South Coast Track

Out of the blue my friend Alison asked me if I was interested in walking the South Coast Track with her.  After some consideration I agreed, and she went ahead and booked the flights to Melaleuca.

Leading up to this trek I actively did squats and lunges, and Andrew & I did a few walks during which I deliberately carried extra gear to ready my body for the weight.

We decided to take a 3-man tent in case the weather was poor and we needed to spend a lot of time in the tent.  The weather forecast predicted a lot of showers, but relative warmth, so I decided to take the down jacket only (no fleece).  My standard gear list can be found here.

In addition to the standard gear we hired a satellite phone from Sat Phone Sales (satphonesales.com.au), who were excellent to deal with.  This ended up costing $185 (with a $200 refunded deposit).  We also took a Wilderness Equipment overhead tarp in case of rain; John & Monica Chapman’s track notes; a fantastic elevation/distance summary graph chart I found on the internet (thank you BumpingBill) and I purchased the digital Tasmap which I printed.

Weigh-in at the airport indicated that both Alison and I were carrying 16kg, although that included items that we were generally wearing/carrying, such as goretex, gaiters & poles.

Our food consisted of porridge, muesli and coffee for breakfast; tuna/salmon snack meals, Cliff bars, nut mix, cheese & biscuits and electrolytes (Shotz) for lunch; and Backcountry dehydrated meals, 2 minute noodles and tea for dinner.

Day 1

Our flight to Melaleuca was scheduled for 9am.  We were contacted the previous day regarding the weather, our flight being changed to early afternoon.  After a couple more phone calls on the day we took off in the small plane (we were the only two passengers) around 3pm.  We travelled about half way when the weather came through, and we had to turn around and return to the airport.  Both of us had the vomit bag out ready, but neither of us ended up needing it.

Day 1 (take-two) – Melaleuca to Cox Bright

Flight scheduled for 9am; left approximately 10am
Walking time: 11.30 – 4.30pm (5 hrs)
Distance: 12.7km
Elevation: 77m (highest point) – 664m (total climbed)
Track: Good. board / gravel / dirt / water / beach
Difficulty rating: Easy
Personal experience: Hip / groin / feet pain

We collected our packs, used the toilet, registered our walk, and headed off. The track was easy, with parts submerged in water.  The scenery included rolling hills and beach, where we stopped for our lunch.

We decided to set up camp at the first camp site (Cox Bright – if doing again we would continue on to the Point Eric site).  There was a slight drizzle when we set up, so we used the over-head tarp for protection.  We were the only people there, so chose a site with a beach view.  All sites are well sheltered under trees.  We could hear the wind throughout the night, but didn’t feel any of it.

When taking off my shoes & gaiters I found a leech had just clamped on to my shin.

We were fed and in the tent by 7.30pm, at which point we did some crossword & quiz questions, before putting on a podcast to go to sleep by.  Odd choice of Alison’s – serial killer that preferred to take his victims in to the forest to make his kills….  Did I mention that our camp site was under a tree canopy and slightly creepy?

Day 2 – Cox Bright to Louisa Creek

Walking time: 9.30am – 4.30pm (7 hrs)
Distance: 14.7km
Elevation: 239m (highest point) – 575m (total climbed)
Track: Good. beach / board / gravel / mud
Difficulty rating: Easy
Personal experience: Hip / groin / feet pain

We had our breakfast on the beach and set off along the beach towards Point Eric.  We failed to notice the buoys hanging in the trees to indicate the track direction inland from the Buoy Creek crossing, so we ended up walking an additional 870m.  After finding our way back to the track we headed inland for the rest of the day.  The mud patches were easily managed, and a reasonable amount of board walk work has been done.

As we approached the foot of Red Hills we met a guy heading the opposite direction to us.  The walk over Red Hills was enjoyable, the view of the Ironbound Range appearing as we reached the top.  Beautiful and a bit daunting!

We negotiated our fist significant creek crossing (Faraway), which was easy enough but very cold!  From memory it came up to just below the knee.

The day was a bit showery.  Again the campsite was in the trees so was quite sheltered.  We strung up the overhead tarp, which turned out to be a good decision as it showered quite heavily during the night.  We ate our dinner on the steps of Louisa Creek, which we would need to wade first thing in the morning.  It was clear and appeared perfectly manageable.  We hit the tent for warmth and our crossword/quiz/podcast routine about 8.30pm.

