Day 2 – Monday 2nd May



Dawn and it’s grey, grey, grey. Still feeling a touch of cold ickyness and it’s still raining lightly outside. Damn. But I reckon it’s still gonna clear. Have a hunch that by 11:00am it’ll all be good. And sure ‘nuff! Rain stops and while I read and scribble some self-obsessed life-analysing angst whilst sitting on the enormous balcony of this beautiful building, the clouds start to dissipate, then patches of blue and by 11:15 I’m down the road, down past the bridge and thumbing my way further north.

Again – slow going – 1 ½ hours and nothing – till eventually this crazy looking (and sounding) local, pulling out from the pub, pulls over to say ‘try down at the petrol station – it’s just about 100m further – that way you can get a ride when the cars pull in – c’mon I’ll take ya!’.

Er, O.K.

So 2k (!!) further down the road to the petrol station. Cool. Then – hmmm… not convinced. Trickier for cars to pull up here and not such a long line of sight for them to check you out as they approach. Dud steer? But then – as I’m humping my pack back and forth – trying to pick the best vantage point, a lady filling up her car at the petrol station asks:

‘Where you going? I’m only going as far as Kew’. (which is the turnoff I’m making for).

‘That’s exactly where I’m going – you’re not, by any chance, going on to Laurieton are you?’.

‘Well, yes actually – that’s where I’m going today – do you want a lift?’.

Cool! So a lift to the little town just to the north of the national park I’m aiming for. Excellent! And she’s lovely. She has time so even drives me a few kilometres further to Dunbogan – right at the edge of the national park.



Now I’m right on the edge of the National Park. Dunbogan itself is pretty – beautiful waterways and headlands, but reasonably built up and tasteless brick monstrosities kill the look. The locals at the pub last night warned me that the road down to diamond head is apparently terrible – unsealed and no-one goes down there unless heading for the camping grounds on the head itself. The map does indeed look ominous. Isolation. Great – just what I’m looking for. But not so great for Hitch-hiking. So – dropped at the edge of Dunbogan it’s now 1:30pm and Approx 10k to Diamond Head. Either a nice long walk – or perhaps, a lucky hitch.



The Pack REALLY weighs now with my extra 1.5l bottle of water and final food supplies purchased from a camping ground on the edge of Dunbogan, but I strap her on, and head down the road towards Diamond Head. Walk for about half an hour before hitting national park. And immediately it’s beautiful. Huge Ghost Gums and the road of the ocean to my left through the trees. After walking for a little while I turn off for the first rest area – 'Blackbut Rest Area’. I hope it’s not too far from the road since I will have to retrace my footsteps to continue – but I am in need of a rest and a cigarette. Keep walking and the forest becomes deeper and more mysterious. Lovely.



Haven’t seen a soul since entering the park and only two cars since leaving Laurieton.

Suddenly there’s the rest area. Nice – but wait- the surf sounds much closer now and sure enough – through a little crack in the trees, and down a little sandy path – suddenly – oh my god – the beach. The coast, the surf. Wow.



And I step out onto 10k of pristine golden sand curving gently round to the two huge rocky headlands at either end. Pounding surf. Dramatic Skies. Deserted. Pure. Pristine and… All mine!

YES!

turn left turn right

The colours are dramatic – reflecting the constantly changing day. The Ocean is blue-black to deep dark turquoise closer until finally building to a seething aqua and white as it crashes onto the golden sands.

The mist from the surf weeps in – wreathing the distant extents of the beach in a pearly haze before the headlands jut out to challenge both ocean and sky.

I take my pack off and sit.

For quite some time.

It’s beautiful.

Eventually I decide to start walking down the beach – so tying my shoes to the back of my pack start trudging, as best I can on the hard sand down near where the waves reach – towards the distant point. My trusty camping guide says the camping ground I’m heading for has ‘beach frontage’ so I figure I must be able to walk right in from the southern end of the beach. At least that’s the theory.

So I walk.



Eventually I encounter a few happy fishermen, who assure me ‘you can’t miss it’ when I enquire about the camping grounds. And then just – wheeling gulls, pounding surf, the distant point growing steadily closer – and I.

Finally, when I’m close, about 1k away I guess, I stop for another rest. I am seriously tired now and my shoulders are on fire. And then, while again, standing and taking in the beauty of it all, kissed by the occasional touch of light rain – a rainbow. Against the black brooding sky, where the white specks of the gulls sparkle against the clouds, a huge beautiful rainbow. One end stomping down into the churning ocean, and the other end – firmly resting at the base of the head – exactly where I’m heading for – Diamond Head Camping Ground.



Thank you.

After trying (in vain I suspect) to capture the beauty, drama and magic of this scene on my trusty Cannon s60, I eventually steel myself for the final trek, shoulder the pack and trudge further south. I finally see, from a distance, a set of wooden stairs leading from the beach to what I can just make out as an area of grass beyond. Thank Christ.

I approach and suddenly become aware of some grey/brown objects moving around the base of the stairs and the picnic table there. Sure enough – I’m 10 meters away from three kangaroos. COOL!!!! And wait- there’s another 4! Holy crap – this place is lousy with them!



And so I arrive – 1st goal achieved – Diamond Head Camping Park in Crowdy Bay National Park. The place is almost deserted, perhaps another 8 groups, and all but one of these up on the higher part of the grounds where drive in access allows campervans. In my part of the grounds only one other small group of tents is set up of which I see some-one once during my stay. So, 20 meters from the beach, on a lovely little grassy area, I pitch my tent.

(Incidentally the guy I did see from this other camping site made me a present of some chemical firelighters – which I gladly accepted although I have since become a dab hand at coaxing a workable fire out of a ¼ page of the Sydney Morning Herald, wet kindling and damp wood.)

There’s a cold shower block, excellently maintained toilets, more kangaroos than I know what to do with (In the morning you practically have to kick them out of the way on your way to the shower block), and not much more apart from Nature itself. I have bought firewood from the Ranger, boiled my billy and cooked myself dinner. Then crashed.

During the night – rain – LOTS of rain! Luckily the tent remained dry.

Thankyou lord.

continue to day three

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