TRACK NOTES
THE WALK IN SECTIONS DAY 1
Pretty Beach to Depot Beach 11km; 261m ascent/descent; approx 3-6 hours
The walk starts at Pretty Beach. Head towards the sand, past the impressive new sign announcing ‘Murramarang South Coast Walk’. As you head towards the beach, there are great views down the coast that extend not only as far as the stretch of coastline you’ll be walking, but all the way down to hulking Gulaga/ Mt Dromedary, more than 80km away as the sea eagle flies. Pretty Beach lives up to its name. Blue waters and foaming surf meets a beautiful stretch of broad, white sand. The beach is short though, and after just a few hundred metres you cross a wide, flat wave-cut rock platform under a headland that may be covered at high tide. Island Beach quickly follows. It’s longer than Pretty Beach, and is roughly 500m to cross. At the southern end of Island Beach, there’s a low, rocky headland, which you cross for 130m before looking for a sign that indicates the trail branches off to the right (the turnoff is just before the rocks narrow). You’re now following a track for a while, first on dirt, but then plastic boardwalk. Mercifully, the boardwalk in not just this section, but on the track in general, is rare, generally placed only where it’s needed. You soon pass the Singing Stones, a
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very small, semicircular cove where—when seas are big or the tides are right—the rounded, crystalline beach stones crash together and sing (or as my son remarked, play rock music), with the sound resonating off the amphitheatre-like cliffs. After 400m of track, winding stairs deposit you on yet another beach, this one unnamed. Follow it, but stay high and to the right once you’re on the rock platform. You then climb into the hills, through low, fire-scarred heath. After roughly 400m, you descend to Dawsons Beach, broad and beautiful, with Dawson Island sitting just off its southern end. Another 400m of beach walking later, just before the rock platform, keep your eyes out for an exit; it’s all too easy on this walk to be so distracted by gorgeous views that, despite the signposting, you miss a beach exit. You then head into forest for the first time, and trace around Snake Bay, through a section of rainforest—a lovely, shaded glade thick with cabbage tree palms. Then you’re back into the open, above a rocky promontory before soon finding yourself down near the water. A short rock hop follows, after which you ascend a beautifully constructed, aesthetically serpentine set of stairs. You’re now 4.5km into the walk. Some wonderful views down the coast ensue, after which you enter forest; from this point on, most of—but not all of—the way to Pebbly Beach is in forest. Although you encounter the odd rainforest gully on the way, the forest is largely spotted gums, and you begin hitting sections where the understorey is