No attached leeches today, but we did find one in our tent which was quickly disposed of.

Day 3 – Louisa Creek to Louisa River

Walking time: 11.30 – 2pm (2 hrs 30 mins)
Distance: 6.7km
Elevation: 72m (highest point) – 255m (total climbed)
Track: Good. board / gravel / dirt / water
Difficulty rating: Easy
Personal experience: Feet pain

This was a short day.  We had toyed with the idea of completing the walk in 7 days, however the weight of the first two days on our not-in-our-20s-bodies led us to stick to as close to 10km per day as we could.  We decided a short day prior to climbing the Ironbound was in order.  We had a leisurely start to the day, eating breakfast in the tent and heading off quite late.

Unfortunately the creek had risen somewhat during the evening!  You couldn’t see the bottom any longer, which made it a tad more challenging than it would have been the previous evening.  Luckily we’d had a pretty good look, so knew to expect a couple of logs before the rocks.  The water came up to my mid-thigh, and I didn’t think was as cold as the previous crossing had been.  I was very grateful for the rope, which I kept two hands on as much as possible.  After I made it to the other side Alison asked “Was that as hard as you made it look?”  So I take that to mean I wasn’t very graceful!

Again the track was good.  It was wet, as opposed to muddy.  There were sections of parallel boards that were submerged in water.

I saw a snake (I’m guessing a Tiger) in one of the more open sections.  It just slithered away in to the scrub in front of me.

We arrived at Louisa River and investigated the camp sites which were nicely sheltered amongst the trees.  Alison used the facilities, which she reported was an exposed drop toilet.  We decided to cross the river and investigate the other side to save us going through the drying feet process first thing in the morning.  From memory it was an easy crossing about mid-thigh (with a rope).

We discovered that the camp sites were better on this side of the river (bit more space), and the toilet was a drop toilet with walls.

We were joined in the campsite by lone male walker a short time later.  He set himself up in a great spot right on the river’s edge.

I managed to spill my cup of tea in the tent.  This was the only time for the entire trip that anything inside the tent got wet!  Luckily my towel was easily on hand so not too much damage was done.

Again no attached leeches today, but one appeared in the tent!

Day 4 – Louisa River to Little Deadmans Bay via Ironbound Range

Walking time: 8am – 5pm (9 hrs)
Distance: 15.8km
Elevation: 949m (highest point) – 917m (total climbed)
Track: Challenging. rock / water / tree roots / mud
Difficulty rating: Hard
Personal experience: Fatigue

Although the hardest, this was my favourite day.

We got an early start with the knowledge that this is considered the hardest day.  There’s only a short warm up before you start climbing the Ironbound. The weather held for us during the ascent – there were some showery & misty moments, but overall we were able to enjoy the fantastic views from the direction we had come.  The steps are generally well formed on the way up, often being made from the natural stone.  This had interesting colours through it, and no-doubt has geological significance.  To me they just looked really cool.

As we approached the top the weather came in.  It was very windy (blow-you-off-the-track windy) and showery.  The track up the top is good; a lot of board walk with some gravel/rock.  We weren’t lucky enough to enjoy any views from the top. There were times that we simply had to stop and brace ourselves with our poles from the wind, and Alison’s pack liner blew off her pack.

We then started the descent, which is when the track becomes challenging.  It is steep, rooty, muddy and wet.  We walked this section very deliberately and carefully to avoid any mishaps; which would occur very easily.  Although challenging, this forest is quite beautiful.  It’s classic rain forest, so there are interesting plants, mosses and fungi.

We were overtaken by the lone camper we had met back at Louisa River, and passed a group (8-10?) setting up camp at the Ironbound Low Camp.  As the descent flattens out the track becomes a nice forest littered track.  I would guess this took us about a kilometre in to the Little Deadmans Bay campground. There is a private drop toilet and we were able to have a refreshing dip in the creek that runs in to the Bay.  Again we shared the ground with the lone walker.

I note that my GPS clocked this section as 15.8km, whereas Chapman’s notes suggest it is 12.3km.

Day 5 – Little Deadmans Bay to Prion Beach

Walking time: 10am – 3pm (5 hrs)
Distance: 11.2km
Elevation: 97m (highest point) – 684m (total climbed)
Track: Good. beach / forest littered / tree roots / some sticky mud
Difficulty rating: Easy
Personal experience: Feet pain

In relative terms this was an easy walk.  However (presumably) due to the big day yesterday both Alison and I had extremely fatigued feet by the end of it. We were very happy to reach the campsite indeed!

