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Walk
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By Foot
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By Bike
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Booti Booti National Park
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Starts at the southern end of Seven Mile Beach. Park at the beach end of the Ruins camp site and walk through to the beach. Turn right along the beach and look for the walk way up into the hill. A fair level of fitness is needed up through the littoral forest but the flora, birdlife and views are well worth it. Follow the path to Lethbridge Road (about 3 Km) and then turn right and right again until you get to the Lakesway. Turn right along the Lakesway and follow the track along by the lake. This loop track will take you on a very scenic path back to the Ruins. At a fair pace you're looking at a two hour plus stretch. |
You can cycle to the Ruins from Green Point (don't be a wooz and
load the bike on the car). I like to bike it the opposite way to the
walk i.e. turn right into the National Parks utility area at the Ruins
and follow the track into the bush (the Rangers are very friendly).
When you come out of the bush back to the Lakesway follow the road
along and then take a left into Lakeside Crescent and then left in
Lethbridge. Follow the road until you see the track on the left at
the end of the road. |
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Charlotte Head/Shelley Beach
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One of my favourite short walks. Park the car in the car park at the west end of Elizabeth Beach. You'll see track going up into the bush. If you follow the track to the end you'll get to Shelley Beach. Alternatively take a right (about 100 meters from the top of the steps). Follow the track to the end for some terrific views of Boomerang Beach and Seal Rocks. You can make your way down the hill to Boomerang Beach (can be a bit over grown) and then back along the road to Elizabeth beach again. An easy one hour trot. |
Bike along the Lakesway to the Booti Booti track and follow this lakeside until you come back out onto the Lakesway. Take a left to Elizabeth Beach and then follow the track to Sheely for 200 meters and turn right to go up the track to the headland. Photo left show Lobsang from Tibet enjoying a well earned drink.
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Violet Hill & The Grandis
For the walk you'll need around three to four hours. For the bike, maybe two to three hours(depending on punctures - there's some sharp rocks out there!) |
Do you like to take the track less travelled? This could be the trek for you. You'll have to drive and park the car or get dropped off at the top of the first hill about 15 kilometers past Bungwahl. It's the first track that leads off the left side off the Lakesway after Parsons Road. Follow the track up the ridge for panoramic views of the Myall Lakes and all the way down to Tea Gardens and Port Stephens. After around 4 Kms the track descends into lush rainforest. Take a right at the bottom of the hill and follow the track back to the Lakesway. Turn right to go back up the hill or take a detour to the Grandis by turning left up Stoney Creek Road. Well worth it if you're a bit of an 'arborealphile' (tree lover). The Grandis is over 70 meters high and at least three hundred years old. It was awe inspiring even for an old 'septic' like me!
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Feeling strong? From the Grandis you can keep following the track up to the Old Pacific Highway. Watch out for the goannas on the way. Once you get to the old highway chuck a right to Wootton and then right again along Wattley Hill Road until you get back to the Lakesway. Take a left and head for home for a well earned beer. You will have covered nearly 100 Kms!! |
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Janie's Corner
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You'll have to drive to Janie's and then walk out along
the bottom of the cliff face to Shark Rock, where you can climb onto
several rock platforms to enjoy the ebb and flow and watch the porpoise
play. After climbing down walk along the smaller beach to the end where,
if the tide is out, you can walk into a large cave that recedes into
the cliff for around 30 to 50 meters depending on the sand level.
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Ride to the end of Green Point Drive and turn left along
Lakesway for about 500 meters until you see the track on the right into
Booti Booti National Park. Follow the track right to the end of the
track to reach Janie's Corner. The best time for this is early in the
morning when you can look to the west and see the rolling hills rise
up behind the lake. You can return the same way or sneak through to
the Lakesway again via the first track on the right (about 400 meters
from the beach end of the track).
