2021 Far South Coast Yatra – Nadgee Nature Reserve/Ben Boyd NP

24 April – 2 May, Southern NSW

Route:
Merrika River – Wonboyn Resort – Bittangabee – Saltwater – Boyd Tower

Facilitators:
Ronny Hickel

Far South Coast Yatra 2021 Dawning day so full of promise, air sun kissed from the cold of night. We pilgrims circled hushed expectant, where poet’s words drift like smoke. The land is ancient, from dreamtime on the old ones sang to keep it whole. The journey starts in silent file, through forest blackened where no birds sing. But nature’s strong it will not yield, from earth and tree new life does spring. With snakelike twists the path goes on, rises up and falls away, to open out where forest meets sea. We rest awhile to eat and drink, nourished by the midday sun, then ford the stream and journey on, where path is lost in thick regrowth, but found again with markers shown. It breaks upon a clifftop edge that gives a gift of coast and bays, that stretch as far as eye can see, a a land untouched by settlers’ hands. With careful step to rocks below, a beach that lures the brave to frolic naked in the waves. The path now leads along the shore, where footprints vanish with ebb and flow. We reach the rock some call the whale, where hidden by the dunes behind, a boat awaits for journeys end, to cross the lake of glittering light. by Phil Pronger