Again my GPS clocked this walk as 11.2km, whereas Chapman’s notes indicate it’s 9.4km.

We came out of the forest on to the last stretch of beach, and there was a huge sea lion(?) laying on the beach.  I initially thought it was dead and had been washed up, but then we noted that it was breathing.  It obviously heard us talking, as it then picked it’s head up and looked around at us.  We hurried along in case it decided it didn’t want us there!

After the long stretch of beach we came to the row-boat crossing.  The lagoon was very high, so the boats were easy to get in and out of the water (I would not want to drag them a long way!).  After trying a couple of things we settled on both rowing a single oar. This ultimately worked well and we had no trouble with the three crossings.

The camp ground is a good one with a private toilet.  We had the pick of the sites as the only campers there.  We followed the directions of Chapman to collect some water and discovered that ‘brackish’ means salty.  Luckily we had spare water from the days walk, so we used this sparingly for dinner and breakfast the next day.

Day 6 – Prion Beach to Granite Beach

Walking time: 8.00am – 4.45pm (8 hrs 45 mins)
Distance: 12.9km? (GPS ran out of battery)
Elevation: 162m (highest point while GPS was working) – 873m (total climbed while GPS was working)
Track: forest litter / beach / rocks
Difficulty rating: Easy/Medium
Personal experience: Feet pain / fatigue

We had some musli and forego coffee deciding to wait for the first creek so we could collect some non-salty water.  This was about 1.5kms in.  You head down a steep sandy embankment that has a rope for assistance.  We both decided that throwing our packs down first was the safest  way to tackle this. Once at the bottom there is a creek crossing (no rope) which was upper thigh height but easily managed.  This water was also ‘brackish’, and we discovered that the salt is much stronger after boiling.  So we abandoned the idea of coffee and just filled our water bottles up with it cold and added flavoured electrolyte tablets.  This made it drinkable.

After this there is a temporary track (well sign-posted).  I didn’t mind this as the walking was much easier on my feet, however the constant climbing over and ducking under tree limbs with a large pack on the back was tiring.

Alison saw two snakes during this section.  One was in the forest within an hour of us heading off, and the second was on the rocky plain.  I can’t recall which was which, but from her description it sounds as though one was a young Tiger and the other was  White Lipped Whip.

The track continues through light forest until you reach Granite Beach.  The tide was well out when we arrived, however there is still a stretch of rocks that you have to walk across to get to the camp site.  It started raining as we arrived.  We had planned to have a shower under the waterfall here, however we were quite cold by the time we approached the camp site, so made our way straight to there and put the tent up.  This was probably my least-favourite camp site.  With a 3-man tent we needed a reasonable space, and it was a bit of a tight fit to find a reasonable flat area without tree roots.  The pit toilet here was quite full!

A lone male walker arrived shortly after us, however we didn’t speak with him at all.

Another leech made it’s way in to the tent.

Day 7 – Granite Beach to South Cape Rivulet

Walking time: 8.30am – 3.00pm (6 hrs 30 mins)
Distance: 9.1km (as recorded in Chapman’s notes)
Elevation: 715m (total climb – as recorded in Chapman’s notes)
Track: Average.  forest litter / board / mud / water / tree roots
Difficulty rating: Medium
Personal experience: Feet pain

We had taken a satellite phone with us in the event that we needed assistance, but also to coordinate meeting up with Andrew at the Cockle Creek end of the walk.  I had used the phone at Little Deadmans Cove and Granite Beach with no issues.  I just had to stand in an open area to get signal.  We were expecting to meet up with Andrew somewhere on this leg.

Another early start, which commenced with a 2km steep climb!  This leg had the most destruction of the landscape as a result of people walking through. There were a few sections that had diversions due to the extremely deep/wide sludgy mud sections.  We were pretty much either going steeply up or steeply down the whole day, through challenging track conditions, hence the ‘medium’ rating.  This part of the day was much easier on my feet (flat sections seem to make them hurt the most!).

The weather was perfect for walking; overcast with occasional drizzle during the steepest parts.  Towards the end it then cleared to blue skies – the first for the entire trip.

