Norfolk Creek Lagoon

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SETTING off northwards along Ocean Beach from Woorim at sunrise, I walked on the soft sand with the tide being high for about two kilometres before reaching a fairly obscure track heading over the low dunes.

Passing through scrubby bush, the track quickly rose to the top of the dune before gently descending to the edge of Norfolk Creek Lagoon, a deep channel of water running parallel to the beach. Paperbark trees rose on either side of the dark ochre stained channel. In the distance to the right was the mouth of the lagoon, blocked by sand washed up from the tides. During the massive rains earlier this year the channel broke through the sand carving out the sand along the bottom of the resulting torrent.

Nearly a year has passed since the rains and the sand has once more blocked the channel making it perhaps two metres deep. I could see signs of a track heading up over the other side of the channel, perhaps I could explore it one day when the sand bar breaks again and the channel isn't deep. Instead I head to the left following the lagoon upstream. The track is quite rough, mostly maintained by the kangaroos and wallabies living in the area, but hidden deep in the bush.

The trail would occasionally reach the edge of the lagoon giving me an idea on progress, but much of the time it passed through the scrubby bush. The channel remained largely unchanged along its length keeping surprisingly straight. Eventually though I saw a small headland on the other side revealing a large area of water stretching several hundred metres inland.

The track became somewhat more obvious as I reached the start of the lake area of the lagoon, with the sand hills giving way to flat sand and the trees were thinning out making progress easier. I found a reasonable track to follow through the reeds around the back of the lake, crossing a few small streams but otherwise keeping to the flat surface above the water. The views across the little lake was quite amazing seeing rows of trees growing out of the water and a lot of wetland species.

The track eventually petered out at a large flat area devoid of trees. A couple of wide channels of shallow water blocked the track, so I decided this would be as far as I would go. I returned along the track around the lake reaching the dunes and finding a rough track crossing over two low sandhills before reaching an obvious track running along the dune above the beach. I found a good spot on the beach under some trees and rested here for the remainder of the day before returning to Woorim at sunset.