Hiking the Yuraygir Coastal Trail

While we were hanging out in the Clarence Valley, waiting for Queensland to hurry up and let us in, we decided to spend a few days hiking the Yuraygir Coastal Trail. The four day, 65 kilometre walk traverses Yuraygir National Park, the longest stretch of protected coastline in NSW. The trail begins in Angourie and extends along the coast to Red Rocks.

We chose a four day period in which the winds were predicted to be very light and no rain was forecast. Chris and Anne offered to keep an eye on Cool Change, as they were also anchored in Iluka Bay with us. Considering how good the holding was last time we were anchored in Iluka, and with only light winds forecast, we were pretty confident about leaving Cool Change for a few days, but it was very reassuring knowing that Chris and Anne were there keeping a watch.

When researching the hike I came across several difficulties and challenges that we had to solve. The first problem was that the initial section of track, from Angourie to Lake Arragan, was listed as closed on the National Parks website due to bushfire damage from last year. Fine, I thought, we’ll just start the walk from Lake Arragan instead. However, that was not so easy, as without a car there was no way we could get to Lake Arragan. Having spoken to the guys in a local camping store about the hike, they had assured me that lots of people actually were walking the trail. Ok, we thought, we’ll give it a go and plead ignorance if challenged. As it turned out, there were plenty of people along this section of track, but more about that later.

The second issue involved river crossings. The Yuraygir Coastal Trail involves three different river crossings, at Sandon, Wooli and Red Rocks. At each crossing there is a local contact who transports hikers across the water. However, there is no longer anyone running the Red Rocks crossing, so there was going to be no guarantee that we would be able to cross safely there. Hmm, couldn’t figure out how to overcome this one, so we decided to finish our hike at Wooli instead, cutting 15 kilometres off the walk, and negating the need for two of the river crossings. 50 kilometres would still be a decent hike, we reasoned!

The third challenge was the lack of any form of public transport to get us back from Wooli. Apparently on a school day we could have organised to hitch a lift on the school bus, but of course, this was school holidays. We decided to leave this one up to the Universe and trust that an answer would present itself. That, or it would be a $300 taxi fare back to Iluka.

And so, early on Saturday morning we ventured off, with our hiking packs feeling pretty full and heavy. We caught the ferry to Yamba, then a bus to Angourie, found the beginning of the walk and we were off.

Day One – Angourie to Lake Arragan, 13 km

It was a gorgeous sunny day, perfect for bushwalking and although we could see the fire damage to the area, the track wasn’t too hard to follow and there were lots of people walking it. No one else carrying full hiking packs though! At a crossroads in the trail, we met a lovely couple, Deb and Andy, who were doing a day walk and we chatted with them as we walked for a while.

At Shelley Beach Headland we decided to walk around the rocks instead of taking the track over the top. Too late, we realised the tide was coming in, and coming in fast. We had to do a little bit of dodgy and dangerous rock jumping and carefully traverse some rock ledges. Ten minutes later and our situation would have been much more precarious. A silly mistake, I should have known better. As it was, we only ended up with wet socks and boots.

After this we caught up with Deb and Andy again, who’d taken the same route over the rocks as we had. The trail died out here and the four of us bush bashed our way through the next section. We would find a section of the track, only to have it peter out after a while. Using good old Google Maps on my phone, Matt would navigate us in the general direction of where the track was supposed to be, while we searched for a way through the bush. There were quite a few red herrings and dead ends though! I was beginning to understand why the National Parks website listed the trail as closed!

Finally, we made our way onto the beach leading to our campground at Lake Arragan. We farewelled Deb and Andy here, as they had to retrace their steps all the way back to Angourie before it got dark. We swapped phone numbers and promised to catch up with them when we reached the Gold Coast later in the trip.

I was incredibly relieved to reach the campsite at the Lake Arragan Camping Area. Although we’d only walked for four hours, it had been a long day with the ferry and bus journeys in the morning, and I was exhausted and sore. I’m not as young as I once was, when I used to carry a heavy hiking pack for a living!

We gratefully shed our packs, kicked off our shoes and collapsed on the grass. The girls at the campsite next to ours offered Matt a beer which went down a treat. We were the only hikers, everyone else having driven cars and 4WDs in. I had planned on being able to access drinking water here to fill up our bladders, but the water was actually located several kilometres away at the entry to the campground. A few extra kilometres I was not at all keen to walk! Very generously, the girls, as well as another family camped near us, offered us fresh drinking water. We gratefully accepted, seeing that they had plenty of water in large containers. The difference between car camping and hiking!!

The girls had built an extra campfire on our site to cook their fish for dinner, so we kept it going when they’d finished and enjoyed sitting around the flames as it got dark and cold. Still, we were in bed by 7pm and stayed there in our warm and cosy sleeping bags until it was light at 7.30am.

