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.