Dreamtime to Pottsville

27 km (63 km) | 7 hr

Non mortem timendum esse homini, sed ne incipiat vivere - It is not death that should be feared, it is never beginning to live ~Marcus Aurelius

I check out of my youth hostel and catch a pre-dawn 601 bus to Wommin Bay. I head to the southern end of Dreamtime Beach at the point I had been the day before and turn right – this time heading south in the ‘right’ direction. A glorious sunrise is a wonderful omen as I saunter along Kingscliff Beach to Cudgen Creek, where I make a short diversion inland to cross at the small bridge.

Past Cudgen Headland and on to South Kingscliff, Bogangar, Casuarina, and Cotton beaches all with firm sands and gentle slopes making for perfect beach walking. Gorgeous Cabarita and sensational Norries Head provide a wonderful spot for lunch and a coffee. I return to the sand for a short stroll along Maggies Beach before coming to Cudgera Creek. As with its northern sibling Cudgen, I have a short stroll inland for a bridge crossing to Hastings Point Lookout where, far to the south, I can just make out Walgan / Cape Byron still more than two days walk away. Cudgera Beach stretches south from Hastings Point and, once on the beach, there is a much wilder and more remote feeling until I near Pottsville and my abode for the night.

My tired body and blistered feet were not thrilled when I discover that my motel was 3 km from the Pottsville pub and dinner. The magic restorative powers of a long, hot bath though, and I am as good as new. With those extra few kilometres and a hot pub feed inside me, I sleep the sleep of the just that night. My dreams are not of sugar plums but rather of whales and dolphins and headlands and beaches –a beautiful way to drift off.