Charteris to Diamond Harbour

Saturday 3 July 2021

We had permission to walk on Flock Hill but when Bruce rang to confirm he was dissuaded from going. The severe frost deterred most of the membership, so our three elected to go local. We parked on the Black Rock Road above Hayes Bay and headed off on this section of the Head to Head walkway.

The deck of a boatshed at Church Bay made for a good morning tea stop. We stopped to chat to two locals that were clearing a monster jumble of banana passion fruit vine so they could plant natives. Scores of plastic barrels with 2 litre cut-off milk bottles are dotted along the track so in dry periods anyone can water the little trees that have been planted.

At Diamond Harbour we walked far enough along Stoddart Point Reserve to see into Purau Bay and to the heads. A well-placed bench seat gave us a good view of Ripapa Fort. We found a track that led to the café which all three of us avoided. The track that leads up the long spur to Herbert Peak got us to Bayview Road leading back to Charteris Bay and gave great long-distance views of the harbour. Back on the main road we back-tracked to the car and took the road down to the Charteris Bay Yacht Club which seemed to be no help but the exit road led to a walking track to the Hayes Bay beach. Then we were briefly on the track we started on that led to the car. This was a good walk on a clear, sunny day.

We were: Bruce Cameron, Mary McKeown and Kerry Moore. (KM)