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Stage 34 - Towamba River to Saltwater Creek

It had rained fairly heavily during the night, so we were very relieved to wake up to a sunny morning. A light mist was rising off the river up through the trees in the gullies, adding to the idyllic nature of this bush setting. We had no choice but to travel today as we were meeting our friends, Mike and Trish, at Saltwater Creek that evening. The previous night we had been speaking to our hosts, Neil and Anna, about our trip and they had very kindly offered to take us back up the Towamba River and drop us on the opposite shore at Kiah Inlet, where it entered Twofold Bay, saving us at least an hour of walking back along the river's edge.

Mist rising off the Towamba River

We boarded the boat with Anna and, with her son Marcus at the helm, we were soon heading north up the tree-lined Towamba, past shady gullies, broad sandbanks and assorted waterbirds. The sun was shining brightly on as we reached the broad still waters of Kiah Inlet, but to the right dark clouds hung ominously over the mountain backdrop to Twofold Bay. Finally we reached the beach at the old Davidson whaling station, a reminder of the industry that helped to develop the Twofold Bay area. Whales are still very important to the local economy, but now we watch them rather than hunt them.

We jumped on to the beach, the first four kilometres of this stage covered in 15 pleasant minutes. Thanks, Anna, Neil and Marcus, for your help and for the relaxing time we had at the Kiah River Cabins.

Mount Imlay behind the tree-lined shores of the Towamba

Dark clouds gathering over the mountains behind Kiah Inlet

Thanks Anna and Marcus

Old Davidson whaling station

We walked quickly up through the nicely restored buildings of the whaling station and followed a dirt road down to Fisheries Flat. A chorus of frogs, croaking happily in anticipation of rain greeted us on the flat and the first drops began to fall as we climbed up the far end of the beach toward Edrom Lodge, an historic old homestead on the southern side of the bay. We were sitting comfortably in a sofa on the wide front verandah of Edrom as we watched the sheets of rain sweeping in across Twofold Bay and over us.

Track down to Fisheries Flat

Storm coming in over Fisheries Beach

Edrom Lodge

View from the verandah at Edrom

Half an hour later, the sky had cleared and we headed on. Quickly passing the access roads to the new naval facility and the wood-chip mill, we turned down another dirt road for one kilometre to reach Boyd's Tower. This tower was built by Ben Boyd in the 1840s as a gateway to his planned empire in Twofold Bay and was used to spot whales for hunting. Today it marks the start of the Lighthouse to Lighthouse Walk, one of the most picturesque walking tracks along the coast. Looking south from the tower, we could see the line of rugged cliffs disappearing to the south, the twisted and sheared form of rocks belying their turbulent geological past. These wine-red and chocolate siltstones and sandstones are the oldest rocks on the New South Wales coast.		View south from Boyd's tower
Boyd's tower	The coastline is formed by ancient brown and red siltstone and sandstone rocks

The track south spends much of its time away from the actual cliffs, but passes through a never-ending change in vegetation habitats; bracken-filled banksia woodlands, still grey monocultures of paperbark, taller ironbark and woollybutt eucalypt forests and low, scrubby heaths. Every so often, there is a gap providing a glimpse back along the cliff line to Boyd's Tower or looking out over a rocky inlet.		A glimpse of the coastline southward
View back to Boyd's Tower	One of the numerous rocky inlets along this coastline

By the time we reached the boulder-lined shore of Leatherjacket Bay, the skies had once again darkened and a peal of thunder rolled across the coastal forest. No verandah or comfortable sofa here; we spent the next 30 minutes in our wet weather gear huddled beneath the canopy of a sweet pittosporum thicket as the storm passed over. It was the first time that we had been caught out in the rain in the 11 weeks of our walk so we felt that we couldn't complain. The thicket served as best it could and we emerged, slightly damp instead of soaked, to continue along the track through tall eucalypt forest toward Mowarry Point. The scent of the wet bush as we walked along kept our spirits high.

mmmmmmmm

\
Two different vegetation habitats along the walk

Storm approaching Leatherjacket Bay

Sheltering in a pittosporum thicket

m After the rain it was a bit bleak ..................... but the sun soon returned	m A large mob of kangaroos calls Mowarry Point home
	Mowarry Point has a large grassy open area, with scattered tea-trees, that is home to a large mob of kangaroos.

Here's looking at you!

As we walked out on to it, the sun came out once again providing a magnificent panorama of the coastline as far north as Gulaga. We stopped for a while at a stony beach just to the south of the point to admire how the sunlight brought out the richness of the red siltstone platform, set against the deep blue of the sea.

Looking back from Mowarry Point

Almost garish - the rich wine-red siltstone meets the dark blue Pacific

Sorry - I can't resist the red rocks

South of Mowarry, the track led us through more open heathland before eventually descending through a paperbark forest to the beach at Saltwater Creek, the first sandy stretch of coast since Boyd's Tower and our stop for the night.

Fairy ring at Saltwater Creek

More open banksia woodland

The beach at Saltwater Creek

Saltwater sunset

Trish and Mike arrived by car soon after and we set up camp in the lovely campground, set back from the beach with the dark tannin-stained waters of the two lagoons on either side. As we set up camp, the scrub wrens and a yellow robin hopped about our feet to check out if there was anything of interest. It was a pleasant night beside the fire at Saltwater Creek, enjoying a good meal with good company, which included the local possums who wandered fearlessly about investigating everything that might remotely contain food. The next morning we shared a breakfast of egg and bacon with Trish and Mike; the possums had already dined on our muesli after stealing it from our pack the night before.

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

OK - so what can I find to go with the muesli?


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