MAUREEN’S MEANDER TO MELBOURNE

I first decided to walk, cycle and paddle from Sydney to Melbourne, via the coast, when I realized that not working would curtail my overseas trips. It was May 2008 and we were at Murramarang National Park with our friends Judy and Jim looking at a series of perfect little bays and a sparkling blue sea. I was waxing lyrical on how our Aussie beaches are even better than the pretty coves on the Greek islands when Jim suggested that if I was so enthralled with the coastline I should follow it from Sydney to Melbourne. He doesn’t remember his throw-away line but the gauntlet had been thrown down.

Rather than research the whole route, a very daunting task, I decided to plan as I go. Wilf Hilder commented that there was no point in organizing the whole trip at the start “in case the grim reaper intervenes”. Wise, if not rather macabre words.

So, the challenge began on a cloudy day when 16 people from Sydney Bushwalkers Club and the Bush Club joined me at Macquarie Place in Sydney, where all the distances in the early colony were measured from. Only four people declared at the start that they would like to walk the whole way – Jan Roberts, Wilf Hilder, Eric Easterbrook and Gary Brown. I hope David will be by my side all the way too.

I am not overwhelmed by the task I have set myself, only by the organization involved when putting walks on Club programs several months ahead.

To go to a particular Stage just click on the appropriate hyperlink below or to view the route on Google Earth or Maps, click on the map hyperlink.

Stage 1 Sydney to Watsons Bay Map 1

Stage 2 Watsons Bay to Maroubra Map 2

Stage 3 Maroubra to La Perouse Map 3

Stage 3a La Perouse to Wolli Creek Map 3a

Stage 4 Wolli Creek to Cronulla Map 4

Stage 5 Kurnell to Cronulla Map 5

Stage 6 Bundeena to Otford Map 6

Stage 7 Otford to Coalcliff Map 7

Stage 8 Coalcliff to Bulli Map 8

Stage 9 Bulli to Pt Kembla Map 9

Stage 10 Pt Kembla to Shellharbour Map 10

Stage 11 Shellharbour to Minnamurra Map 11

Stage 12 Minnamurra to Shoalhaven Heads Map 12

Stage 12a Beecroft Peninsula

Stage 13 Crookhaven Heads to Myola Map 13a Map 13b

Stage 14 Huskisson to Sussex Inlet Map 14a Map 14b

Stage 15 Sussex Inlet to Burrill Lake Map 15a Map 15b Map 15c

Stage 16 Burrill Lake to Batemans Bay

Stage 17 Batemans Bay to Moruya Map 17

Stage 18 Moruya to Narooma Map 18

Stage 19 Narooma to Merimbula Map 19a Map 19b Map 19c Map 19d Map 19e

Stage 19a Mimosa Rocks National Park Map 19f Map 19g Map 19h Map 19i Map 19j

Stage 20 Merimbula to Boyd Tower Map 20a Map 20b

Stage 21 Merrica River to Boyd Tower (Eden) Map 21

Stage 22 Howe-Nadgee Wilderness Map 22

Stage 23 Point Hicks to Mallacoota

Stage 24 Bairnsdale to Sydenham Inlet Map24a Map24b Map24c Map24d Map24e

Stage 25 Bairnsdale to Melbourne Map25a Map25b Map 25c Map25d Map25e

Map 25f Map25g Map25h Map25i Map25j

Total Walking 754km

Cycling 902km

Overall 1656km

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank those who helped me put this ‘meander’ together and they include The Shoalhaven Bushwalkers’ Club, Batemans Bay Bushwalkers, staff from NPWS at various south coast offices and the blog that David Briese set up when he and his wife did the walk as far as Mallacoota, even though our routes were often different. His current link is http://greatsouthcoastwalk.net. I also relied heavily on the following books:

Beaches of Jervis Bay and the Shoalhaven

Beaches of Batemans Bay and the Eurobodalla Coast

Beaches of Merimbula and the Sapphire Coast, all by Peter and Manuela Henry, published by Hyams Publishing, Huskisson

Walking the Wilderness Coast, by Peter Cook and Chris Dowd, Wildcoast Publications (1995) was also useful.

All pictures - David and Maureen Carter