With all the camping trips going on while I was in Woonona, I was often reminded of an adventure that my family of origin had taken back in about 1968. As I recall, we were headed up north from Sydney to Queensland, where my Dad was to baptise a church family’s new baby. We stopped and camped for I think a few days at Hungry Head, which is near Coff’s Harbour, where another church family was living. I recalled it as the best camping spot we had ever had: surrounded by untouched bush, a very short walk to the pristine beach, white sand, beautiful blue ocean, fun family times at the campsite and with our friends in Coff’s Harbour. Fun times, except for the afternoon when my sister was pulled out in a swift current in the stream that ran from the lagoon to the ocean at nearby Valla Beach. Family members and other beach-goers on the almost deserted beach saved her from drowning and being swept out to sea.
When it came time to make plans for Evie’s fortnight on school holidays (two weeks on a fall break) we decided to spend part of it heading up to northern New South Wales on a quest to find the Hungry Head campsite I had remembered. We were going Hunting for Hungry Head! But “glamping” this time (glamourous camping), not in a cramped pop-up tent situation as my family had done back in the 1960s and 70s. Being significantly north of Woonona, the weather was warmer and more like late summer.
On the maps of the area, it looked like the original camping ground was gone, and the closest one was a fairly upscale place in Mylestom, right on the beach. We stayed a few days in this “beach tent” and explored the area. First off was Coff’s Harbour, where there were Sunday markets and a Thai New Year festival happening. The harbour did not ring any bells for me, though I had probably been there back in 1968.
The next day we started Hunting for Hungry Head in earnest. Starting at the nearby 1k long Urunga Boardwalk, we enjoyed watching the crabs and waterbirds all the way out to Urunga Beach. The northern NSW beaches are untouched by civilisation, just gorgeous! Hungry Head looked to be a reasonable walking distance away, but was farther away than we thought! After an hour on the beach, we headed back, with a new plan for our quest.
Our new plan was to drive to Hungry Head, explore the beach area some more, and try to find where the original campground may have been. Nothing on Hungry Head Beach looked particularly familiar to me, but we were having fun walking, and playing a “Follow the Stick Line” and other games on the beach. It was when we drove to the Urunga Surf Life Saving Club on Hungry Head that we had our great breakthrough! Apparently the land had been converted to a Preserve in 1977, and the Surf Life Club building and carpark were built in 1987. We found a beach entrance that looked very like the one I remembered, and a spot in the carpark across from it that was quite likely where we had camped all those decades ago. The Hunt for Hungry Head was finished!
The next day we shifted a bit south to stay in an airbnb yurt in Hyland Park, NSW. Not quite as glampy as the beach tent, but far more unique! The bathroom and kitchen were under separate cover next to the yurt, and we cooked dinner outside over the fire. We explored Nambucca Heads, which I’d heard about in school, especially the fabulous painted rocks in the V-Wall outdoor grassroots gallery, and the brightly coloured fish swimming near it.
After Nambucca Heads, we spent some time at nearby Valla Beach. I had a touch of PTSD seeing Evie playing in the stream that had just as strong a current as the day my sister nearly drowned. But overall it was healing to spend a safe afternoon at Valla Beach with no drama.
Our nostalgic investigation trip to Hungry Head was completed, so we headed back south towards home. On the way, I was dropped off in Tumbi Umbi, NSW to visit my Swedenborgian/New Church friends Mike and Kerry Lockhart, and to have lunch with another friend from teen years, Ken Horner. With only a few days left before returning to my American home, we took a final ferry trip to Manly. On the way back after dark, a flock of seagulls floated along next to us as we sat on the upper deck, as if sending me off with a graceful aerial farewell. We also celebrated the blooming of the Bird of Paradise bush in the backyard on my final day of the Path in 2024.
This year, leaving Australia was as distressing as always for me, with plenty of tears and big family hugs, but also somehow a “new normal”: knowing that my ministry continues in both Australia and the United States, and that my family is under Divine care no matter where they are living and how often I am able to be with them. Thanks for joining me for this part of Walking the Path – and blessings for whatever path you are walking!
