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| Potato Point |
Route: Moruya, Bodalla, Narooma.
Distance: 41km (via highway); 73km (via Tuross Heads and Eurobodalla).
Online Maps:
Canberra to the Coast (Map 2) - Moruya to Narooma (via Congo, Tuross Heads, Blackfellows Point, Bodalla and Dalmeny). Distance 60km, total climb 629m.
Canberra to the Coast (Map 3) - Bodalla to Narooma (via Eurobodalla and state forest).
To cycle from Moruya to Narooma, the fastest and shortest route is along the Princes Highway (41km in total). It is also the least pleasant and most dangerous. Highway traffic is fast and the shoulder is often broken, narrow and littered with debris. To avoid the highway, cyclists must either head inland and cycle along the forestry roads, or head for the coast. I chose the latter option, and with a little inspiration and perspiration was able to forge a route that largely avoided the highway.
Moruya to Bodalla via the coast (Tuross Heads) (40 km) - Online Map
It is not possible to avoid the highway between Moruya and Bodalla by using minor coastal roads alone, as these are either no through roads or simply loop back to the highway. However, the coastal roads can be connected if one is willing to push the bicycle along stretches of sand. This is exactly what I did. I would not recommend this as a general method for touring the entire NSW coast. However, for my three day trip from Canberra it was definitely worth it. I was rewarded with coastal scenery that I would not have otherwise seen, and the novelty of this approach (and its success) gave me a bit of a buzz. Those who don't want to push their bicycle through sand will still find the description this leg of my trip useful, as you can avoid the sandy bits by using the highway for short stretches between various coastal roads. Please note that if you are cycling in peak holiday season, then it is likely that these minor coastal roads will carry more traffic. In this case you should consider using an inland forestry route instead.
From the Moruya shopping centre, follow the highway toward Narooma, making use of the cycle path on the eastern side of the highway. Take the left-hand turn off the highway to Congo. It is about 10km from Moruya to Congo, including 500m of unsealed road. Along the way one passes through a beautiful stand of coastal forest in Eurobodalla National Park by Congo Creek. Congo has a beach, numerous holiday houses and a camping area (picnic tables, bins, toilets, taps, kitchen sinks, bore water, $10/night).
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| Congo Creek estuary |
The road out the other side of Congo is unsealed for about 3km. Once back on the sealed road, follow the signs to Bingie. Just before the Bingie Road ends, turn right onto Kellys Road. About 300m before the road ends, there is a 90 degree turn to the west. From this corner, head onto the sandy bush track that drops down to a sandy 4WD track running parallel to the coast. I followed the 4WD track south until it turned toward Coila Lake. At this point I made my way to beach, walking along the beach and/or dunes until I reached Tuross Head. (I don't know whether it is better to follow the 4WD track on the lake side of the peninsula rather than walk along the beach. Since the scrub was thicker by the lake and I did not know how far the 4WD track went, I played it safe and headed for the beach.) It took me 50 minutes to cover the 3km from the end of Kelly Rd to Tuross Head, most of it walking and pushing my bicycle. The photographs below give some indication of what must be done.
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| Coila Beach and the peninsula viewed from Tuross Head | Sandy 4WD track | Route among the sand dunes |
Tuross Head is a small coastal holiday village of about 2000 residents. It has a small shopping centre, a variety of accommodation and food outlets, and is bordered by beaches, headlands and two coastal lakes. Tuross Head.org is an excellent site teaming with information about the town. A cycle path winds around the perimeter of the village. Once you reach Tuross Head from the north, take the cycle path along the coast. It passes by the shopping centre and eventually overlooks Tuross Lake (home to dolphins) at the mouth of the Tuross River.
When I did the trip, the river (sadly) was not flowing out to the ocean due to prolonged drought. However, it meant that I could push my bicycle across the sandbar/beach from Tuross Head to Blackfellows Point (2km, 35 minutes) without getting feet wet. Information about the water level at the mouth of the river may be obtained from O'Brien's Boatshed (ph: 02 4473 8127) or Tuross Boatshed. (See also the Tuross Head River mouth camera.) If the river is flowing at its mouth, then one of the aforementioned boating companies may be willing to ferry you across the lake for a fee. Otherwise, there is no choice but to cycle to the highway.
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| The walk from Tuross Head to Blackfellows Point | ||
From the southern other side of Tuross Lake it is relatively straightforward to cycle to Bodalla. Blackfellows Point has a Camping and Caravan Park (with lots of kangaroos). A little further south along a gravel coastal road is the village of Potato Point, which (unfortunately) I did not have time to explore. From Potato Point, take the sealed road west to Bodalla.
