Aboriginal Name - Kiarama, which means "Place where the sea makes a noise"
Gerrigong is a 90 Minute drive south of Sydney and, in keeping with the beauty of a small coastal town, only has four thousand residents. Gerringong plays the roll of the charming 'middle child' along the NSW south coast; it's big brother Kiama is to the north, with its much smaller, but equally beautiful, sibling Gerroa to the south. It's a place where the undulating greenery of farming land meets the reliable beauty of the Tasman Sea.
The full Kiama Coast walk is 22km, starting either in the north at Minnamurra River or in the south in Gerringong. However, the walk is split into three very manageable sections, making it fairly easy to join and leave the track every couple of hours.
We completed the third section, starting from the south at Werri Beach (2.5km north of Gerringong town centre) and walked 6km north along the coastal cliff tops to the southern most end of Kiama. The firetail track was super easy to follow. With regards to difficulty level, we decided to walk it on a whim. I wore cons and jeans and apart from a bit of 50+, a couple of muesli bars and 500ml of water, we took nothing special with us and, mostly, we were fine.
Being able to do the walk on a whim was a highlight because it meant easy outdoor time, with no prep and very little post-trek clean-up. The wide, grassy track meant that you could go both
barefoot and really take in the red rock cliffs, the turquoise water near the rocks, spot sea birds, pick flowers and get meditative watching the grasses on the hill getting silky in the wind. I’ve heard you can see migrating whales along here too, when the timing is right. At the higher points on the walk you can see all along the coast and, sea mist pending, back inland toward
the local farms.
If I was to do it again I’d recommend against jeans, take some “Rid” (or similar, for the fliesaround-the-mouth situation) and a raincoat. Being right on the coast and also in a farming area, the onshore winds were quite powerful. The track lacks the usual weather buffers of coastal trees and shrubs. We were surprised with rain and big winds, which, admittedly, left as quickly as they came, but it took a little while for us to dry off and de-frost.
Being a linear track, you’ll either want to arrange to do a there and back or, if you have a spare car, do the dump car at the destination and drive back to the start thing (just don’t do what our mate did and forget the keys to the destination car). The third option, which we took but may not be available to you, is to have your mates drop you back at your car at the start but only after demolishing five bucks worth of chicken salted chips from the local on Manning street, Kiama.
by Rachelle Jones
2016
(apologies but we could not find a map)
LFRF acknowledges all the Traditional Owners of the land [or country] and pay our respects to the Elders, past and present of all of New South Wales and urges you to please do the same.
