 minutes from Yuraygir National Park, a beautiful area which protects an expanse of coastland from Corindi to the far north of NSW. There are strong Aboriginal links to the park and the name of the park is a phonetic interpretation of the local Yaygir people. The park consists of vast coastal plains, sand dunes, scenic headlands, pristine beaches, rivers, estuaries and lagoons. There are 6 visitor areas and we were told Station Creek is well worth a visit, so we decided to go there for a picnic when John’s niece and her boy friend stayed with us on their second visit to Woolgoolga. It was a beautiful winter’s day (by Oz standards), sunny and about 19 degrees with a coolish breeze. Sorry, I know its been crap in England lately, vast areas of land here are in severe drought, we haven’t had any rain for 5 weeks on the Coffs Coast

We arrived at Station Creek after about 18 kilometers of single track gravel road through dense bush and zillions of gum trees. Our first greeting was from a large Lace Monitor lizard (lace goanna), apparently they target campers for food, no luck with us though, their diet typically consists of insects, reptiles, small mammals, birds and birds' eggs. Varanus varius (Lace Monitors) are the second-largest monitor in Australia and can grow to over 2 metres. The tail is long and slender and about 1.5 times the length of the head and body.

The facilities at Station Creek are very basic leaving the area natural and unspoilt, there are log-cabin style toilets, but there is no fresh water supply, so campers and visitors need to be well prepared, especially in the summer. The park warden (yes they do wear green ranger style clothing) was very helpful and we decided to follow the advice of a colleague at UNI, to walk down the creek, yes, actually in it, and then come back to Station Creek via the dune track as the tide would be coming in then. We saw thousands of scuttling crabs as we made our way over to Pebbly Beach and had our lunch, all in all we saw about 5 people. It’s a truly great place be at and we’ll explore more of it when our next lot of visitors stays with us!

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Comments

[Glenn]

Finally a comment from Glenn
Hey Guys, Fantastic that you are still exploring, and of couuse great to see you together with Em & Ant. Keep up the good work. Hope you get into your house soon. Lots of love, Glenn xx

[Janie]

Told you so
Hey Stephanie, Its beautiful isn't it!! I am so glad that you have seen it now and being so close to your place you will get to know it real well. I hope your blog isn't too well read - we don't want to share Station with too many people. Maybe we'll see yo next time we are camping there. J