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| View from Blackfellows Point north to Tuross Head |
Bodalla is a small rural village on the Tuross River with a rich history of dairy farming and cheese making. It has a service station, café, cheese shop, other boutique shops, historic church building and park (with picnic tables).
Moruya to Bodalla via the state forest
Disclaimer: I have not travelled along any of the forestry roads mentioned in the following paragraph.
If you want to avoid the Highway but aren't too keen on taking the coastal route described above, then you should use the forestry roads west of the highway. From Moruya, head south along either Dwyers Creek Road or Wamban Road into the state forest. From here you can cycle to Bodalla by taking the Western Boundary Road, which meets the highway about 5 or 6km north of Bodalla. To bypass the highway altogether, there appears little option other than to cycle a long way inland along Little Sugar Loaf Road and German Creek Road. From here I would cycle to Eurobodalla via Nerrigundah Ridge Road. From Eurobodalla, pick up the route to Narooma described below. Rides 17 and 18 from the Cycle Narooma Website covers some of the roads mentioned above.
Bodalla to Narooma via the highway and Dalmeny (20 km) - Online Map
From Bodalla, head south for 12km along the highway and take the Mort Avenue turn off to Dalmeny. After a few hundred metres, join the coastal cycle path that runs from here all the way to Narooma. (This coastal ride is described in Ride 2 from the Cycling Narooma website, though now that the cycleway is complete some information from that page is now out of date.) The cycleway passes through Dalmeny (supermarket, newsagent, take away shop, post office, petrol station, camping and caravan park; see also this map) and Kianga (take away shop, café) before arriving at Narooma.
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| Narooma from the coastal cycleway | Sunset, Narooma |
It is unfortunate that, with such a excellent coastal cycle path from Dalmeny to Narooma, there is no viable off-highway route connecting Potato Point or Bodalla to Dalmeny. In theory, one could walk the beach from Potato Point to Dalmeny, but 10km of sand is stretching it. A shorter section from Brou Beach (accessible by road from the highway) to Dalmeny would involve 3 or 4km of sand walking. I did neither of these. However, I did try to minimise time spent on the highway by cycling south along Tarourga Rd from Potato Point Road and then turning right onto a vehicular track that meets the highway 6km south of Bodalla. Unfortunately, this vehicular track (represented by a thin dashed red line on Natmap's 1:250 000 Bega map) passes through private property and later a quarry with a high impassable locked gate. I had to turn back.
Bodalla to Narooma via Eurobodalla and the state forest (Distance 33 km, Total Climb 468m) - Online map
This is an alternate route from Bodalla to Narooma using roads in Bodalla State Forest. I cycled it one morning while staying at Narooma. The first 10km from Bodalla is sealed and the unsealed roads through the state forest were, when I cycled them, mostly well-graded. Points of interest include a short rainforest walk (less than 1km in length) and a lookout (2km detour off the route) with good views of Narooma, the coast and Wagonga Inlet. These are marked on the online map. To approach Narooma from the south rather than from the north (as marked on my online map), use Wagonga Scenic Drive, a good gravel road that skirts around Wagonga inlet. Some of these forestry roads and other features of interest are discussed on the Cycling Narooma website.
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| Bodalla State Forest | Tally Ho, near Eurobodalla |
A few words of caution. First, roads in the state forest can be temporarily closed due to logging. For example, on my trip one road closure would have resulted in a 10km detour, except that forestry staff kindly let me pass through their barricades. For up-to-date information on road closures contact Forests NSW Southern Region (ph:: 1300 880 548). Second, even though the road signage in the forest is generally good, those using the forestry roads should be equipped with a good map (either a topographic map or the South Coast Forests Map). This is related to the third point: tracks and 4WD roads are sometimes labelled or marked incorrectly on Google maps (which is the basis of my online map). Sometimes vehicular tracks are marked where there is only a walking track, and sometimes their maps are out of date. It is best to consult an independent map before using forestry roads extensively.
Narooma - Street Map
Narooma is a beautiful coastal town with an inlet, beaches, coastal lake and views to the mountains. It is sufficiently far from Sydney for it to maintain some tranquility. Cheaper accommodation options include two caravan parks and YHA Narooma backpackers hostel. If staying during holiday season, be sure to book accommodation well in advance. There is a range of shops and restaurants including two supermarkets, a bicycle shop and camping store. For short or long day rides in the area, the website Cycling Narooma provides good advice. The following photos offer some inspiration for visiting this beautiful part of Australia.
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| Sunset over Wagonga Inlet | Sunrise at Australia Rock |
© 2009 Robert Taggart. Last updated 2 November 2009.