July 2024 - Bivouac Bay

Ready for our July walk, Di, Janet, Wayne, Caroline, Warren and his brother Paul gathered in the Fortescue Bay carpark at 10.30am. Wayne had stayed overnight at the campground in his comfy motorhome. Di and Janet had stayed overnight in a chalet at nearby Taranna. Note, the road in was a bit treacherous. In addition to as the numerous potholes (which had been expected), the surface was pretty slimy in patches due to the recent rains.

We changed our original idea of doing the Cape Hauy trail when we considered the weather forecast, which was for high winds. The Bivouac Bay trail would be a lot more sheltered from the predicted northeasterlies. So we registered in the book and set off along the beautiful beach in good spirits.

The trail was very pleasant. Although it is not as manicured as the Cape Hauy track, the first half of the trail had recently enjoyed a little track maintenance. It was an easy stroll to Canoe Bay, taking about an hour. The shipwreck was adorned with cormorants, who were also enjoying the balmy day. There were fab views out to the Cape Hauy pillars on the other side of the bay.

It's true to report that we didn't really enjoy the hilly headland before our lunch destination at Bivouac Bay, but we made it. The campsite at Bivouac Bay now boasts three large tent platforms and a new toilet block. A clear creek provides fresh water, and the bay is very pretty.

On the way back we passed a cute young echidna enjoying digging for food on the edge of the trail. It was not nervous at all about the huge bipedal animals stopping to stare at it:

Back at the beach, we found the walk had taken us 4 hours and 40 minutes. Wayne stayed at Fortescue Bay to enjoy another peaceful night in the bush, and the rest of us headed back to look for an icecream at the Chocolate Foundry in Taranna (note - it closes at 4pm) and drinks and snacks at the Cannery at Dunalley.

June 2024 - Marion Bay

We were lucky with the weather for our June walk. Wayne organised this one, and there were nine of us today - Wayne, Gerwyn, Maryanne, Di, Kat, Philip, Caroline, Warrren, Janet. We met at the Marion Bay carpark at 10am. The walk was timed to avoid being on the beach too close to high tide (2pm), as the beach (on one side of the peninsula or the other) can disappear at these times.

We have done this walk a couple of times before: Feb 2015 and Nov 2019. It's interesting to look back at the photos from those walks. By comparison, the spit has suffered erosion on both sides. The beach on the sea side, and the sand spit at the end, are much reduced from what they were, and there is more silt on the lagoon side.

There have been some big storms recently, and we could see the evidence with a lot of kelp washed a long way up into the dunes.

The beach was as beautiful as ever.

The recent big swells had washed a lot of juicy scallops up on the beaches, so we were looking hard for some of these. Sadly we found no scallops for eating, but there were some massive patches of beautiful shells scattered along the shore.

Most of us couldn't resist collecting a few of the beauties.

We stopped for a snack at the point.

And then continued around onto the Dunalley Canal side of the spit.

Back at the carpark again, we piled into our vehicles to go and look for a nice spot for lunch. We ended up at The Cannery on the Canal for an enjoyable seafood lunch and even more chatting. This is an easy walk, about a hour and a half, only about 7.5 km, with good options for post walk meals nearby.