Port Macquarie to Bonny Hills
26 km (675 km) | 8 hr
Started today from Flynns Beach, just south of the township of Port Macquarie, and loved the southern part of the outstanding Port Macquarie Coastal Track. It's all jaw-dropping, with the Sea Acres rainforest section and Tacking Point as particular highlights.
Enjoyed some sunrise magnificence at Henry Gardiner Monument (he drowned in 1874 trying to save the life of his friend - onya mate) and Burley Point. Then Shelly Beach, followed by the outstanding Miners Beach track and lookout on the coastal edge of the magnificent Sea Acres rainforest reserve, followed by the nicely named Chillers Bay.
Had to scramble down to Little Bay, as the track is currently being repaired, but once complete the track from there up to Tacking Point will be another winner. It was a little road detour to wonderful Tacking Point and its cute lighthouse and then 'beachfall' to the lovely long stretch of sand that is Lighthouse Beach. Lighthouse was at its absolute best that day in the late winter sunlight and my heart was full. 'Put me on a long beach, at a perfect low tide, and walk it to the limit, one more time' as the Eagles should have sung!
A few kms south of Watonga Rocks I had a swim with a pod of dolphins and then communed with a red-backed sea eagle (technically a Brahminy Kite) that watched quizzically as I re-robed.
Lake Cathie and Cathie Creek entrance were superb. I wended my way around the foreshore reserve to the small bridge at Lake Cathie (pronounced 'cat-eye' if you want to sound like a local) - the entrance is generally wade-able beachside, but it was peak high tide, and the bridge was only a short distance inland. I had a lunch break and a relax waiting for the tide to turn and then it was another superb stretch of sand and rocks past Cathie Beach, Middle Rock and Beach, and Duchess Gully to Rainbow Beach at Bonny Hills where I stayed the night in an exceptionally good value AirBnB.
I was reflecting as the tide turned, and the ebb made the impassable seem passable, about Abraham Lincoln's phrase 'This too shall pass' (known in the west from the retelling of a Persian fable by the English poet Edward Fitzgerald). Wise words that hold true in both prosperity and adversity and sauntering and, indeed, life. Long may the good times of today's coast walk linger, and not pass too quickly from this eminently contented coastal pilgrim’s memory.