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Green Point/Booti Booti
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Booti Booti is famous for its flannel flowers in the
spring. Go to Smokehouse Beach and then walk along the lake for approximately
three to four hundred meters (can be a bit of a clamber depending on
the tide). There is a cutting into the bush that you must follow that
follows the lake and then takes a sharp left into the national park.
Follow this and go through the bar gate and follow the track. After
three hundred meters the track splits in two. Take the right track and
follow until you reach the road (Lakesway). Turn left and follow the
road until you reach a lay by with a cutting through to the beach. You
can then walk along the beach until the next cutting to meet up with
the Lakesway again and then follow Green Point Drive home. Average time
around ninety minutes.
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Pretty good for the bike if there's not been too much rain. If there has been rain take the right fork and follow the track to the Lakesway. Be a bit careful the sand doesn't get into your cogs (very painful).
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Green Point/Cape Hawke
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Best to drive the car to the southern end of Burgess Road and follow the well trodden track over to Cape Hawke. If you've still got some steam left keep following the track down to McBrides Beach to cool off. Remember you still have to get home by the same route. Average time about two hours including a swim at McBrides Beach.
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Ride down to the Lakesway and turn left. Follow the
Lakesway and follow the same route as by car and then the track as by
foot. Instead of turning left down to the beach, take a right and then
a sharp right down the hill (very steep). At the bottom of the hill
veer right and carry on until you meet up with the Lakesway again by
the high school. Turn left and make your way home again.
Fitness level is moderate to hard. A sixty to ninety minute ride depending on the stops. |
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McBrides & Latitude Rock
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If you have followed the track down to McBrides (well done), you can take the extension track onto Latitude Rock. Bear right at the bottom of the track, go over the creek and follow the path that bears off to the right and into the bush. Keep following that track (for about two kilometers) until you come out onto the headland that looks over latitude Rock. You'll get a fantastic view looking south as far as Seal Rocks and Lobster Pot Beach. Excellent for both a bush walk and a pedal. Fitness level hard to extreme. |  |
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Whoota Whoota Lookout
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One of the most spectacular look outs in the area, if not the entire coast. There is a track you can reach on the Coomba Road but it's a little hard to find. The track will take you through some dense rain forest and then a steep climb up to the forest road to the look out. Total walking time is around ninety minutes return at a brisk pace.
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A different route from the walk but a good one. Drive
the car down Sugar Creek Road to the picnic area and park. Cycle up
the hill (it's pretty steep) to the lookout. On the way down (about
one kilometer) when the track turns sharp left, you'll see a track to
the right. Follow it to the bottom until you reach the Coomba Road.
Turn right and follow the road until you see a turnoff to the right
(approx four Kms) called Yarric Road. Follow this until you reach Sugar
Creek Road and turn right again until you reach the picnic area. Total
time about 120 minutes (with short rests). Fitness level hard to extreme.
If you're up for it, bike the whole way taking in the Wallis Lake track
on the way. It's a 70Km round trip (takes me about 4.5 hours).
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Green Point
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Great for an early morning stroll. Take a left down
Wharf Road (100 meters down the road on the left). Just keep following
the track to the very end. There is some great birdlife including pelicans,
sea eagles and black swans. If you're into yoga, it's an idyllic place
to have a stretch as you are surrounded on three sides by water and
away from passing traffic. Total time thirty minutes there and back.
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Only suitable for a very quick peddle or a warm up. After leaving the point you can turn left along Sea Breeze Parade and follow the loop back home.
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Lakesway to Boolambyte Ferry and Seal Rocks Road Loop
Click for Google Maps location Okay, this baby is for serious mountain bike riders only, though you could do the first stretch by foot but will need to be picked up at Korsman's Landing. |
Take the Lakesway to approximately 15 to 18 kilometers past Bungwahl. At the top of the second set of hills there is a very well defined track that goes off to the left. This is part of the Tops to Myalls track and there are signs on the way, but they are not that defined. There is great rural views on the right particularly of the back of Alum Mountain (though you'll have to take a short detour to enjoy the view). To do the Korsman's Landing part will probably take you around two to three hours. This is very much a bush walk and there are only limited views, and the best ones are only for the first five kilometers or so. Korsman's Landing is very picturesque and is usally host to some pretty huge Eastern Grey kangaroos.