Day Two – Lake Arragan to Sandon River, 13 km

Day Two began with us winding our way through the Lake Arragan and Red Cliff Camping grounds onto the beach. The sites were all very busy, we hadn’t realised how many people were here, but it was the first weekend of the NSW school holidays. After saying Hello to a kangaroo lazing in the grass, we began our trek along the beach. Almost of the walk was to be along the sand today. Hello calf muscles!

The little township of Brooms Head marked approximately halfway. Unfortunately the shop at the caravan park was closed, so it was muesli bars and scroggin for us. We sat in the sun and watched the surfers playing in the waves, it was a gorgeous day. Filling up our water bladders partway, we carried on to Sandon River. On this section of beach we were passed by lots of 4WDs, hooning along the sand. It’s not the greatest feeling in the world to be hiking along with a heavy pack, while vehicles zoom past you. I definitely prefer to hike in more remote areas.

In fact, we realised that whilst we were in an incredibly beautiful setting with stunning coastal views and lookouts, we were not as awed as we should have been. For six months, the ocean and beaches, coastal walkways and dramatic headlands have been our constant backdrop. I’m not saying that we have become immune to the beauty of the coast, for it is a setting I will never tire of, and one that I am grateful for every day. I think that our sense of awe was less than it would have been if we’d come on the hike when the suburbs of Melbourne was our normal. We agreed that our next hike would be inland somewhere, maybe into the Hinterlands through forest. And somewhere where we wouldn’t be overtaken by a procession of 4WDs.

At the Sandon River campground we found a very small and very full campground; people, caravans and vehicles everywhere. After putting a call through to the management we were directed to the ‘Hiker’s site,’ a small patch of grass where we pitched our little tent. The trail notes had said that drinking water was available at the campground here, however there was only non-potable water. I filled a bladder to use for cleaning dishes and rationed the rest of our water to last us until we could re-fill the next day. I was kicking myself for not filling all the bladders up completely at Brooms Head earlier.

With not much atmosphere in the crowded campground, we ate our rehydrated camping meal and retired to bed. Once again we were in our sleeping bags from 7pm to 7am!

Day Three – Sandon River to Boorkoom Camping Area, 17.5 km

The morning began with crossing the Sandon River. We’d organised with Lance, the local contact, to take us across at 9am. Lance backed his tinny into the river, motored us the short distance across, took his $20 cash and wished us well.

Choosing the inland route instead of the beach today, we made good time to the little village of Minnie Water, although it was hard going in the deep sand of the tracks at times. In Minnie Water we were delighted to find the General Store open and serving delicious pies and sausage rolls. A cold can of Coke went down very well too.

After filling up our water bladders, we continued along the walk to Diggers and Boorkoom camping areas. This time, I’d timed our arrival at the rock ledges perfectly, and it was right on low tide as we traversed the rocks around to the beach and up to the campgrounds.

We camped at the Boorkoom Camping Area and were relieved to find it pretty quiet and without any children running around everywhere. There was a gorgeous sunset that evening and we sat and soaked it in, feeling pleased with our efforts, and very happy in the knowledge that we just had a short walk to our final destination the next day. Probably the coldest night yet, it was absolutely freezing and so we were snuggled into our sleeping bags by 6.15pm.

Day Four – Boorkoom Camping Area to Wooli, 6.5 km

The last sections of our walk, around Wilson’s Headland and then along Wooli Beach were spectacular, and with the sun shining brightly, it was a lovely way to finish our hike. Very few people were about, and near the end on Wooli Beach, we both turned around to admire our footsteps clearly imprinted in the soft sand.

It was with a great degree of satisfaction and relief that we reached the tiny town of Wooli. We had made it!! Then it was on to the task of trying to find a lift out. After first enquiring at the caravan park to no avail, we decided to head to the Pub, have a drink and see if any locals were heading north. On the way, we passed the Post Office where the local postie, Sally, just happened to be stopped on her rounds and she very kindly offered us a lift to Grafton. We accepted gratefully and jumped in the back of her van. We had a great chat with Sally as we accompanied her on the rest of her round to Grafton. We even helped to deliver some packages to the Minnie Waters General Store where we’d had lunch the day before.

Sally dropped us in Grafton where we caught a bus to Maclean and then changed onto another bus to Iluka. By 3.15pm we were back in Iluka and back on Cool Change. It was good to be home! We snuck into the nearby caravan park for a badly needed hot shower. Hiking sure does make you appreciate the small things.

Over a lovely hot dinner of ‘real food’ at Sedger’s Reef Hotel we caught up on the goss with Chris and Anne. It seemed that the Queensland border was indeed going to open on the 10th July. Excitement plus!! We made our plans and discussed any preparations we would need to do. It was finally time to move on!

Take only memories, leave only footprints.

Chief Seattle