Conondale Range Great Walk July 2020

 

The Conondale Range Great Walk in southern Queensland is a roughly 60 km loop through the Conondale Range behind the Sunshine Coast, west of Maleny and Kenilworth, and is designed to take four days. I felt the daily distances looked rather short but I decided to give it a try as prescribed rather than rushing through. I booked to camp my first night close to the start line which gave me a leisurely 1.1 kms walk from my car; I couldn’t drive to the campsite because of a flooded creek crossing.

So I enjoyed a campsite on Booloumba Creek with a flush toilet and water taps. There were bush turkeys strutting around and occasionally running, which is a funny sight. I’m back to the land of darkness by 5pm. I slept extremely well, possibly because I no longer had the uncertainty of whether or not I would be able to get across the border into Queensland.

22 July 13.3 kms. I was woken by the turkeys making their strange ga-llum blab noises as they took a good old stroll through the campground. While I was packing up one of them grabbed my bag of jumbo croissants and made off with it, but I gave chase and got them back.

I had breakfast by the creek nearby and started the hike. The weather was really overcast. I was straight into rainforest, huge buttressed figs and hanging vines plus tall slender palms and yellow beech. The path was easy to follow. The first highlight was Artists Falls, three skinny cascades over a rock into a black pool.

The trail became steeper after this and I came to Booloumba Falls. This was an amazing area of waterfalls in all directions running over granite, interspersed with flowing creeks and pools, and interesting rock formations. I sat here for a long while and made a cup of coffee.

Two more kms and I was at my day's destination, Wongai campsite, very early. It was a tranquil spot in the forest. I chilled all afternoon listening to podcasts and had a chat with a walker who suddenly appeared, but otherwise I was alone. I was surprised how cold it was, this being Queensland.

23 July 17 kms. It started raining soon after I went to bed and rained on and off all night. I packed quickly in the rain in the morning and thought I would walk for a bit until the rain stopped before having breakfast. It showed no sign of stopping so after 4 kms I sat on a log by the path and had coffee and a breakfast bar. It was only light rain and sounded worse than it was because of the trees dripping noisily. It seemed totally appropriate for it to be wet in the rainforest.

Very soon after my break the rain stopped and I couldn’t be sure if it started again since everything sounded wet and I was constantly being dripped on. When the rain had stopped the birds started chirping. The trail varied between narrow footpath and fire trails and undulated the whole time, with a long climb over Mt Gerald. I crossed many dry creeks filled with logs and debris. All the forest was a dazzling bright green.

The last section to Tallowwood campsite was on a lovely narrow trail above a gully filled with palms. There was such dense foliage, tall eucalypts and ferns, that it felt like it was getting dark at midday.

Again I got to camp really early; I decided to stop just in case the weather might improve the next day. The campsite was very wet (and unattended) but there was a little hut with a seat inside, a door that could be propped open and no obnoxious smell where I could escape the dripping trees.

Interesting to compare how each state's national park operators decide what infrastructure to build to provide a roof with guttering to collect rainwater to fill the water tanks for hikers. In South Australia on the Heysen Trail they have the smallest possible roof with a short gutter so the resulting shelter is so tiny it is of no practical use; in NSW on the Great North Walk the shelters are equally tiny and used to store firewood; in Victoria on the Great South West Walk the shelters are bigger and have a picnic table; in Western Australia on the Bibbulmun the shelter is even bigger and has a sleeping platform; in Tasmania there’s a whole hut with bunks; in Queensland there’s guttering above the spacious dunny and no other shelter. Which is just fine if you are alone on a wet day. 

24 July 30.5 kms. It rained most of the night and things didn’t look hopeful in the morning. I walked to Peter's Falls, a thin trickle which was hard to see from the trail, and continued in the forest, bright green as usual, going through another valley of palms. The path undulated constantly, crossing many creeks, some with water and some dry. Then the rain stopped and everything went quiet (apart from the birds) and soon it seemed like there was a patch of blue sky and the sun might be coming out.

After a while I could see pools of water far below and with a big descent I came to Summer Falls and the campsite where I had intended to stay, but it was only 11am so I wasn’t stopping yet. Summer Falls was only a light trickle, it being winter I guess, but in a spectacular setting. The falls cascaded over a granite cliff and directly across the valley was an enormous granite sheer rock face; in between were pools and slabs of rock. There was probably a way to hike down to the bottom but I thought it might be slippery.

I sat here to have an early lunch and to dry out my tent fly. But soon the sun went in and it looked like the rain was coming back. So I packed up and got going.

I walked in wet schlerophyll forest to the top of Mt Allen, and through gaps in the trees I got glimpses of high forested mountains all around. The fire tower on top of the mountain was apparently closed due to structural damage but the chain blocking access to the stairs was broken so I went up anyway, to be able to see the surrounding mountains more clearly. As I came down the mountain I inadvertently turned back the way I had come but fortunately I soon came to a junction that looked far too familiar and I was able to get back on track.

