Solitary Islands Coastal Hike Day 2-Mullaway Beach to Emerald Beach

Solitary Islands Coastal Hike Day 2 proposed iteniary. The Solitary Islands Coastal hike starts from Red Rock and finishes at Sawtell. This is the day one itinerary of a 4-day hike.

This version of the Solitary Islands trail takes in many of the headlands not encompassed by the original trail. The headlands provide much of the best views of the islands and beaches that are available on the hike. The trail itself is suffering from a lack of maintenance by local councils and signage at times is very limited. The obvious lighthouse trail posts have disappeared from many spots so pay close attention to the track provided.There are components of the hike undertaken on stairs which are falling into disrepair.

This days hike starts The Boulevard at Mullaway Beach. There is a dirt carpark there and it is away from the main trafficked areas. Initially you take the track to beach and then follow the beach up to a forest track that takes you round to Safety Beach.

Following Safety Beach you will eventually hit the outlet of Darkun creek which may require you to hop across some waterflow depending on recent rainfall.

From the end of safety beach this track proceeded arround Woolgoolga lake. Depending on rainfall this track can be muddy. The northern end of the lake will require you to take some road before hitting a bridge. We vesred off on to the river track to check out a little of Woolgoolga creek prior to heading over the creek bridge to get back to the beach.

The beach at the end of this section is Woolgoolga beach. We followed this up to the large Woolgoolga headland in front of us and then proceeded to climb the headland. We stopped for a quick coffee and bite in Woolgoolga prior to climbing the headland via the road as after Woolgoolga there are not alot of food options.

After admiring the various views of the headland we proceeded down to Woolgoolga back beach. Here you have one of the longest beach sections that proceeds down past Lake Hearnes in the Coff Harbour Regional Park. There are a few creek outlets along the way which will only wet shoes.

At the end of all the beach is Dammerels Head which this track skirts across at its narrowing point before heading down to Sandy Beach. At the end of Sandy Beach the track again cuts through the headland area of Bare Bluff down to Fiddamans Beach.

The hikes final component involves climbing the Emerald Beach Headland to admire the kangaroos which live on the headland and to take in the fantastic scenary and views from the top. This walk arround the headland was certainly a highlight and makes a spectacular end to the second day of hiking. The track concludes at the end of Dammerel Cresent.

A note for those who want to car shuffle each day . I recommend staying in Emerald Beach for the whole 4 days of the hike as it is probably the most central point. I note staying closer to Coffs Harbour is affected by Coffs Harbour airport being located on the northern approaches to Coffs Harbour. There is also a busy rail line coming in on the northern approaches to Coffs Harbour. Emerald Beach was our pick.