A big thanks to John Kennett for sharing his notes on this mostly off-track West Head bushwalk, which explores Cottage Rock, Halletts Beach and Refuge Bay as well as many of the indigenous rock art sites in the area. It’s a very sedate start to the loop walk, which heads down the Salvation Loop firetrail before turning onto the Wallaroo Trail… but that will soon change!
We make a couple of short detours to visit two Aboriginal engraving sites – one depicting a woman from what was described as a “fishing scene“, and the other a group of male figures.
Towards the end of the Wallaroo Trail there’s a steep descent; from the top there is the first of the many great views that we’ll enjoy today over Cowan Creek.
The real fun starts as we leave the firetrail and follow a ridge to the north; unlike much of West Head where the scrub is incredibly dense, it’s fairly easy walking through the light undergrowth.
As we ascend the ridge, there are some nice views to the north over Cowan Creek: Fishermans Beach is directly ahead with Little Shark Rock Point on its left, and behind it is the dome-shaped Peak Hill. On the horizon are some of the peaks of Brisbane Water National Park.
There are a few more vantage points as our route continues along the ridge…
…alternating between light scrub and some open rock platforms.
The roughest section comes as we approach a waterfall near Cottage Rock, where we wade through waist-high ferns. Matt spots a snakeskin on the ground, probably shed by a python.
We take a short break at the top of what John calls Cottage Rock Waterfall (it has no official name), which has a small cascade and a shallow pool…
..and a view over Cowan Creek and the small Cottage Rock Beach below.
Our next challenge is finding a route down the last 20m or so to the beach. We continuing westward along the top of cliff-line for about a hundred metres, before finding a slot that takes us to the base of the cliffs. One of the many shelters contains numerous Aboriginal hand stencils – although sadly they are covered with graffiti.
We’re soon at one of the lower tiers of Cottage Rock Falls, and from here we stay close to the creek as we make our way to the beach. In the middle of the creek bed is a single axe grinding groove.
A metal rung provides a litte assistance to drop down from the last ledge onto Cottage Rock Beach, where we encounter a few people who have arrived by boat and kayak.
We’re soon on our way again, climbing back up to the ledge and continuing along the coast towards Halletts Beach, past another Aboriginal rock art shelter with very faded figures. (Although the tide is fairly low, it would be very slow-going if not impossible to stay near the rocky waterline). Above us are two overhangs above each other, which is perhaps the rock formation that closely resembles a cottage loaf of bread and gives the location its name.
A bit further along is another shelter with a single Aboriginal hand stencil, and some impressive stalactites (and stalacmites) formed by water dripping through the sandstone. Uncommon in Hawkesbury sandstone, the stalactites/stalactites are formed from secondary mineral deposits like common opal, limonite, or alunite.
As the sandstone cliffs get taller and the overhangs more shallow, Matt spots a single red ochre hand stencil on the curved concave sandstone wall.
Any easy scramble to a rock platform at the top of the cliffs offers a nice vantage point over Cowan Creek; a narrow but gently sloping ramp takes us back down on the opposite side.
One of the most impressive rock art shelters of this bushwalk, this small overhang contains over fifity hand stemcils. And, in a testament to some form of misguided enthusiasm, a sign scatched into the rock stating “Please do not deface Aboriginal stencils”.
We continue along the base of the cliff-line, which gets progressively higher and more vertical.
From the cliffs, a dry creek bed offers an easy descent to Halletts Beach, where we again encouner a few people enjoying the long weekend.
There is very little historical information on-line on Halletts Beach, nor any clue as to how this small Cowan Creek beach got its name!
We continue along the shoreline, this time staying fairly close to the water as we head towards the end of the peninsula which juts into Cowan Creek.
We’re looking at two more Aboriginal rock art sites; a single white hand stencil (next to a smaller yellow stencil), and a crudely pecked engraving of a fish.
The next section of our West Head Loop is from Halletts Beach to Refuge Bay, starting with a short-but-steep ascent to the northern end of the same ridge that we followed from the Wallaroo Track. It’s not a hard climb, but a series of minor cliff lines and boulders means a lot of zig-zagging around obsctacles – the GPS trace of this route is a reminiscent of how the late TV character Mr Squiggle might have drawn our route (for those, umm, more mature Australian readers of my blog).
We make it to the top of the ridge, the climb feeling a bit more arduous than than mere 70m or so of vertical elevation that we’ve just covered would suggest. After ploughing through a mercifully small patch of fallen trees and scrubby undergrowth, it’s fairly easy walking along the middle of the ridge.
Our biggest challenge is not dealing with dense scrub, but trying to avoid walking straight into the web of one of the many thousands of spiders which we encounter on our travels.
As we get higher up the ridge there are a few nice views again over Cowan Creek.
Just before we reach the point along the ridge where a few hours ago we turned to the east and descended to Cottage Rock, we veer towards the west and descend towards Refuge Bay. Avoiding the potentially thicker scrub further down the slope, we stay fairly high where the undergrowth is relatively light.
Our target is what I call the Refuge Bay Upper Cascades, a tranquil spot along an unnamed creek which is well above the popular Refuge Bay, with it’s waterfall, Instagrammer-friendly infinity rock pool and weekend crowds.
Along the creek are three Aboriginal engravings as well as grinding grooves, and a series of small cascades.
From here it’s not far to a large rock platform where we meet the informal Refuge Bay track, which goes back up to the Wallaroo Track. Alternatively you could descend to Refuge Bay from here, which is almost directly below.
The track initially has a few steep-ish sections; most of the elevation gain is in the first few hundred metres.
Although it’s not an “official” track and the NPWS discourages people from using this trail, it’s in fairly good condition and after the initial climb, easy walking along the ridge (the ridge is parallel to the one we took down to Halletts Beach).
We’re back on the Wallaroo Track and Salvation Track to finish this intersting West Head loop walk just before the sun sets.
The Halletts Beach to Refuge Bay bushwalk took us a solid eight hours, with only a few breaks. The distance as shown on the map below is a little deceptive; the off-track section (blue) is an an approximate route (don’t rely on this!), and the total distance walked was closer to 15km. While this is one of the more challenging West Head bushwalks, it offers some great views and interesting scenery and the option of a few swimming spots on a warner day.
Getting to the Halletts Beach to Refuge Bay walk
This bushwalk starts on the signposted Salvation Loop firetrail, which connets to the Wallaroo Trail (also a firetrail). The Salvation Loop is on West Head Road, 5.3km (5min drive) from McCarrs Creek Road. There is space for a couple of cars near the loced gate; you could also park at the Salvation Creek Parking Area and start at the southern end of the Salvation Loop firetrail.
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