Tathra to Merimbula

It was time to farewell Tathra and head on. We strolled through the streets to the boat ramp at Kianniny Bay, where we joined the Kangarutha Track. This is a well-constructed track linking Tathra to Wallagoot Lake, 9km to the south. It follows the rocky coastline, but much of it is under the dense paperbark canopy lining this part of the coast. The coastal relief here is broken by a series of creeks running into the ocean through gaps in the rocky cliff line. The track undulated over ridge and creek, giving occasional glimpses of the cliffs and sometimes emerging at inlets such as Boulder Bay, with its beach of rounded stones, or the narrow inlet at Games Bay with its sandy beach. At times the paperbarks were so dense that the track literally tunnelled through them, while at other times the forest opened up, or changed to lower, sparser heath.

From the lagoon, we briefly rejoined the southern end of Bournda Beach before climbing back inland to parallel the coastline through (yet again) some dense paperbark forest. The paperbarks were taller and creaked and squeaked as their trunks and branches rubbed against each in the wind. The jumble of fallen trunks and branches alongside the path convinced us that this would not be a good place to be in a storm. From the exterior, the dense bright green canopy of a paperbark forest gives a cheery ambience to the coastline, but from beneath, these forests are dark, grey and verging on the claustrophobic. I was becoming tired of the greyness of much of the path to date and was relieved when we finally emerged on North Tura Beach again.

From here it was a straightforward walk down the beach, up through the streets of Tura Beach village to avoid the rocks of Tura Head, and finally a 3 km walk along Short Point Beach in the late afternoon sun. We amused ourselves by trying to predict the length and speed of what we called "wave rockets" along this stretch of the beach (note: a wave rocket occurs when an incoming wave meets a ridge of water running back from the shore into the sea at a slightly different angle. As they cross, a narrow plume of foam is produced at the crossing point of the two waves - their speed is dependent on the angle of intersection of the waves and can be very fast).

Our arrival in Merimbula saw an end to the fine weather of the past week; for the next three days we had a succession of heavy thunderstorms, followed by a day of drizzle and then strong winds. We laid low and took advantage of the fact that Merimbula has become a highly developed tourist centre by doing some shopping and going to the cinema.

Nonetheless, we both felt a bit down, partly due the weather, but partly because we were remembering Merimbula as it was 20 years ago when we used to come here for family holidays. With its beautiful lake setting and great beaches, Merimbula is rightly the capital of the Sapphire Coast. We still appreciate it a lot, but rapid development has made it a bustling modern town, the benefits of which come at the cost of some of its old charm.

Like Tathra to the north, Pambula Beach has a superb setting on a north-facing headland overlooking a long stretch of golden beach. A walk through the Jiguma Nature Area on the headland offered a number of great lookout points back up Merimbula Beach and across the Pambula River mouth to Ben Boyd National Park. Here you can really appreciate why this part of the south coast is called The Sapphire Coast.