Gibraltar Pines: Punch Bowl Creek

General Information

Grading : medium

Distance:  9.8 kilometers 

Total climb:  417 meters

Time taken:  3 hours 30 minutes

Map:  Corin Dam 8626-1N, 1:25 000 

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:  49 kilometers 

Start point map grid reference:  55H FA 74894 68592

Destination map grid reference:  n/a

End point:  same as start

Route

 

Description

This walk began at the Smokers Trail car park off Corin Road. We walked up to the top of the hill, then turned slightly right and cut through the bush to another management trail which we followed round to the start of the walking track along Punch Bowl Creek (map reference 55H FA 75649 68431).

We followed the walking track past the two waterfalls on Punch Bowl Creek...

 

...and then continued down to an old gate before turning left and crossing Punch Bowl Creek at map reference 55H FA 76680 68759. From here we hit exploration mode, following an old and rough track paralleling the north side of the creek. We followed this for a few kilometers just to see where it went. We were hopeful that it might climb up the ridge on our left, but it soon became apparent that it most likely just went to the Booroomba Homestead (as it turned out we were right about this) and decided to turn back.

We followed mostly the same route back to our starting point, although we re-crossed Punch Bowl Creek a bit further downstream than on the outward journey.

Port Macquarie Coastal Walk

General Information

Grading : easy

Distance:  8.8 kilometers 

Total climb:  195 meters

Time taken:  2 hours

Map:  Port Macquarie 9435-2S, 1:25 000 

Start point distance by road from Canberra GPO:  661 kilometers

Route

Description

We started this walk at Town Beach and followed the marked trail to the south along the coastline. This meanders through bushland (including Sea Acres Nature Reserve) and along beaches, with the trail mostly easy to follow and with great views from time to time.

The trail officially ends at the Tacking Point Lighthouse.

We went on a little bit further down Lighthouse Beach so that we could have a brief camel ride along the beach and have a good lunch at the Tacking Point SLSC.

Note: 

I haven't included the return journey as part of this blog posting. We walked back along Lighthouse Road and Pacific Drive, just shy of 6 kilometers and not particularly interesting. Other options include returning via the Coastal Walk or catching a bus from Pacific Drive.