Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse / NSW’s Tallest Tree / Myall Lakes National Park

---

This morning we woke to yet another beautiful sunny day on the NSW coast. We have been so lucky with the weather, we really could not have asked for it to be any better.

After breakfast we set out north (-ish) to drive back along The Lakes Way so we could visit yet another lighthouse! Between Myall Lake and Smiths Lake we turned onto Seal Rocks Road to drive out to the ocean. Our first stop was at Number One Beach where we stretched our legs and took a couple of photos. We watched a couple of black oystercatchers looking for their breakfast off the rocks. One was scrabbling around at the base of a rock between waves – it didn’t seem to want to get its feet wet? – and eventually succeeded in digging out something that it took onto the top of the rock to eat.

A little further along the road we stopped at Boat Beach … which had a brightly painted boat on it. So, a bit chicken and egg, was the beach called Boat Beach and someone has now decorated it with a boat or was it named Boat Beach AFTER someone put a painted boat on it?? Just along from the boat we took a right turn thinking that we were heading for the lighthouse but, after a while it just felt like we were heading away from where we expected the lighthouse to be.

With the SatNav gone dark Bernie had to look up another Map App on his phone which confirmed, sure enough, we were on the road to Yagon NOT the road to the lighthouse! We turned around and spotted the sign for Lighthouse Beach so headed in to the car park. We walked out to the beach and that certainly gave us a long view of the lighthouse! Back in the car park we met a crazy tourist (Spanish possibly?) who was planning to surf on Lighthouse Beach. Hopefully when he saw the waves dumping in close to the shore he changed his mind?

Ha, found our way back to Seal Rocks Road and took a right turn onto Kinka Road which after a few Ks becomes Lighthouse Road. We should have just kept going straight ahead when we turned towards Yagon!! We had to park the car and finish on foot before we sighted Sugarloaf Point Lighthouse. This is yet another lighthouse by James Barnett. Completed in 1875, it was the first lighthouse that he designed and is one of only two lighthouses in Australia to feature an external stairway. We were relieved that it looked different from the two lighthouses that we saw yesterday. It would have been a bit boring to see three nearly identical lighthouses in two days! Once again from the headland we were able to see some whale activity off-shore.

On the drive out this morning we had already seen six kookaburras. As we drove back from the lighthouse we spotted another kookaburra sitting on the balcony railing of a house available to let. It looked like there was a large group of people on the balcony, but the kookaburra was just sitting there watching them! As we drove by Sugarloaf Bay we spotted Kookaburra No. 8 on the front fence of a cottage. I couldn’t resist stopping to try for a photo of this one. He seemed quite tame and let me approach quite close to take photos.

When we were driving this section of the NSW coast in 2019 we noted that we would be passing a section of bush that is home to NSW’s tallest tree. However, the day that we were passing it was blowing a gale and we didn’t think it wise to venture into the tall timbers. Today there was no such impediment so we took the turn-off onto Stoney Creek Road towards the Grandis Picnic Area. There is a small picnic area (only two tables) amongst the huge trees so we ate our picnic lunch listening to the birds calling from the canopy. We even fired up the JetBoil to heat up a cup of water for me to have a cup of tea with my white chocolate and macadamia cookie.

After eating we walked the short distance to the viewing platform to marvel at NSW’s tallest tree. Not only is it tall at 76.2 metres, it has a much larger girth (11.5 metres at ground level) than the other trees around it. According to the interpretative board this is because the younger flooded gums (eucalyptus grandis) only received enough light to start growing when the canopy was cleared as a result of logging in the 70s. While the tallest tree is 400 years old, its younger companions are only around 40-50 years old.

We drove back into Bulahdelah along Wootton Way before heading towards the ocean again, this time on Bombah Point Road. There was a sign at the start of the road saying that the ferry was open today so we were good to go on the circuit we had planned for the afternoon. We arrived in Bombah Point about 2.40pm and parked up to wait for the ferry. The ferry crossing is at the narrow channel of water between Two Mile Lake and The Broadwater. Soon after we arrived the ferry completed its crossing from the other side, but we had to sit and wait until 3.00pm because the ferry only makes its crossing every half hour!

On the other side we drove around the shore of White Tree Bay along the Mungo Brush Side Road until we came to the Hole in the Wall picnic area. We could see what looked like a viewing platform so we drove in to park the car and walked out to the viewpoint looking over Mungo Beach. We were very excited to encounter Kookaburra No. 20 sitting on the rail of the viewing platform. He wasn’t at all concerned about people intruding upon his spot and sat there posing for (lots of) photos! From Mungo Beach you can see Broughton Island which is one of only two islands off the coast of NSW on which you can camp.

When we reached Hawks Nest we turned onto Myall Street and crossed the Myall River on the Singing Bridge which brought us into Tea Gardens. Continuing west we reached the Pacific Highway and managed to misinterpret Syri’s instructions and turned onto the highway heading towards Newcastle. Oops! Unflustered, she directed us to travel 1.5km and make a U-turn. Phew, luckily we didn’t have to drive to Sydney before we could turn around!!

Back in Bulahdelah the BP was on the right side of the road to fill-up ready to continue south in the morning. Well, actually the BP was on the left (northbound) side of the road so it made sense to fill up this afternoon when were on that side of the road rather than in the morning when we will be heading south on the other side of the road.

Tonight we were going to try the Indonesian restaurant, Warung Peri, for dinner. We walked past last night and it didn’t seem very busy so we didn’t even think about making a booking for tonight. Oops, that was a mistake as they were booked out tonight AND they couldn’t even manage take-away. Oh well, Plan B, let’s go to the pub. Fortunately the Plough Inn was able to fit us in.



Steps: 8,745 (5.89kms)

---