Scotts Head to Southwest Rocks
22 km (437 km) 9 hr
To take the ‘easy way’ is to walk a path that doesn’t exist to the edge of a cliff that does ~Craig D. Lounsbrough
Today was a day of mighty swells and cliffs and winds and beaches and rivers. Dramatic, intense and thrilling don't even come close!
Heading south from 100m high Scotts Head the coast feels incredibly wild, despite the houses perched bravely on a few of the clifftops. The winds and thunderous swells made the rock platforms along the way a bit precarious, but it was absolutely top notch sauntering.
On a day of such magnificence, it’s hard to select particular highlights but the newish Goanna trail which starts from Waki Beach just south of Scotts Head certainly makes the cutoff. (Note that Waki Beach is not named on Google Maps, but it is immediately to the south of Little Beach). I’d also like to give a shoutout to Wayne, a perfect Airbnb host, who checked the walk out, took numerous pics of the signage, confirmed details with his surfer son and thus put me onto the trail after I had mentioned my plans the previous afternoon. Thanks Wayne deeply appreciated. While the natural beauty of our coast is the main driver of my walk, I equally love the interactions with so many great folk along the way - everyone's in a kind and generous mood at the beach!
The Goanna Trail is an absolutely stunning clifftop walk, probably grade 5 in difficulty, if not length, but some of the best benches in perfect viewing spots I have seen on the coast so far. There is interesting interpretive signage and pink ribbons where needed (put in place by the local hiking group I believe) to guide you through the trickier bits. Just incredible walking and views and probably one of the best 1-2 hour walks on the coast. For anyone in the neighbourhood this is a coast walk to get the heart (and soul) pumping!
The Goanna trail comes out onto Middle Beach with a 2 km stroll to Middle Head. This smallish headland represented a bit of a challenge with rock climbs and descents and some dense bush - once again some thoughtful pink ribbons were a guide, but it was very slow going. If it proved too difficult note that it is also possible to walk back to Grassy Head Road about a km from the headland, and then walk via the road to 'Scratchies' (because you have to scratch around to catch a wave there) and the northern end of Grassy Beach. Grassy Beach had some perfect waves in the lee of Grassy Head today, but definitely for expert surfers only. Waves were huge and powerful, and I winced several times watching some brave (or foolhardy) locals getting gloriously ‘chundered’!
Grassy Head itself has a few walking tracks to a small lookout but, while only 30m high it seemed impossible to get across to Stuarts Point Beach due to the almost sheer vertical cliffs on its southern side. I couldn’t find the right friendly pink ribbons so I retreated and used a 4WD access point at the south end of the caravan park to then come out on long, lonely Stuarts Point Beach, which extends 9 kms all the way to the 'new' mouth of the Macleay, north of Southwest Rocks (until the 1890s the mouth was near Grassy Head).
Sadly, the extreme weather meant that my boat ride across the Macleay had to be aborted due to the wind and waves. I made a diversion across the pretty footbridge on the Macleay Arm at Stuarts Point where I could get a pickup from my support crew. Matt at Southwest Rocks Estuary Charters is able to offer a river crossing service when the weather is not so extreme, and this would be a wonderful way to cross the Macleay.
It was a pleasure to be in Southwest Rocks and I enjoyed a short sunset ramble along its beautiful riverside boardwalk and reflected on yet another day of the coast at its finest. Southward Ho!