From here I had a long descent to finish the hike. I had not appreciated how much I must have climbed on the first day. I had done 2300 metres of ascent in total. I zigzagged down to the picnic area where I had breakfast on the first day, then went past where I had camped and said hello to a turkey there, and returned to my car. On the entire hike, three days, I had seen only one person.

Yuraygir Coastal Trail July 2020

 

The 65 km coastal walk in Yuraygir National Park, NSW, had been on my radar for a while but now I had the chance to do it I found it offered lots of logistical challenges: it’s a point to point walk with no public transport access; the most northern 13 km section is closed because of bush fire damage; there are river crossings at Sandon, Wooli and Red Rock which require a boat to be summoned and there is no longer a boat service at Red Rock (or Wooli as I found out later); and just this week they are spraying against bitou bush so large chunks of the path are theoretically closed. And then I had to contend with my own specific covid restrictions against Victorians camping in NSW parks.

I decided to attempt as much as I could, doing day walks by driving to points along the trail, although I’d need to walk back to my car each time, and making sure the rivers were at the beginning or end of the day's walk. A lot of the trail is on beaches and I couldn’t see there would be a problem with those stretches, and for a bit of variety I hoped I could switch between the beaches and the bush.

13 July 17.5 kms. For my first stage I drove to Minnie Water, half way along the full trail, and walked south to Wilson’s Headland. I didn’t know at the time that a boy had been taken by a shark there the previous day. It was a beautiful day. Minnie Water has a cute front beach which is separated from the back beach by a rocky headland. I was able to get around the headland as the tide was low and then continued the length of the back beach, a couple of kms of golden sand backed by bush.

Beyond were a few smaller beaches and then a series of rocky chasms which were increasingly tricky to cross because of their steepness and the incoming tide. I repeatedly got wet feet. Eventually I had to give up and join a path at the top of the cliff. The views were good up there, of long bays and low mountains and a few tiny islands.

Wilson’s Headland had a viewpoint looking over the long sweep of beach towards Wooli, another day's walk. I returned on an inland route passing a reedy plain and walking through dense banksia bush. There was unavoidable mud right at the very end so I finished with wet and dirty shoes, a shame since they had dried out nicely from the sea water. 

14 July 14.5 kms. The next day I did a northern section; I drove to Brooms Head to walk north to Lake Arragan and further if the path wasn’t closed. Brooms Head is another of the pretty surfing resorts with no commercial activity that are characteristic of this part of far northern NSW.

I set out in sunshine to walk along the beach. In the distance I could see prominent red cliffs. I had the beach virtually to myself apart from the odd fisherman. After a while I looked back towards Brooms Head and the sky was very dark indeed. Soon it started raining lightly; the wind was already strong. I was able to get around the red cliffs and then the adjoining grey cliffs to reach more sandy beach. The beach passed Lake Arragan (I could see a campsite on the hillside above the lake) and continued in a long sweep to a distinctive headland. Not far beyond this headland I decided to turn back; I wanted to come back on the inland path and I wasn’t sure if it might be closed this far north. Also I was getting cold.

I had quite a bush bash through burnt stuff and dying bitou bush up to the inland path and then I followed it through partly burnt banksia to the lake, then over the cliffs. There were kangaroos grazing near the campsite. In the end it was nicer to walk along the beach, especially when the sky lightened and the sun returned.

In the evening I went to look at Angourie Beach beyond Lake Arragan where the walk officially starts. It’s a wonderful spot with two surf beaches meeting beneath a grassy point with a handful of trees. There were masses of surfers on both sides of the point.

15 July 16 kms. I drove to Brooms Head again, this time to walk south to the Sandon River mouth, one of the places where a boat ride is needed to continue the hike. This was a walk entirely on the beach. It was a perfect sunny day although still cool when I started out and I wore my jacket for half an hour. The surf was very big, as the weather forecast had predicted. A couple of locals standing by the lookout at my start said I should watch out for the incoming waves, saying that sometimes there is no beach, but I was lucky as I was close to low tide.

This was a beautiful 7.5 kms arc of sand and I could see Brooms Head headland one way and Sandon Headland the other way the entire time, the more distant point made hazy by spray off the ocean. The beach was backed by almost non existent dunes and then low bush. There was a lot of flotsam on the sand, mainly small logs. I was passed by a jogger and some kids on bikes. Just off the end of the beach south of Sandon River was a rocky island reachable by causeway. The main settlement of Sandon is across the river.

The river was not wide and anyway I did not need to cross. I sat down at a picnic table in the adjacent campground to eat my nut bar and within two minutes a man came over to ask if I needed help to cross the river.

