Camping Bouddi NP - Tallow Beach

[Ally]

I'm thinking of camping for a night or two in Bouddi NP, specifically Tallow Beach camping ground.

Just wondering if anyone has camped there previously and if there are any problems with noise from other campers (i.e. does it attract noisy/drinking campers) or is it quiet? I want to take a child so need to make sure it is a safe environment.

I know that there is a camping fee and a maximum six sites. Does a NP pass for the car have to be purchased as well?

Thanks for your help

Ally

[perfectlydark]

Hi, you will need a car pass for bouddi, as for tallow I havnt stayed there but if there is a walk involved it might be ok. I stayed at putty beach this time last year and it was deserted, but in summer its like sardines in a can...yuck.
Being cooler weather it might be ok.for you

[Ally]

Hi, thanks for your reply, how do I get a car pass? Would I need an annual pass or can shorter term passes be bought?

[Tortoise]

Hey Ally,

I haven't gone through it all, but there's some useful stuff on the Parks website, including the pdf file you can click on to download from this page:

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/NationalParks/parkHome.aspx?id=N0005
There's some useful stuff on the main site - somewhere I think it said you only need the car pass for Putty Beach.

It's got the Gosford office number at the end - you could call for more info. I've found them pretty helpful in the past.

Cheers

[perfectlydark]

The have ticket machines in bouddi to buy short term passes. About $7 a day

[Ally]

Thanks for the advice everyone, the NP website looks a bit ambiguous as to whether a day pass is required so I might call the NP office on the central coast next week.

So is the general thought that I'd be unlikely to encounter noisy/bogan campers down at tallow beach?

[Tortoise]

I think it's a bit of a tough call, being so close to civilisation. I'm probably swayed by a couple of less pleasant experiences (though nothing bad actually happened) within 5 crow kms of there. (Edit - in the last 3 months) I reckon the local parks office would have a reasonable idea, based on feedback and type of rubbish left behind. It's a bummer that we even have to consider the question.

[Ally]

Thanks again Tortoise, looks like a call to the NP office is definitely going to be worthwhile.

I'm open to options as to locations for this camping trip. I normally do much longer walk in bush camping (Barrington Tops mostly) but I'm going to have a child with me this time so the walk in is going to have to be limited to an hour or two at the most. I want to go for only one night so an hour to an hour and a half's drive from Newcastle would be the furthest I'd want to go. Tallow Beach was the best that came to mind (though I was concerned about bogans) but as I said I'm open to suggestions.

Any suggestions as to a suitable camp site? Toilets would be preferable but probably not essential. Doesn't need to be near "civilisation". May even be worthy of a separate post.

[Tortoise]

yep, I reckon a separate post would be good - there might be a gem out there we haven't thought of. I'm afraid my own experience of NSW campsites is very old, having not lived here for decades. I've just been making the most of any opportunity to get into the bush as I'm staying here for a while.

I'm hoping the parks folk will have some good ideas.

It might be too far to drive, but I just remembered Meroo Campground on the Colo River. Iirc it used to be about a 2km flat walk from the car, though access may well have changed. that was my first walk with chronic fatigue - I had 3 sleeps on the way in!
Just be aware that people can arrive unexpectedly from upstream on lilos etc.

[narikki]

I went and stayed at tallow beach last year. We had two other groups there, one an young family and the other a group of teenagers (about 10 of them). They brought down a full kitchen setup (portable preparing table etc with its own tent). luckily for us they were not too loud and didn't bother us.

I think if you want to go tallow its a bit a luck of the draw.


hope that helps =D

[Kainas]

We were at Putty Beach campground (in Bouddhi) two weeks ago mid-week. We were the only campers, but the road was amusingly busy (including a coles delivery van that came roaring in at 8pm at night... It was a dead end road, with only a small carpark 50m from us, but the traffic was constant.. It made us wonder if it was a drug spot or something).

Having said that, lovely spot. It was very peaceful despite seeing more vehicles than we expected.

[thommus]

I went and stayed at tallow beach last year. We had two other groups there, one an young family and the other a group of teenagers (about 10 of them). They brought down a full kitchen setup (portable preparing table etc with its own tent). luckily for us they were not too loud and didn't bother us.

I think if you want to go tallow its a bit a luck of the draw.


hope that helps =D

Hi Narikki. Am thinking of booking Tallow Beach for sometime this Summer. How was your experience? What was the beach itself like - is it safe to swim for a capable-enough swimmer? How long was the walk to Pretty Beach? Any info you could provide would be much appreciated!

[Wollemi]

* Is it OK to jump in here on a 10 yo thread?

I listed a bushwalk with my bushwalking club for this weekend camping 20 + 21 June. Did much research about public transport, tracks, escape routes.

Wanted to camp at both Tallow Beach campsite and Little Beach campiste, then join in the annual 5 Lands Walk. MacMasters - Copacabana - Avoca - N Avoca - Terrigal.
But it is cancelled this year. 4000 ppl there in 2023.

Anyway, both Tallow Beach campsite and Little Beach campsites are booked out Saturday night 21st.
Ideas please on what to do about that - can I camp in the scrub on on stony sloping ground at Box Head?
Is there an informal area to camp or wild camp at either end of Bouddi?

Is there a shortcut between Tallow Beach campsite and Killcare Beach, rather than walking up to the closed-to-vehicles(?) Hawkes Head Drive, then down again?

[Bron]

[/[quote

Wanted to camp at both Tallow Beach campsite and Little Beach campiste, then join in the annual 5 Lands Walk. MacMasters - Copacabana - Avoca - N Avoca - Terrigal.
But it is cancelled this year. 4000 ppl there in 2023.

Anyway, both Tallow Beach campsite and Little Beach campsites are booked out Saturday night 21st.
Ideas please on what to do about that - can I camp in the scrub on on stony sloping ground at Box Head?
Is there an informal area to camp or wild camp at either end of Bouddi?

Is there a shortcut between Tallow Beach campsite and Killcare Beach, rather than walking up to the closed-to-vehicles(?) Hawkes Head Drive, then down again?

Did you go?
Little Beach is imo the superior campsite and you can easily fit twice the number of tents than the 6 sites listed on the booking page.
Ive walked around that part of the coast quite a few times and the only way to get to Tallow Beach from Killcare is along the road.

[Wollemi]

All went well - we were pleased with what we did. I have previously kayaked to Maitland Bay from Palm Beach on three occasions as a day trip.

From my understanding, you can only book any of the three campsites for a minimum stay of 2 nights.
When I commented on the typical norm of bushwalkers in clubs to keep moving, they made an adjustment - 'just this once'.
So that was Tallow Beach booked on Friday night - there were no site left at Little Beach; so I asked can I camp off track? The response was; 'for your own safety, that is not allowed'.

We cooked an early lunch at Putty Beach, drying out our tents there.

Everyone commented on the astroturf sites at Little Beach being near impossible to insert tent pegs. I had a Y-shaped tent pole snap at the pretty Tallow Beach campsite, so I slept on concrete at LIttle Beach with two sleeping mats (full length, heavy 3mm yoga mat + retro/rectangular Therm-a-rest). The yoga mat is my ground-sheet to protect the base of my 1 man tent.
Packing up at Little Beach was a full-on task, with nuisance Brushturkeys constantly taking things.

I swam at dawn at Little Beach - so much smooth solid rock underfoot. I later swam at MacMasters Beach. My bushwalking friend swam at Copacabana while we waited for the 11am bus to Gosford station. I live Richmond, she lives lwr Blueys.

https://www.facebook.com/gary.roberts.9 ... kDmGrDZwGl