Myall Coast Thursday Walkers hike into better weather

AUGUST delivered its characteristically chilly last gasp of winter, providing brisk breezes and cool mornings for the Thursday Walkers heading off for their weekly excursions.

The first week was a trek across Raymond Terrace, starting from the Lakeside Leisure Centre and ending at Riverside Park along the Hunter River.

“The Grahamstown Drain is really a misnomer for a pathway,” Ray Hughes said.

“It starts near Grahamstown Dam and follows an extended wetlands area running all the way down to Windeyers Creek at Heatherbrae and eventually into the Hunter River.”

The ‘drain’ path skirts the edge of the wetlands on one side, and suburbia along the other, before cutting through scrub and forest, over creeks and bridges, under the Pacific Highway and onwards.

Heatherbrae proved a bit too far, so a detour was taken alongside Muree Golf Course to the Pioneer Hill Cemetery (established 1840) for a morning tea stop with some of the ‘long-term residents’, then up to and through Boomerang Park.

Working their way from there down to the Hunter River, they made it to the riverside for lunch and then headed home.

The following Thursday’s light breeze and sunshine made ideal conditions for a drive down to Kahibah and a really nice, not-too-long ambulation, initially through part of the Glenrock State Conservation Area, before heading to Merewether through very varied surroundings and scenery.

“With all the new bridges, stairs and handrails it is much easier than it used to be in parts,” Mr Hughes said.

“There are still several areas that need upgrading, with particular care needed while making the way through several washaways.”

Following Flaggy Creek through a rainforest and crisscrossing it several times, including passing waterfalls, the walkers eventually reached Leichhardt’s Lookout, the valley to one side and Glenrock Lagoon and the beach in the distance – an ideal spot for morning tea.

They continued down the hill through more forest, through stone cutaways to Burwood Beach, then around Glenrock and Merewether headlands across sand and rock shelves while dodging tidal pools to the Merewether Surf Club for lunch overlooking the ocean for an all-round enjoyable day.

Spring had almost sprung with the sunshine upon their next walk, from the Hawks Nest Surf Club along Bennett’s Beach out to the Yacaaba Headland. Sandy travails made for a slower pace, and the destination all the more rewarding.

Everybody completed the challenge to climb up to the middle-lookout level and morning tea with sweeping views encompassing the northern shore of Port Stephens to the south, Hawks Nest, Tea Gardens, the Myall River and the Northern coastline.

Despite a rain shower next walk day, an optimistic group set off for a Morpeth meander, where the rain stopped upon arrival and the ominous sky remained dry for the rest of the day, for them to enjoy a nice, easy meander through and around the quaint little village sitting beside the Hunter River.

Once a thriving river port town, times have changed, and Morpeth has been reinvented as a relaxing tourist (and shopping) destination, many of the buildings reflect the heritage of the area with some interesting stories attached.

Morpeth was the first Australian home of Caleb Soul and his son Washington who went on to create the Washington H Soul/Soul Pattinson chemist chains, and above their talcum powder factory was a bakery run by William Arnott, the founder of the biscuits empire.

“In 1873, Walter Bramble started what was to become an international transport and logistics business by rowing up to Morpeth to collect meat, fruit and dairy products to deliver them to Newcastle,” Mr Hughes said.

The walkers took in the shopping strip, the river, suburbia, and looped back through large parklands and eventually to a lunch spot by the river.

Plans for September include Myall Shores to Rivermouth Campgrounds, the Stockton Foreshore, and two wildflower walks – The Michael Rowe Memorial Walk and the Awabakal Nature Reserve.

By Thomas O’KEEFE