20th September

Day 43 Rame Head to Boat Harbour

Today was my most exhausting day of the walk! Coastal walking is tougher than the forest as the tracks appear to keep going up and down the dunes and there is a lot less level walking. The walk in sandy soil or sand requires more effort than hard compacted soils found away from the coast. Peaceful Bay is the usual destination from Rame Head and at 12.4km it is an easy walk. The walk from Peaceful Bay to Boat Harbour is considerably more difficult being 24km including 3 canoe trips across Irwin's Inlet to get a canoe back to the other side again.

My original plan was to cut 10 km off the walk by wading across the mouth of the inlet and onto Big Quarram beach and thus make the day considerably easier but instead I only succeeded in making the day much tougher again.

I had a lovely stroll from Rame Head in the morning to the lovely beach called "The Gap" and then onto Point Irwin. I arrived at Peaceful Bay without a hitch for morning tea and bought myself a soft drink, chocolate bar and ice-cream as you do. After filling out the red book at Peaceful Bay I took off for Irwin's Inlet spotting at least three tiger snakes along the way. At Irwin's Inlet I made my way using a rough track onto the beach and spent the next hour trying to find a way across. Unfortunately the water was consistently deep with a very strong current. Realising my efforts were in vain I climbed back up a steep dune and then got back to the track. 

Disappointed I trudged on and reached the canoe crossing at noon. It took at least half an hour to get across and return canoes back to the west side of the crossing. An hour later I was walking through an area known as the "Show-ground" which has great ecological significance. It was here amongst the valleys of gold that I had lunch. The route then returns to Big Quarram beach  then over a granite based hill and onto Little Quarram beach. After this it is back to the top of small limestone ridges covered in sand until Boat Harbour Hut. 

At Boat Harbour I met Stick and Baldy - two very humorous guys who kept me laughing until I left them the next day.

Day 44 - Boat Harbour to William Bay Hut

Irwin Inlet