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Stage 28 - Bunga Beach to Picnic Point

The cliffs of Bunga Head are imposing – they say “no pasar”, “passage interdit” and “no thoroughfare” to anyone walking down the coast.

We had been warned by a ranger to look for a vague track leading up a gully on the south-west corner of the beach, so next morning fully loaded again, having replenished our water from the small supply in the tank, we headed up the gully. What appeared to be a track disappeared and we were forced to follow a GPS bearing for a few hundred metres until it eventually became clearer, taking us up through relatively open forest to the saddle behind the headland. Here it vanished again, but a disturbed lyrebird racing through the underbrush turned our eyes to a cairn of stones. This led to another, then another, and we followed cairn-marked track along the spur and down the southern sloping gully. The track led us through a small patch of rainforest growing in the lower slopes of this moist gully and out onto one of the camping areas at Aragunnu.

Bunga Head - end of the road
for beach walking!

"Track" up to the saddle of Bunga Heada

Rainforest gully on the south side of the head

We made a quick detour along a boardwalk put in by the National Park that led a quiet boulder beach looking out on to the impressive silhouette of Mimosa Rocks. Passing through the Aragunnu camping area revived pleasant memories of time spent here last Christmas.		The stony beach of Mimosa Rocks
At Aragunnu - a memento for Ursula and Lakhdar	Aragunnu vegetation

There is no coastal route from Aragunnu to Picnic Point, so we knew that this section would be difficult. A chance encounter with the ranger gave us good advice about what to expect and a clearer indication that it would be a hard day. It was harder!

After an easy stroll down Aragunnu Beach, we started to pick our way around the rocky headlands. The rocks here are a jumble of sharp edged sandstone, not the place to be carrying heavy packs, and our progress was slow.

Abalone divers at Aragunnu
- can you spot them?

Easy stroll down Aragunnu Beach ......

........ but getting harder around the rocks

Looking back over Aragunnu and Bunga Head

The rocky coastline south of Aragunnu

Eventually rounding the first headland we came to a sheer edge with only sea below. Our only choice was to climb up on to the cliff slope and crash through some dense paperbark scrub until we could descend once more on to the rocks and cross the next small headland.		.... where progress through the scrub was very slow
A difficult passage	This forced us to climb up to the scrub on top of the cliffs .......

Here again we were blocked by another sheer wall of rock and, knowing from the ranger that a sea cave blocked a later section, we decided to head deeper inland and not return to the shore until well clear of such obstacles. Our legs well-scratched already from the first push through dense heath, we zipped on the long legs of our shorts and headed upward, picking our way across an uneven surface where rocks were hidden by deep litter, and the dead branches of paperbarks and casuarinas and thickets of sweet pittosporum or low banksias tried to deny all forward progress. It took three hours to travel two kilometres through this terrain, over two ridges and two creek beds, before the third creek led us back out onto a small beach.

Blocked yet again

Lunch in "lost valley"........

..... and back to the bush-bashing

The rugged beauty of the coastal rocks and the beautiful mossy creek beds, where frogs serenaded us and orchids clung to the rocks, went entirely unappreciated. It is marvellous how 22 kg on your back in a dense scrub can focus the mind on the singular obsession of getting to the other end – we learnt the meaning of stoic. I could imagine the South Coast saying “you think you are so tough getting this far – I could stop you at any time!”

Final passage through the bracken .....

..... to the beach at last

Once back on the beach it was a quick stroll along the sand with a couple of easy rock scrambles to reach Picnic Point camping ground - we had taken 6 hours to walk 8 km! Now we had to decide whether to push on across Bithry Inlet to our original destination of Middle Beach or set up camp here and have a swim and revive. The ocean water was cold but invigorating and we felt better already. Our appreciation in hindsight of the rugged beauty of the rocks and bush through which we had just passed was growing.

One last rock scramble

Clear route to Picnic Point

Picnic Beach

There is a difference between a tough day, when you think “well, that was hard but I enjoyed it” and a very tough day when you think “what the hell am I doing this for!” Today we had had a very tough day, but we made it, and the stars that night were just as beautiful as before.


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