On my return walk the temperature had risen considerably. Fairly soon I drew level with a group of 11 walkers doing the whole coast trail southwards, except that they said they had to end at Wooli because it is not currently possible to cross the Wooli Wooli River. Nobody could claim that this coast walk, when viewed as a thru hike, is well conceived.

Despite enjoying the roar of the surf and the softness of the sand I turned off the beach before the Brooms Head headland and took an inland grassy path for the last 1.5 kms into the residential part. I was surprised and disappointed that the only shop was closed.

16 July 20.4 kms. I drove a little way past Minnie Water to Illaroo campground, parked and walked the full length of Sandon Beach, over 9 kms. Again I could see my destination, the headland at Sandon, as soon as I set out. This was yet another beautiful sweep of sand, backed by low dunes and low cliffs packed with dense banksias. Further along were some alcove like caves beneath the banksias. The tide was still coming in and the waves were a bit unpredictable so I made more than a few rapid forays up the sand. Some 4WDers would periodically rouse me from my thoughts.

When I reached the end of this beach I went inland on a rough road, intending to return on the Sandon Back Track, but at the junction with the start of this track there was a sign saying it was closed for bitou bush spraying. I opted to walk it regardless but I became concerned because there were very fresh vehicle tracks on the sandy trail and I didn’t want to be meeting a park ranger and be fined; my initial plan was to run the trail to get this done quickly but it was too sandy and also too warm by then. I jogged and walked for 4 kms until I couldn’t take the stress any more and I bashed my way through the banksias, casuarinas and prickly things to the cliff top and slid down the sandy cliff to the beach with relief. The beach walking was nicer anyway. As I plodded along the beach I saw a park ranger chilling in the dunes next to his vehicle.

I’ve now done the total distance of the Yuraygir Coastal Trail if not all the of the actual trail, so in the spirit of the times I can say I have walked it virtually!

17 July 13.2 kms. I went to Wooli to resume where I left off on my first day, to do the part between Wilson’s Headland and Wooli. The map showed a return walk could be done in a very obvious loop using the beach and fire trails, and for once I decided to do the inland part first. Big mistake, as I realised when I got to the beach.

I parked at the Wooli general store and walked fire trails southwards through woodland and across marshy plains (quite muddy) until I suddenly came to a dead end in the forest. I thought the trail must be overgrown and I pushed in the general direction. Very soon I saw I was well off the trail as shown on my watch GPS so I bush bashed until I found the trail again a bit further along; it was a wide and obvious trail so I don’t understand what happened there.

When I reached the beach I took the steps down onto the sand and started walking into a fierce southerly headwind. It was relentless and deafening, and the swell was bigger than before. There was little hard sand and I sometimes walked on the dunes; the roots of the grasses made it easy to trip but the sand was firmer. I walked about 4.5 kms before turning off for Wooli town and my car.

The official route requires a 3 kms boat ride from town to the Wooli Wooli River mouth for the crossing and I’d say this river does not look like one to be messed with.

18 July 22.3 kms. Last day. I needed to do the far southern section of the trail and this was always going to be the most challenging logistically because the bit of coast between the Wooli Wooli River mouth and the Corindi River mouth at Red Rock is not possible to reach other than by boat (neither boat taxis currently operating) or 4WD. I thought I would see how close I could get to the coast in my car.

The dirt access road turned out not to be too bad except that about 8 kms from the coast there was a diversion and the alternative route was a nasty sandy trail I could not drive. So I parked by the diversion barrier and decided to run to the beach, run along it and then run back to my car. Within 300 metres of starting out on foot I could see the reason for the diversion: a metre of the road had been completely washed away; at least I was able to get around the big hole on foot. I ran on the dirt road through casuarina forest and then across sandy dunes to the beach.

I ran down the beach straight into the wind for a couple of kms to the Corindi River, with a good view of the red rock at Red Rock on the far side and little islands, the Solitary Islands. Then I turned back and ran along the sand with a lovely tailwind the full length of Station Creek Beach, which ends at a lagoon. I had the option of wading across but it looked deep so instead I ran up the side of the lagoon to a campsite and soon rejoined my outward route.

And that’s it. There are two stretches of the full trail that I haven’t done: one is closed and the other is inaccessible so I reckon I have been successful.

Myall Lakes NSW hike July 2020

 

My 100 km hike through Myall Lakes National Park was along a route I devised, linking various trails and staying at car camping sites as the hiker-only sites were all closed due to covid. The Myall River north of Newcastle opens into a series of lakes parallel with the coast, leaving a strip of land with lakes to one side and ocean beach to the other. I stuck to this tiny sliver of land so I could experience both the river/lakes and the ocean beach. I intended to do an out and back hike with variations, within the limits of the rather few long trails in the park.