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When you get to Korsman's Ferry follow the road until it reaches the road that takes you down to Legge's Camp (turn left at the intersection).
Take the ferry across the creek and then look for the track that goes off to the left and just keep following it. You'll find the track bears off to the left and can get a little sandy in places but it is passble without getting too much grit in your cogs. You can't see the ocean but you are actually passing through the longest stretch of still undeveloped land on the New South Wales coast (so enjoy it!). This is the Old Gibber Fire trail. At the end of the fire trail is the old mining road. Take a left and keep pedalling until you reach the Seal Rocks Road (about an hours stretch). From here take a left and follow the road until you reach the Lakes Way and head for home. Total time around five to six hours depending on stops. |
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Hearts Point & Neranie
Click for link to Google Maps location Neranie has fabulous white sand and abounds with birdlife, reptiles and flora. Enjoy a picnic by the Myall Lake shore and paddle in the sparkling crystal clear water.
Hearts Point (above). Photo shows some of the original timber felled from surround forests over 100 years ago. This timber helped to stop the wash from the strong southerlies blowing onto the shoreline. |
Drive to Bungwahl and turn right down the Seal Rocks
road. After a couple of kilometers you'll see the fisherman's co-op
on the right. You can park your car there and follow the track all the
way down to Hearts Point, which is the top of the Myall Lakes. It's
called Heart's Point because the hearts of all the trees that couldn't
be used were ditched into the lake to stop the waves eroding the shore
bank during the southerlies. Look carefully and you will easily spot
the one hundred year old timber under the surface of the lake. From
Hearts Point, head back down the track and you'll see a path off to
the right (about 500 meters). Follow the path up the hill to find a
small cemetery with the graves of some of the Great Lakes pioneers such
as the Brambles, Godfrey and Cheers. These families remain in the area
today. Follow the track onwards and upwards for a fine vista of the
Myall Lake looking south. Ninety minutes round trip.
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Bungwahl and Neranie used to be the industrial hub of the Great Lakes
with it's logging mills and railway junction for timber. Follow the
same route as for the walk. If you've still got some energy left there
is a track opposite the co-op that will take you over to Smith's Lake.
There is also a fire break off to the right that can be explored.
Follow this to the end and it will lead you back to the Seal Rocks
road up a fairly steep hill.
From the top of the headland you can see all the way down the Myall Lake to the hills of Port Stephens. |
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Wootton Historial Railway Walk (Text courtesy of Bronwyn Little, Wootton)
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Because the line was constructed to a low enough grade
for locomotives, most of the walk is at a gentle 1 in 20 grade. It is
classed as a medium grade walk. The first half of the walk follows regenerating rainforest that was logged when the line was constructed. The rail line is now protected by a 90 m exclusion zone due to it's historical value. No logging will ever take place again within that zone. The remaining 3 km is overgrown at this stage (June, 05) and is quite impassable at points. It is hoped, in the future, that State Forests will maintain this section, which features deep gullies which in their time were traversed by massive timber trestle bridges. One well known as "The Gorge", a broad sweeping curve that stood 25m above the creek bed and stretched for nearly 300m. A great example of bush ingenuity.
In 1995 a joint project between the Department of Education, Employment & Training, State Forests and the Wootton /Coolongolook progress Association was initiated, whereby 15 long term unemployed people were engaged to construct the walking trail as we see it today. Over a period of 6 months they cleared the vegetation, built bridges, steps, signs etc. Today, the Wootton Historical Railway Walk follows the last 6 kms of this system from Sam's Camp to the Trestle Bridge Picnic Area. Watch out for leeches!! Click for link to Google Maps location
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