We came out on the plain which was parallel boards; a nice relief.  Most of the way across here we met up with Andrew, and the three of us made our way to South Cape Rivulet over the next couple of hours.  There was a bit of a difference in our walking speed, as Andrew had only one and half days walking under his belt and a day pack on!  We’d spent most of this day in forest without views; however over the last stretch there were some lovely viewing lookouts of the coast.

A leech managed to attach itself to my shin again this day; and another appeared on my gear.  No surprise to find it, as a reasonable portion of the track was brushing past ferns.

This was our favourite camp site as it was right on the beach and more open than the others.  And the weather was such that we didn’t need to hide in the tent.  Andrew had set up camp here the day before and spent the night.

We spent the afternoon sipping on the port he had brought in and he tried his hand at fishing in the rivulet.  And he actually caught a fish!  Not being familiar with sizing, we decided to let it go.  Research suggests it was a brown trout, and probably was size (we estimate it was 30cm).

There was a lone female set up at this camp who we had a bit of a chat to.

The pit toilet was by far the worst of the entire trip.  It was pretty full, and there were fly eggs on and under the seat.  Using it gave my fatigued thighs a good workout!

Unfortunately a pademelon ate a hole in Alison’s tent in the early hours of the morning trying to get to food inside.  There was a mother and a joey at the camp that were quite tame, so presumably people have fed them in the past and they take advantage when they can.

Day 8 – South Cape Rivulet to Cockle Creek

Walking time: 8.35am – 12.35pm (4 hrs)
Distance: 11.4km (as recorded in Chapman’s notes)
Elevation: 200m (total climb – as recorded in Chapman’s notes)
Track: board / beach / dirt / rock
Difficulty rating: Easy
Personal experience: Feet pain

Although this was the easiest day in terms of track and (lack of) elevation, I was very ready to stop by the end of it!  The constant flat was hardest for my feet.

This is a really nice walk, and we met a number of people walking in for a day walk.  The highlight is walking across the cliff just after Lion Rock; this is really interesting rock formation.  The weather was again clear blue skies with no threat of showers at all.

We arrived at Cockle Creek and signed ourselves in.  There are toilets here, as it’s a popular car campsite on a beautiful bay.  We sat on some rocks and enjoyed an IPA that Andrew had also brought with him.  He was racking up the brownie points on this trip!

Summary

When Alison suggested doing this walk I was initially apprehensive (and said no).  I can’t actually recall why I changed my mind, but I’m very glad I did!  It was a challenge, but at no point did I think that we wouldn’t make it, and at no point did I wish we weren’t doing it.  The scenery is amazing, overall the weather was very good to us, and the body coped well.

The things we carried and didn’t use were the trowel and spare shoe laces. Both of these I would carry again.  I probably didn’t need to carry sleeping shorts/top, but it was nice to have something ‘clean’ to change in to at the end of the day.

The items that I was particularly happy with by the end of the trip were my trekking poles, wet weather pants and towel; I think these are essential.  I’ve had my poles for nearly four years now, and couldn’t be happier with them.  I use them on every walk I go on.  Because I had shorts only, the wet weather pants were great for added warmth as wind protection.  I discovered I was able to wear these rolled up over my shorts, which meant if the drizzle started I could simply roll them down rather than needing to stop and get them out of the pack.  They have double zips up the leg that go to just above the knee, which allowed me to roll them up, and allowed me to open them for ventilation. The towel was a must for drying feet after creek crossings and mopping up spilt tea!

The other thing highly recommended is insect repellent.  The mosquitoes were rife at most camp sites; at Little Deadmans they drove Alison in to the tent to eat her dinner.

I have traditionally had issues with blisters and sore feet from walking.  I have included my personal experience in the day summaries above, as although I may have rated a day in isolation as easy, the culmination of days and weight carried impacted significantly on how ‘easy’ I actually found it.  I’ve overcome general feet blisters by wearing two pairs of socks (Armaskin are great as a base layer sock), however will always still get them on both little toes on multi-day walks.  I think this is to do with the shape of my toes…  I manage this with blister/bandaids and put up with the pain.  I also find that my feet simply get tired/sore when I carry a weighty pack – my feet are not designed to carry 80kg, obviously.

GPS statistics are a little suspect on some days.

Thanks to Matthew for lending us the tarp; to Andrew for driving us and supplying much needed refreshments; and special thanks to Alison for coming up with the idea and taking me along for the experience!!