Bushwalk Australia

I've noticed a few posts from people who have recently set out to do The Great South Coast Walk, as well as posts that comment "to be honest I'd never heard of a Great South Coast Walk". The Great South Coast Walk is a project to link the many tracks, forestry trails, beaches etc to form a 660 km walk from Sydney to Mallacoota, crossing 12 National Parks and several other reserves along this beautiful coast line. A small steering committee is guiding the development of this project and we are currently in an awareness-building phase, talking to tourism and National Parks people, as well as local government, state politicians and anyone else who might listen. There is a website ( http://greatsouthcoastwalk.net/ ) that provides maps, describes the walk stages in some detail, and lists current issues. In addition, we have just set up a Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/GreatSouthCoastWalk/ ) to allow people to provide feedback and to report on progress. If you have photos of parts of this walk or local knowledge, please feel free to post this on the Facebook page. This is essentially a people power project, so everyone's input is welcome. The fact that people have started talking about it and walking it, shows that the idea of a Great South coast Walk is starting to seep into the public consciousness, and we would like this to grow.

This looks like a fantastic long trail journey, the concept and geographical location has me all twitchy & eyeing off my hiking kit ...is there a general overview map anywhere on the website or fb page showing the proposed terminus'??

Hi,
The website lists 11 stages of 3-4 days length each and each has a Google map with the track and places to stay etc on it. The whole track can be downloaded as a GPX file form the REsources page, but bear in mind it is regularly being updated with improvements. The proposed terminus for the recommended north-south route is Mallacoota, just over the border in Victoria - really the last town of any size on the coast for a very long way. Mallacoota has bus transport and good accommodation. If heading north, the terminus becomes Bundeena, which is just a ferry ride from the southern suburbs of Sydney.

It's really just the uncertainty of some of the river crossings that's holding this back.

True, but several people have walked it end-to-end already and have negotiated the water-crossings successfully. The consensus is that these are a positive feature and add a bit of adventure. Many can be waded or have dry sandbars. When my wife and I did it a long time ago, we got a variety of rides with fishermen, oyster farmers, coast rescue people etc and also crossed a couple on an air mattress. However, if this is to become an "official" walk, we need to have the means of crossing the more serious stretches of water in place. Our plan is to have a system like on the Yuraygir Track, where you can phone ahead and arrange the crossing. My retired oyster-farmer contact thinks that this should not be a problem and, once, we get names, I'll post them on the website. That said, if people are only planning on walking in stages - it is possible to end one stage on one side of a water-crossing and start the next stage on the other, avoiding the issue altogether.

As far as track goes, there is only about 5km max in the whole 660 km where you would need to go bush, and we are waiting on NPWS to meet with them and talk about that (one small bit will be solved when they upgrade the Murramarang section with part of their $50 million allocation from NSW Government). The main bit would be a 3km stretch in Mimosa Rock NP.

It looks purpose made for a packraft, provided you can set up food drops (or have enough $$$ to resupply when passing through towns).

If I was still on the mainland I'd be thinking seriously about this. North on the AAWT, PT to Sydney, then south down the coast. A walking track link would be even better.

north-north-west wrote:It looks purpose made for a packraft, provided you can set up food drops (or have enough $$$ to resupply when passing through towns).

If I was still on the mainland I'd be thinking seriously about this. North on the AAWT, PT to Sydney, then south down the coast. A walking track link would be even better.

Firstly, gang gang I've been looking at this on your website. Thank you for the effort you have put into this. Looks great.

NNW - what is PT to Sydney?

Cheers

PT: Public Transport?
ie, train from Newcastle to Sydney. Frequent service. Done that.

Cheers
Roger

north-north-west wrote:If I was still on the mainland I'd be thinking seriously about this. North on the AAWT, PT to Sydney, then south down the coast. A walking track link would be even better.

As a broad brush stroke alternative to public transport, perhaps:
- From Tharwa, you'd have to go east, as any other direction ends in Canberra or farmland
- Follow the Murrumbidgee through Gigerline NR,up Angle Crossing Rd, then Williamsdale Rd and Burra Rd to get to Tinderry NR
- Firetrails and off-track across to Captains Flat, the Captains Flat Rd up to the Great Dividing Range
- Not sure about best link across to the coastal escarpment parks, but I guess you'd want to get across to roughly Berland?
- From here, I guess you can choose your poison, maybe swing across to the Western Distributor through Monga NP the up into the Budawangs
- Route of choice through the Budawangs to the Vines or Folly Pt and out to Sassafras
- Yarramunum Firetrail to Yalwal and Yalwal Ck Tk to Shoalhaven
- Follow the Shoalhaven up to the dam
- Maybe across the dam to Beehive Point (hey, you brought that packraft, right?)
- Beehive Point to Merlya Pass and along firetrails and roads into Moss Vale
- Suburban walking tracks to Mittagong and down Gibbergunyah Ck to the Nattai
- Follow the Nattai downstream for ages and then up over Beloon Pass
- Yerranderie, then Kanangra, then Katoomba
- Katoomba-Leura-Mt Hay Rd-Lockleys Pylon-Grose Valley-Pierces Pass

That'd get you to Bell's Line of Road. From here, I guess you'd want to swing around Sydney to the North and pick up the Great North Walk, maybe at Berowra Waters, then follow it to it's start. Then follow Sydney's track network down to Bundeena, probably with a ferry or two thrown in. But I'm not sure how one could do this last leg...

Lachlan: You're overthinking this. Or maybe not... But that stretch looks as challenging as the other two legs put together.

north-north-west wrote:Lachlan: You're overthinking this. Or maybe not... But that stretch looks as challenging as the other two legs put together.

Defintely

Finding an easy way to do it would be the challenge; all the up and down was making my legs sore just thinking about it.