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10) Boomerang Beach to Shelleys Beach walk
(Booti Booti National Park; Port Stephens – Great Lakes Marine Park)
Air life: Sea eagles, Brahminy kites and Whistling kites commonly seen.
Marine life: . Bottlenose dolphins commonly seen. Humpback whales very commonly seen in their southerly migration season (extraordinary encounters possible when canoeing out from Elizabeth and Shelleys beaches).
Geological/geographic: Extraordinary coastscape created by the Yagon siltstone and Booti Booti sandstone basement (interbedded conglomerate and pebbled sandstone also occurs). The scramble from Boomerang Beach to Shelleys Beach takes a few hours and provides some of the most magnificent rocky coast-scapes along the NSW MidNorth coast. At the Shelleys Beach end a sometimes frightening horizontal-firing blowhole is present – ‘The Wedge Blowhole’. This blowhole works best with a large southerly swell. When working, and it is safe to get close by on the platform - the experience is awe-inspiring given the amount of wave energy that is frequently focused in a very restricted area.
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Historical: Long previous occupation by Woromi Aboriginal people. Some shell middens observable.
Recreational opportunities: Surfing, beach combing, walking and rock scrambling. Nude swimming and sunbathing at Shelleys Beach. Note the scramble from the north end of Boomerang Beach to Shelleys Beach (see below) can be difficult to follow if it has not been used recently.
Other comments: Best conditions: gentler winds from the south; ‘The Wedge Blowhole’ works best with a large southerly swell, but if the swell is too big, it is not safe to access the rock platform where it is located.
Fitness, etc: moderate-high; at ease on steep slopes when rock scrambling and comfortable with pushing through dense vegetation
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