Bonny Hills to Diamond Head

22 km (582 km) | 8 hr

Started out at dawn from beautiful Bonny Hills and passed Bartletts Beach on the way to sunrise at magnificent Grants Head. The walk across the headland was just another perfect start to another sublime day.

The headlands are steep in this part of the world, but there is a well-made set of stairs down to Field Stop 1 - locally known as Sharkies - to either intentionally, or unintentionally, scare the tourists away. Traversed another small headland to Grants Beach which is a 4 km stretch of lovely sand all the way to North Haven Beach and the Camden River break wall.

I was lucky to have a support crew to take me across the river, although the 7 km walk along the river and across the bridge at Laurieton would be a pleasant enough diversion (and campers note, you would need to reprovision here before camping at glorious Diamond Head).

But getting ahead of myself, because next was another contender for the headland Oscars - mighty Perpendicular Point and Camden Head - just wow! It's only 4 kms or so out and back to the point but each of the lookouts on the headland are amazing - indeed it would not be hard to while away a full day here and then want to come back for more. Great signage, so no need for further instruction - an absolute must-see if you're in the area.

Plenty of whales with some mammas and babies close in to the point. Also, a large pod of resident dolphins (might have been the light but they had a really golden-brown hue, quite unlike the grey bottlenose ones I usually see), birdlife galore and a few goannas as well. My kind of sacred place on the coastal way.

Then it was down to Dunbogan Beach for a high tide, soft sand walk towards Diamond Head - my penance for whiling away too many hours at Perpendicular Point. Forget leg day at the gym - a few laps of Dunbogan at high tide will set you right!

I try to pick up any litter on the beaches away from 'civilisation' and to the credit of most Aussies there's usually little to be found. While I normally hate seeing any stray plastic on the beach, I made an exception for the perfectly placed chair at Dunbogan which made a fine spot for a rest! Although the charming wooden throne a little further along was even better. Nice!

Diamond Head has strong connections with one of my favourite Aussie authors, Kylie Tennant. One of her books, 'The Man on the Headland' centres on her times in Diamond Head and some local characters. Hard to find these days but a great read. She understood poverty and desperation and so many aspects of her life and times, but also had a great way of seeing the bright side of life. She often notes that the human eye records best at the pace at which one walks and that to truly ‘see’ we need to walk, or even better, sit still. Walking is such a great way to see the world - and making time to sit still along the way (on a perfect headland or a well-placed driftwood log or even a plastic chair) makes it even better!