7 July 5.7 kms. I had zipped up to NSW in a big hurry before the NSW border closed and got to Myall Lakes so quickly that I was able to start the hike a day early, although only at 4pm, and I had forgotten that it is dark here at 5pm. It was a sandy trail, mainly heath vegetation and banksias. It was just getting dark as I reached the campsite, a bit away from the trail, which was crowded with car campers, everyone packed in close together. There was no water there, only a tank with a broken tap. The campsite was behind vast high sand dunes, too dark to walk on that evening, and I could hear the ocean but not see it.

It rained all night; I could hear splashing on the bare ground around me and in the morning my tent was dirty. This was definitely the low point of the hike.

8 July 23.8 kms. My neighbour campers kindly gave me some water and I returned to the trail. After a while I lost it and walked by the road. The point at which I turned back to the trail and went properly into the bush is when I decided that this was going to be a good hike after all.

The bush was a mix of dry schlerophyll and bright green cabbage tree palms. Soon I came to the Myall River and a little campsite where two kayakers were just packing up. A lovely place for my morning coffee. I continued through the mixed vegetation and not long after I skidded and found myself lying on my left side on the ground. It was hard to get up with the weight of my pack and I had hurt my shoulder. I came to wetlands, lots of paperbarks, with long stretches of boardwalk which were too slippery for my liking.

I emerged at Mungo Brush by the main lake and one of the most popular parts of the park. Then I had some road walking but the road was right beside the lake. I stopped at a little sandy beach for lunch.

Soon after I turned down a fire trail which I would mainly be following for the next 40 kms. But right now I only did a short bit before turning off for Johnson’s Beach. On the way I climbed to a wonderful lookout in a clearing with views over the lakes and towards densely forested hills. Johnson’s Beach was a great campsite and I had a small section at the lake edge all to myself. In hindsight I’m not sure this was part of the camping area. It was cloudy and this made for an interesting sunset. There was a water tank and a sign saying the water was strictly for hand washing or penalties apply but I had no qualms about taking some, especially as it had been raining, and my punishment was the glacial pace at which the water trickled from the tap. It rained again at night but without the splashing.

9 July 24.8 kms. In the morning I returned to the trail and plodded along past paperbarks and then scrub, with high banksias and grass trees and tiny purple and white wildflowers. I was pleased to cross paths with two hikers and we chatted. They said they had brought 14 litres of water (but I’m not 100 percent sure they didn’t say 40 litres - they had big packs). Water is clearly an issue here for hikers. I stole water from every tank I saw. The water in the lakes is brackish and undrinkable; I tried it.

After ten kms the fire trail made a turn and I was in schlerophyll forest again. For my coffee break I pulled a narrow log out of the forest so I could sit beside the trail. It was very peaceful. At the end of the trail I had to walk three kms by a busy road (and I noticed too late a sandy trail just inside the forest for about half the distance).

I came to Neranie Head campsite, part of which was on the lakeshore. The campsite was in two sections and a constant stream of cars and caravans came to look at the section by the lake then retreated to the forest section. Nice for me! I sat by the lake for a long time, watched a kookaburra and tiny birds, and the mozzies were bad.

10 July 30.2 kms. I retraced my route from yesterday, managing to use the sand trail beside the road, which was horrifically steep. Then I got onto the 20 kms of fire trail. A highlight was a long chat with a mountain biker who was riding from Sydney to the Queensland border. I also noticed much more variety in the vegetation than before. Both days there were what sounded like fighter planes doing exercises overhead. And some noisy black cockatoos.

After this I walked along the lake edge again and sat by the lake at a different campsite for lunch. I watched some windsurfers on the lake having a better time of it than I had when I did this here many decades ago!

Then I detoured over to the ocean beach to see if walking along it tomorrow would work. It certainly would: this was an endless stretch of sand, long, low, lightly vegetated dunes and a view of Broughton Island. However, the sky looked very black ahead so I left the beach for Mungo Brush campsite, where I took a lakefront site and was pleased it was less busy than it had been when I was here yesterday. There were a couple of bush turkeys strutting around and heaps of mozzies, but the bad weather didn’t come my way.

11 July 15.9 kms. It started to rain just as I got up. I walked back to the beach through a wonderful grove of banksias and headed south down the beach. The sand was quite sculpted so it was hard work going up and down and often the sand was soft. There was nothing but sand and surf and the big island. Then within half an hour I saw my first dolphins. It was raining lightly and this was pleasant. Later I saw more dolphins.

I came to Dark Point headland and crossed it via the dunes. On the far side the beach was flatter and fast walking but I shared it with 4WDers. At one point, presumably at the back of my first night's camp, the dunes were enormous. I walked atop the lower dunes for a while for a change until I came to my turn off back up to the road. The trailhead where I had parked was just across the road.