Light to Light hike and camp
A Diamond Adventure on the Sapphire Coast
by Jo B
Driving down the picturesque south coast towards our weekend destination, memories of summer holidays come flooding back. As with many places we hike now, many were holiday destinations either as children or with our children. But travelling for a hiking adventure changes the way we appreciate and view the countryside.
Arriving at Saltwater Creek Camp, in the Beowa (meaning Orca) National Park formerly known as Ben Boyd National Park, we are now on Yuin Nation land of the Thaua people. We are welcomed by several kangaroos & wallabies, aka our landlords for the weekend. Peaceful, just set back from the beach, we had the luxury of drop toilets although signs warn to keep the doors shut as the kangaroos are known to eat the toilet paper.
As everyone rolled into camp and strategically picked their camping spot, our little tent city came to life. As always, the much-anticipated dinner didn’t disappoint. With Michele at the helm, burgers and apple cinnamon cake fuelled us ready for the next day. After Coach Clare provided Welcome to Country, a brief history of the area & overview of the next day’s walk, talk around the campfire turned to which road you came in - did you take the first left turn or second, what left turn said others we only turned right. We all remained confused about the road system until we left on the last day and it finally all made sense.
Day 1 Greencape light house to camp: ~18 km
Waking early, fuelled by coffee & breakfast, we had packed our lunches & were on the road for the drive to the start. Driving at the start at Greencape Lighthouse we now realised the maze of roads that travel throughout the park.
Greencape Lighthouse, built in 1883 is Australia’s first concrete lighthouse, standing at 29m tall. We spent a short time exploring the area, marvelling at the structure & finding the telegraph station, before eagerly hitting the trail with Clare and Liza as our trusty guides, hoping that the storm we could see out to sea would stay there.
Heading down onto the rock platform we marvelled at the rock formations and colours that varied between rich red & jet black, as we headed to our first stop at Pulpit Rock.
From here we followed the coast line, from open tracks above the cliffs to the more sheltered areas, sometimes under a sparse canopy, all the while on the lookout for the lookout for the elusive and rare Eastern Ground Parrot, to no avail. Also thrown in was a bonus crossing of a very pebbly beach to test our balance along with a small snake sighting by Nola, after several people had stepped over it.
Bittaangabee Creek camp ground brought a welcomed lunch/ snack break, your choice aling with a cuppa for those who remembered to pack their tea bags. Leaving the campground, we skirted around the edge of the sheltered inlet, mesmerised by the crystal clear, still water. As we moved along the north side of the bay, we were treated to the beautiful song of the bellbirds, bringing us all to silence as we walked & embraced the treat nature provided.
Liza was given the task of leading us to the next break. Setting a cracking pace of 13 minute km’s, she lead us across the open trail to another welcomed break at Hegarty’s campground. Being very conscious that the cars had to be retrieved from Greencape Lighthouse before dark, Clare allocated preciously 7.5 minutes for a snack break, which we may have pushed out to around 12 minutes.
As happens towards the end of a day, the talk was intermittent as we contemplated the end of the trail. Clare, at the lead, suddenly stopped & pointed. To our right were around 5 Yellowtailed black cockatoos in the tree line. Further inspection revealed a few more in the low scrub. As we moved quietly by, the crackle took flight, and to our delight, around 25 flew ahead to the tress and landed to watch us walk through.
The final hill led us down to a lagoon near the campground. The looks around the group as we anticipated a wade across it, were replaced with relief when a very narrow track around the end to the beach was revealed. One last straight of sand and we were welcomed back to camp by wallaby bob, quietly grazing on some roots on the beach.
Around the campfire enjoying another scrumptious dinner of Moroccan chicken with couscous salad (bringing back memories for those on the 2023 Warrumbungles trip) and sticky date pudding. Michele entertained as she recalled how “Big Boy” Kangaroo took off with the roll of paper towel from the table and her perusing him to salvage whatever she could. We also discussed our highlight of the day. Whilst varied across the group, high on the list were the black cockatoo encounter & bell bird song wander.
Some opted for an early night, while others took a wander to the beach to sit and admire the clear night sky with a billion stars on show.
Day 2 Ben Boyd Tower to Camp: ~14 km
Ben Boyd Tower was built in 1847 from Pyrmont Sandstone by Ben Boyd. Originally planned to be a private light house & show of his power. However, when the government refused to approve it as an official lighthouse for navigational purposes, Boyd left the country and the Davidson family used it as a strategic whale spotting platform. As with a lot of our coast line, the history runs deep.
We headed off from Boyd Tower south, again following the coast line which today was more under canopy and less windswept than yesterday but still above the spectacular cliffs of varying shapes and colours. We headed down to red sands beach, which definitely lived up to its name. Continuing along the track through tall eucalypts and more beautiful bellbird song brought us to our first break of the day at Leather Jacket Bay. Here we were in awe of a beach of boulders of varying sizes.
A lot of improvements have been made the track since the bushfire damage in 2019/2020, with many sandstone steps and blocks nestled into the landscape to provide a break on the legs & knees.
Unlike yesterday, we were offered a leisurely stop of 40 minutes at Mowarry campground. Here we spread out and relaxed on the tent platforms whilst we watched a variety of birds flit around and kangaroos laze in the sun, oblivious to our presence.
Moving across the beach for a quick sand session, we headed back up to follow the winding track through the heath, hopping over, under and around downed trees, sometimes giving a Blair witch vibe.
Our last push towards camp took us along the red rocks, taking in views of Red Cliffs, made from red siltstone, the remains of volcanic eruptions long ago, then a quick flat track before descending a short way to the top of the beach.
Here we regrouped for our lot of photos before heading across the sand back to camp and a very welcomed hot cuppa and afternoon tea. With time to enjoy the rest of the afternoon, some headed back to the beach for a refreshing dip to ease the tired muscles.
Our final night around the campfire saw bottles of red being shared and a Mexican feast made into a wraps or bowls - choose your own adventure. As Michele prepared dessert of dough boy dumplings, the relaxing around the fire came to a quick end as the heavens opened. We all quickly packed our chairs and scrambled for cover under the two gazebos, all the while Michele soldiered on making dessert. We watched as our fire, expertly built by Robyn, continued to burn despite the downpour. We all survived without getting too wet, managed to enjoy our dessert before heading to bed.
Sunday morning brought a gourmet breakfast of bacon and egg rolls before the sad task of packing our very soggy tents up began. Camp was packed and we were all on our way to wherever our next stop was by 9am. Another Diamond weekend full of adventure, laughs, fantastic memories and scrumptious food had sadly come to an end. Thank you to Clare and Liza for your expert guiding and time management on the trail. A huge thank you to Michele for the logistic side of the trip, providing your wonderful cooking skills and keeping us entertained with your stories. To the next Light to Light crew, we enjoyed being the test dummies for you and are sure you will have an awesome adventure in September.