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Day 27 - It was a wet and windy night so neither of us slept brilliantly and we were both awake early. We’d said that we’d get up at a reasonable time and go for a walk over Durras Mountain in the morning and then drive out somewhere else in the afternoon. Reminding ourselves of that, we got ready for the day ahead with a couple of hot drinks and a wash. Well actually I snuck a shower! It’s $1 for a hot shower but it lasts for ages and ages so I feel a bit guilty when I’ve run out of things to wash and the water was still going!
We headed across toward the camp office just to check which direction we should head in for the walk. Once we’d got our bearings we were off and it was only 8.50am. As you would expect, the ‘walk’ was pretty steep and was infact described as medium grade with very steep sections, a 4km walk taking 2 hours. The plan was to walk to the summit and return the same way which would have been 8km and 4 hours but we got carried away! The walk was good and
there were plenty of Eastern Grey kangaroos and Swamp wallabies around. We also saw 2 red-neck wallabies and a Laughing Kookaburra en-route. When we were pretty close to the top we met a lone lady walker who had come from Pebbly Beach, she was considering walking to Pretty Beach and asked if that was where we’d come from. We explained that it has taken us just over an hour to do the walk so far (we were at that point about 15 minutes from the summit) so she wandered onward as if to go to Pretty Beach and we continued towards the summit. The next time we saw her she came past us whilst we were sitting admiring the view just prior to the summit, she’d decided to continue with her original plan and walk around to Snake Bay. We remembered our chat with the ranger at the camp yesterday and how he said that we could walk along the beach from Snake Bay rather than having to return over the mountain walk. We considered our options and decided to walk to Snake Bay. The track leads steeply down from Durras Mountain and on the way we spot what we
think was an adult Wedge Tail Eagle, the walk was worth while already. This track also goes to Pebbly Beach and had a much steeper decent than the one we’d come up! It eventually winds down to Clear Point which has a kangaroo guard and then on to Snake Bay. As we near Snake Bay we meet the lone lady walker again who laughs in delight as we say ‘we’ve been sucked in by curiosity’! When we say we’re hoping to walk back along the beach she seems to pull a bit of a face but wishes us luck and we continue with the walk. By the time we get to Snake Bay we’re shattered and the realisation sunk in that there was little chance of us being able to complete the return of the walk along the beach! The lady had been right to pull the face there was no beach to walk along as the ocean was crashing against the rocks! We sat and enjoyed the view, at the tracker bar and fruit we’d brought with us and contemplated our next move! We had a wander over some of the rocks, talked about hiking back through the bush
and then sensible decided to just go back the way we’d come. As if to lift our spirits, a Sooty Oystercatcher came to play on the rocks to the side of us. He put on an excellent show and even fell in the water at one point! He was joined by an as yet un-identified bird who didn’t hang around as a shadow was cast overhead. And there it was, a magnificent White Breasted Sea Eagle. We were pretty chuffed with that. Don’t get us wrong, we know they’re pretty common but they’re still fabulous to see in the wild.
Back to reality, we couldn’t put it off any longer we needed to make the trek home and make no mistake about it, it was hard work! All in all we walked 17.8km and did it in 6hrs 45 mins. Now that might sound lengthy but you have to remember that 8km of that was a steep climb up and 8 km a steep climb down! We were pretty pleased with ourselves and so to celebrate we flopped into our chairs outside the caravan and had a hot drink! There were lots of birds around that we can’t identify.
Probably some sort of seagull but they were pretty! The sun goes down pretty early here so we had a quick walk across to the rock pools on Pretty Beach, passing the Mum kangaroo and her growing joey. We couldn’t get to the majority of pools as the tide must have been coming in so they’d been swallowed up, we’ll try once last time in the morning before we leave. On the way back we were passed by 3 fisherman who set up camp on the rocks, they’re braver than us!
We’d had a long walk so thought we’d be wise to have an early dinner using the camp BBQ. Tonight’s feast was missing some salad so we had a quick drive out to the local shops in Kioloa, my first drive in PIE! What a great car, really easy and very comfy! Across at the BBQ we cooked up sausages, steak, sliced potatoes, pumpkin and salad - gorgeous. A wallaby was nearby eating an apple core and we were joined after dinner by the possum. It was lighter tonight so we could see the possum clearly and he’s missing a front left leg. Bless him, well, bless him
until he grabbed on to my toes under the table!
And that was today! What a fab day, we’re done in now though and unbeknown to us the people who turned up yesterday evening and camped just down from us walked to Pebbly Beach and back today … and we didn’t see them at all!
Tomorrow is the long drive to just beyond Sydney - via the Harbour Bridge we hope!
Night night
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Jan Kettle
non-member comment
Pretty but am I just a gull?
No - definitely not a gull!! We saw a lot of these on our travels in Aus but I'm struggling to positively identify it. I thought it was a stone curlew but now I'm not so sure....... Love Mum K