New to the area, having recently left corporate careers in Sydney, Yvonne initially struggled to find information on local Coffs walks. Guidebooks were few, not readily available and 20 years out of date, while websites such as Wildwalks or AussieBushwalking tend to focus on walks near the cities. What trails were documented were scattered across different websites organised by landowner - national parks, state forest, council.
A glance at the map shows a vast area of green surrounds Coffs, both national parks and state forest. The coast is walkable from the Clarence River in the north to the Macleay River and beyond in the south. The region’s biodiversity is significant with world heritage rainforest and sclerophyll forests, heathland, mangroves and salt marshes, sedge lands and sub-alpine woodland. Even the rocks are interesting with ancient jasper at Red Rock, the Ebor Volcano and Demon Fault inland.
Starting close to home, Yvonne and Alan stepped out on the Solitary Island Coastal Walk from Red Rock to Sawtell. Their active boxer dog Nuka was delighted when she
heard the tell-tale jangle of the leash and joined them on some sections.
To build their fitness, they tackled Mount Coramba next, finding at least five different routes through rainforest and eucalyptus on old logging trails up this 590 metre peak.
It turns out repetition in walking is a great way to understand a new landscape - how a mountain looks when approached from a number of different ridge lines, or the dynamic changes to a beach visited before and after storms. The iNaturalist app and active community was also a helpful resource to put names to new flora or creatures.
Meanwhile, Yvonne’s obsessive map reading and irrepressible curiosity meant the list of future trails to explore was growing longer. Even the dog began to be suspicious when her leash jangled yet again and a collapsible dog bowl was clipped onto the outside of Alan’s day pack. Where to next?
In the quiet of lockdown, Yvonne used her technology skills to set up CoffsTrails.com as a self-funded personal project. CoffsTrails organises and shares their trails with both
Bushwalk
