Saturday 8th February.
Deciding to hit the road early, we were up and heading off just after 6.30am. We grabbed that all important coffee at Terry Hills before making our way to the F3/M1. We were quite lucky and didn’t really strike any traffic, so flew up the highway, reaching Hawks Nest by just before 10am. We stopped and grabbed a few extra supplies we needed and had a late breakfast, early lunch. We thought we could access the beach from Hawks Nest and drive north, but it turned out you had to have a council permit from here to the National Park border which was only a few kms. We decided that it was too much money for such a short distance, so we drove up Mungo Brush Road and accessed the beach from the National Park. We bought a National Parks Pass for one day.
We drove along the beach, after letting our tyres down to about 22psi, until we got to Little Gibber Headland, which blocks any access further north along the beach. We back tracked to the road and continued north past some campsites and found another beach entry. This took us onto another beach where the sand seemed to be a lot softer than the first beach drive we did. I asked Jason to stop so I could put a pin on the GPS, this he did, but in the process we also got bogged. As the sand was so soft, it didn’t take us long to dig our way out, also using the Maxtrax….lucky we came prepared!
We drove along this beach until we hit Big Gibber Headland, where we turned around to head back to one of the many campsites. This beach was a lot harder to drive on, as the sand was so soft. The driver and the truck were struggling a bit, the truck even raising a slight temperature.
We finally made it back and decided on Banksia Green camping ground, which has beach access by foot over a sand dune. It wasn’t very busy, we found a spot and set up the tent, ready to settle in for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day, sitting in the sun, playing cards and drinking beer. The ranger came around so we discussed with him the options of the National Parks Passes, deciding to purchase from him a 3 year pass. He deducted the cost of the day pass we had just bought as well. He did seem jealous of us sitting in the sun, playing cards and drinking beer!!!
We had dinner, which was noodles and a curry I had pre-made, then finally hit the sack about 10pm, after having consumed half a case of beer between us….disgusting behaviour!
Sunday 9th February.
We both slept well, not surprisingly and had an enjoyable lazy morning, before packing the truck to head to the beach for the day. We made our way back along Mungo Brush Road then onto the beach again, this time I had a drive, first time ever driving on sand. Was quite a unique experience, as once you are in the tracks of another car, you don’t really need to steer, it seems to just do it…..felt like a ride on the Wild Mouse at Luna Park, where you think you are going off the edge, when turning a corner, but at the last minute, the car turns. Best way I can describe it.
We drove to the end and set up the trucks canopy and because we were there fairly early, there weren’t that many people there as yet, so we grabbed a good spot. We were set up to spend the day. Jason went for a surf, I just sat with camera in hand, clicking and watching, both people and sea, as there were a pod of dolphins lazily making their way down the beach, just short of the breakers.
We had some lunch, which was wraps, ham and salad, then as we had nothing else to do and weren’t rushing anywhere, we both had a nanna nap, which was most enjoyable, as most afternoon sleeps are!! We had a snack of cheese and crackers before deciding to have a fish off some of the rocks along the headland. Jason launched his beach rod, and I just my little one. We seemed to get tangled and actually thought we were, however, after Jason reeled his line in, we noticed he had something on it. Was it a fish that we could have for dinner? No, of course not. It was a small port jackson shark, which he struggled to get off his line, finally having to cut it instead. I have come to the conclusion that there is NO fish in the Pacific Ocean, as we have yet to catch something of sufficient size to consume for dinner!!!
We finally headed back to the campsite and had a delish dinner of steak, mushrooms and salad, with no beer this time, as we had consumed it all the night before, but with a bottle of red instead! Was in bed fairly early, as we were both tired from a full day in the sun. Was a most enjoyable one at that too.
Monday 10th February.
As we didn’t have to be home too early we didn’t rush the morning, having had a sleep in and lazy breakfast before finally packing up our tiny campsite. As it was another hot day, we made our way over the dune and had a quick swim before getting back to the truck for the drive home. We were back in Sydney before 2pm, getting back to reality……Bummer!
After this trip we have decided to head to this area a few times a year, mainly one of our summer destinations though.