Earlier in the day we were also sitting and waiting, this time by the Pambula River mouth waiting for low tide. Has anyone ever seen that infinitesimally small period of time when the tide actually changes direction? We sat and watched as the outward flow slowed and, with just the slightest pull to the ocean, waded out to the end of the sand bar and set adrift with our packs on our air mattress. Experience is a wonderful thing and, with our past crossings to learn from, we had timed this to perfection. The slight curve of our path landed us gently on the small sandy beach opposite to and slightly left of the bar.

Solitude

At Quondolo Point the dunes narrow as low pink and cream streaked sandstone ridges start to appear, hinting at what is to come. After the point, the eyes are focussed on the bright yellow sandstone barrier of Quoraburagan Point, jutting out to the waterline to separate Quondolo and Pinnacles Beaches.

The beauty of walking north to south on this beach is that you do not realise that Quoraburagan is keeping a secret and, as soon as you pass it, you enter a magical world of sandstone rainbows; a 2 km stretch of low eroded cliffs and gullies in a riot of colours from the purest white, through cream, yellow, orange, red and pink to the deep maroons and burgundies of iron-rich outcrops.

As we neared the end of Pinnacles Beach, the sea became virtually flat, with just the gentlest of waves, protected by the jutting prow of Terrace Point. We wondered where we had seen this combination of green-clad cliffs plunging into a sapphire coloured sea and edged by a pale golden sand beach before; it was the Halkidiki Peninsula, in Greece.

Heading inland once again, we climbed steadily up through the tall forest along a dirt access road, the grey-green of the forest vegetation broken by the occasional splash of colour from an autumn flowering wattle or banksia. Reaching the spur, we found an old walking track heading down through dense forest toward Eden.

View over Eden and Twofold Bay

After a kilometre the track emerged onto the new residential subdivision of Eden Cove, where we picked our way across to the northern end of Aslings Beach on Twofold Bay. From here it was a quick walk along the road between the beach and Curalo Lagoon, before joining a boardwalk around the lagoon that took us to the tourist park where we were staying.

This had certainly been one of our favourite stages of the walk.

We started our stage by walking across the back streets of Eden to Cattle Wharf and picking up a local track that followed the shoreline of the bay. Across the water a large bulk chip carrier was moored at the wharf of the chip mill. Wood-chipping remains a controversial industry and has seen confrontation between environmentalists and forestry workers. It highlights some of the ongoing tensions over land-use on the South Coast.

Continuing on, we crossed small beaches and followed the low cliff lines, past the rafts of mussel farms, until the track ended at the local yacht club at Quarantine Bay.

From here we picked our way around the rocks of one headland, then headed inland to follow a track to the Nullica River Bridge on the Prince's Highway. Crossing this, we quickly left the highway to return to Boydtown Beach, which we followed down to the Seahorse Inn, built in the 1840s by Ben Boyd as a base for his planned whaling, timber and pastoral empire.

Boyd's venture failed, his town remains largely undeveloped and Eden has become the principal centre on Twofold Bay. Nonetheless his name remains attached to many places in the area - most curiously Ben Boyd National Park is named in honour of someone who would most likely have cut down the trees for timber or transformed it into pastures.

From Boydtown, we headed up over a wooded hill on a dirt road, where we saw for the first time a pair of red-tailed black cockatoos. Descending the hill, the road faded away to a track and eventually vanished near the ruins of an old shed. Crossing a fence line, we picked our way through the trees to a dry sandy creek bed, which led us out to the Towamba River, a tidal river at the south-western corner of Twofold Bay.

Dry sandy creek bed near Kiah Inlet

At this point, our passage seemed blocked, as our side of the river was steep with dense understorey and vines in the tall eucalypt forest and the deep channel of the river ran along side it. We scrambled up the steep bank and, to our great relief, found a track leading along the edge. This track led us directly to the Kiah River Cabins high on a bend above the Towamba River. and 4 km in from Twofold Bay. We later learnt that our host, Neil, had personally cut this walking track along the river, for which we were very grateful.

These cabins, crafted from stone and local timbers, have floor to ceiling glass windows looking over a grassy flat directly down the Towamba River toward Twofold Bay. Tall eucalypts lining the valleys of the river and creeks running into it completed the peaceful and secluded bush setting in which we found ourselves. It was the perfect place to "get away from it all" and we made a mental note to return here one day with a kayak to get to know this beautiful river and valley even better.