NSW Coast Walk : Genoa to Hegarty's Bay

KM this section : 118
KM completed : 118

Kangaroos!

My first day of walking in Oz is an easy one, just twenty-three kilometres of road to Mallacoota.  I feel it afterwards though, seems I am a little out of shape, I guess this little stroll by the sea should do me good.  There are nice, grassy surroundings, cows graze, it is quite reminiscent of England.  Of course there are mosquitoes, but rather more excitingly, kangaroos - a whole mob of them hanging out by the campsite that is my destination today. Also plenty of birds here, many of them making some odd noises.  Mallacoota is located on the shore of a large lake, separated from the sea by a long sand bank, I need to get onto that tomorrow, hopefully this can be done without swimming.  The evening sees me drinking more pricey beer, but I decide my budget doesn't stretch to eating out, pasta at the camp kitchen it is.

Mallacoota sandbank.

I walk around the lake, spotting a large jellyfish at the water's edge - a local assures me it is not poisonous.  Well, for now I need not worry about dangerous marine life, it seems that currently the lake is cut off from the sea and I can simply walk down to the sand, and then indeed for a long way along the beach, it is all rather splendid, and not unlike the beginning of my walk in New Zealand a few years ago of course.  I pass a couple of islands, stop for a paddle, then it's time for some tough walking on dunes of soft sand.  Then an actual path, it is little used and quite overgrown, but interesting as many of the plants are bristle cones - they are indeed bristly, with numerous open seed pods like strange mouths between the bristles.  I camp by a lake, a lovely spot for a little swim, many black swans paddle about as I collect some water - it's a bit salty, but I am sure it won't kill me.  Time to build a fire and cook up some noodles!

Cooking up dinner by Nadgee Lake.

Next morning the path is still very overgrown, this makes for slow going, then things get even harder as I need to do a bit of bushwhacking, this is hard work, I am glad to emerge on to the Wilderness Coast Walking Track.  It also seems little used, I see no hikers, but the path improves over the course of the day.  Aussie woods seem more like England than NZ, the occasional termite mound notwithstanding.  I ascend some big hills, then down to Wonboyn where there is a garage that sells me chocolate, a campsite and little else - I think I need to get a bit further, and end up wild camping in the bush.

A little more beach walking, then a short bushwhack, and then I encounter my first water hazard of the trip, Wonboyn Lake inlet.  In the event the swim is easy enough, and my waterproofing holds, this is good.  I worry that I now have half a mile or so of trackless bush to get through, but in fact there is a clear path, and then a road to Green Cape Lighthouse, this marks one end of the Light to Light Walk, a proper signed path, with actual other hikers!  It is fully thirty kilometres long, signs gravely warn me that if attempting to hike the whole trail, I should let someone know what I am doing - I don't think they really do long distance walking in this country.  It is a fine walk anyway, through trees and scrub, then bare rock, all within earshot of the sea, and I find a nice grassy campsite, complete with an actual fire pit.

At Green Cape Lighthouse.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.