Little Lagoon Beach

Sunday 23rd March 2014

Little Lagoon Beach from Eliza Point

The last time I attempted to walk to Little Lagoon Beach I was defeated by the wet and muddy conditions, but this time I made it easily, as it was quite dry.
I started at South Cape Spur 1 just before the locked gate, but this time I decided to ride my bike to the second locked gate, which saves about 3 kms. of road walking. I reached the gate in no time and after stashing the bike in the bush, I set off walking. It was much better walking today, not having to try and dodge all the waterholes. After following the track for some time I crested a small rise where some restoration work had taken place and decided on taking a slightly different track than last time. This proved to be a good idea as it was relatively easy walking.

Black Swan Lagoon

After some time the track climbed a small rise and at the top is where the views began. Black Swan Lagoon, Little Lagoon Beach, Fishers Point and Sullivan Point were all clearly visible. The beach looked spectacular and I was looking forward to walking along it. The track descended to the dunes and followed along the top of the dunes before ending at the beach. I walked along the beach in a south westerly direction to where the lagoon met the sea. There was no flow of water out of the lagoon and I would suspect that this happens rarely or not at all. I continued on down the beach to Sullivan Point, and curiosity got the better of me, so I had to walk out along the rocks to the point to see what I could see. Here were good views of Recherche Bay and Catamaran etc. I then walked back to the beach and had morning tea.

Sullivan Point

There were hundreds of small dead fish washed up on the beach. There did not appear to be anything wrong with them, apart from being dead that is. I think they were leatherjackets, but I am no expert. I then walked back along the beach towards Eliza Point. The weather was great and even though there was a north westerly wind blowing, the beach was protected. After about 2.5 kms. I reached the point and found an old track heading inland. It was very overgrown near the beach with head high bracken fern but this didn't last long and it soon became easy walking. The track went inland for a time before heading down to the point. This looked like a good spot for lunch so this is where I stopped for a while. After lunch I walked back up hill and turned right to see where this track led.

Eliza Point.

As it turned out, the track led down to a lovely little secluded and sheltered bay and I immediately thought that it would be a great camping spot.
I headed back and turned right at a junction in the track to walk back to the outward track.
This section proved to be the most overgrown section of the walk but generally it was not too bad to follow except for a couple of sections near the outward leg. I had to scrub bash a little sometimes picking up the track and then losing it again. I made it back to the outward track and walked back to the locked gate. As I was approaching it I came across 3 guys on dirt bikes and had a chat with them. After retrieving my bike I cycled back to the car, being passed rather quickly by the 3 bikes.
This was a great walk and I enjoyed it immensely and it was great walking on the beach where there were no other footprints but mine.
Distance: 21.5 kms. (15.5 kms. walking and 6.0 kms. bike)
Time: 5'10"
Ascent: 340 metres
Click here to download GPX track.

Fishers Point

Black Swan Lagoon meets the beach

Eliza Point

Black Swan Lagoon

Black Swan Lagoon

Dead Fish(Leatherjacket?)

Sullivan Point

Starfish

Eliza Point

Secluded camping spot

Little Lagoon Beach

Saturday 24th August 2013

Today's walk did not turn out as planned. I should have had more sense really, because I new it had been raining fairly regularly for a few weeks and I knew the area where I was planning to walk would be wet and muddy. Did I listen to myself. Definitely not as I went ahead anyway.
The weather was supposed to be fine today and that is how it turned out. I started the walk at South Cape Spur 1( the same starting point as Big Lagoon Beach) at about 0730 and walked along the road to the second gate, and just after this started heading south east along an old track which was wet and muddy but nothing like what was to come. After a while it became a 20 metre wide area that had been flattened in the past with machinery, but was being covered with new vegetation. I missed the track I was looking for, mainly because it is almost non existent now, and carried on up the track I was on for 300 metres before sloshing across country to pick up the required track. This proved to be a bad idea as the track became wetter and muddier and when I sank almost up to my knees a couple of times I decided that a retreat was required. I went back to the track I was on previously, and, as it was heading towards Blackswan Lagoon I thought this might be a good alternative. Wrong again. The track petered out after a time and I did manage to find some old tapes in the bush and followed these for a while but the scrub was quite thick with lots of cutting grass so I eventually made another retreat.
After a bite to eat I thought I would head back to near the second gate and walk along the Leprena Track to find out what was up there and maybe get to Southport Lagoon that way. All was going well until I came to this massive area of water where the track should have been. I skirted around this on an old track but when I came back to the original track the water was still there. With no way of getting around it I opted to call it a day, and, after lunch, I walked back to the car.
It was disappointing not being able to reach Little Lagoon Beach, but I had fun anyway. I will attempt the walk again, but will wait until it is much drier although I can't wait too long as the old tracks are being overtaken by vegetation.
Distance: 15.6 kms.
Time: 5'10"
Ascent: 240 metres
Click here to download GPX track.

Mountains to the west

Mountains to the west

Lagoon on the track