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Stage 15 - Ulladulla to Bawley Point

This was one of our longest stages of the walk; a family reunion that took over the entire camp ground at Lake Tabourie obliged us to walk to Bawley Point, 9 km further and 24 km in total.
Starting off in sunshine and sporting new straw hats, we left Ulladulla for the last time and headed south. We dropped off the headland on to Rennie's Beach, quickly crossing a rocky shelf to Racecourse Beach, with its calf-burningly soft sand. The quality of sand is something you become aware of quickly on a coast walk; there have been subtle differences in colour - white sand, ivory sand, tan sand, golden sand and even black sand, texture – shelly sand, coarse sand, fine sand and powdery sand, compaction – firm sand, soft sand, loose sand, and even sound – silent sand, squishy sand and squeaky sand. If Eskimos have 20 words for snow, there must be a similar number in some languages for sand.

Sooty oyster-catchers

Calf-burning soft sands of Racecourse Beach

Burrill Beach

Shoreline of Burrill Lake

As we crossed a rocky point on to Burrill Beach, we were relieved that the sand had become firmer. Passing the entrance of Burrill Lake, we climbed over Lagoon Head and descended on to a flat rock platform. A few hundred metres along we encountered a fairly gruesome spectacle, the decomposing carcass of a whale that had washed up onto the rocks. Carefully keeping upwind, we passed by and rounded the point to be greeted by a magic world of jumbled sandstone boulders on the southern side of the head.

Lagoon Head rock platform

This giant T-bone is actually the remains of a
long-dead whale

Rock Jumble on Lagoon Head

Change in weather approaching over Wairo Beach

Wairo Beach from the rock jumble

We picked our way carefully through the massive obstacle course to reach the northern edge of 4 km long Wairo Beach. We strolled down this wide deserted beach, deep sand dunes to our right, a luminous green Pacific Ocean to our left and the silhouette of Mount Durras growing ever larger ahead of us. By the time that we had reached Lake Tabourie, the South Coast was having one of its mood swings; dark clouds gathered over Mount Durras, and after several efforts to reappear the sun finally left us for the day.

Rainclouds gather over Mount Durras

As we climbed up Termeil Point and crossed over to the next beach, a pair of sea-eagles soared in languid circles above us. Hardly a day of walking has gone by without seeing one of these magnificent creatures.

Sandstone layering at Termeil Point

Meroo Lake

Walking down Termeil Beach, we caught up with a fellow coast walker, Geoff from Sydney, who was walking from Ulladulla to Bateman's Bay to be followed by a trip up the Clyde River in the inflatable canoe that he carried. For him it was a brief escape from the world, a time to meditate and appreciate the coastal landscape.

We walked together for a while over Meroo Head, where spotted gums made their appearance in the coastal vegetation for the first time, past Meroo Lake and on to Meroo Beach. It may or may not surprise you that this is all part of Meroo National Park.

Meroo Beach

Geoff found a good spot to camp, so we bade each other farewell and the two of us continued over the rocky shelf of Nuggan Point, through swampy forest to Willinga Lake, and finally on to Bawley Point.

Nuggan Head

Willinga Lake

Swampy forest near Lake Willinga

Gardens of the Bawley B & B

This stage was not only one of the longest, but one of the more diverse, passing along beaches and rock platforms, over headlands, past estuarine lakes and through different types of forest. We rewarded ourselves that night with a king-size bed looking out over the peaceful gardens and superb spotted gum specimens in the grounds of the Bawley Bed and Breakfast.


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