Ben Boyd NP - Northern Section

This morning we went off to explore the Northern section of Ben Boyd National Park. This is situated between Pambula and Eden (the Southern section is south of Eden and we’ll explore there another day).

To quote the NSW National Parks people:

“This park is named after Benjamin Boyd, a prominent 19th-century Far South Coast entrepreneur. Its rugged coastline is a colourful display of folded red rocks, standing out against the sapphire blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The park has sandy surf beaches, rugged bays, rock platforms, quiet campgrounds, sheltered inlets and historic lighthouses. Its heathlands and forests are home to a variety of plants and animals, including threatened species such as the ground parrot, eastern bristlebird, hooded plover, yellow-bellied glider and long-nosed potoroo.”

We took the turnoff the main highway to Haycocks Point (around 6 kms of potholed dirt road). There were several short roads off this road, and we’d chosen three to visit today. There is a nice grassy campsite at Haycock Point – although nobody was camped there today – we had the place to ourselves except for a couple of artists trying to capture the wonderful scenery.

We heard plenty of different bird songs as we walked through the bottle brush trees. We saw plenty of evidence of other animal life on the ground too… It was just a few hundred metres to the cliff tops of Haycock Point. From there we could see across the water to Pambula and Merimbula and south along Long Beach (which is 7.25 Kms long apparently) towards Eden. Being a clear day we could see a lot further south than just Eden.

With a perfect blue sky, very little breeze it was cool but ideal for enjoying this seascape. A rocky outcrop sat in front of us and waves pounded the rocks. Further out to sea it looked smooth and calm.

After returning from Haycock Point we went down on to the wide expanse that is Long Beach.

Back in the car for the short drive to Barmouth Beach. It was a 150 m walk down the hillside to a lovely little beach – the large gum trees make their way right down to the sand of the beach. We explored the red ‘folded’ rocks that the National Parks people spoke of. Found some wonderful shells.

It was such a nice spot we stayed for a picnic lunch and a bit of a play in the sand. Ethan & Gemma stripped off and went running and paddling… although both cracked it once they were wet and sandy!

The final stop in our adventure was back along the dirt road towards the highway, where we took the turnoff for ‘The Pinncacles’… It was a 1km loop walk which we enjoyed through the scrub. The Pinnacles are an eroded cliff – with bright white, soft sand, topped by a reddish sand – there is a clear distinction between the two layers! The access to the beach was closed, but the view from the lookout was wonderful. The sun illuminated the Pinnacles beautifully. We could also glimpse more of Long Beach from this vantage point.

We returned to the apartment to chill out for awhile before a pleasant late afternoon walk up and around the Fishpen Peninsula. This short walk takes us along the lake shore – where we spotted an octopus in the water – it swam along, rested on the bottom, then swam some more. It even impressed us by changing colours from a very pale grey to a very dark grey before slipping under some rocks! A quick stop at Mitchies jetty and then return home along the roadway. It was almost dark and quite crisp when we got back.