Pebbly Beach - Durras Mountain

We went car camping at the beginning of May at Pebbly Beach, which is not far north of Batemans Bay on the New South Wales.

Pebbly Beach Google Map Link

Pebbly Beach has a lot going for it - for car camping the facilities are really good, the beach is clean and uncrowded, lots of (safe) wildlife everywhere, and you can go walking, fishing, surfing, or just sit on the beach and do nothing! If walking is your thing, there is a walk along the coast or up to the top of Durras Mountain, which is an 8km return hike with a 285 metre climb. The fishing is either beach fishing (my preference) or off the rocks at either end of the beach.

Fishing at Pebbly Beach

Oskar (six years) and I did the walk up Durras Mountain early on Sunday morning. It starts off as an amble through coastal forest before dropping down into a small bay. We came across a mob of kangaroos grazing next to the path. They are used to humans, but are still wild and will not allow you to get too close. We later came across a very big lone male who was at least six feet tall and easily 100 kilograms (sorry for mixing my units of measure, it's the aviator in me...). One thing you do not want to do is hassle these guys - show some respect because if they get angry they can balance back on their tail and rip your guts out with their very stong hind claws - 'nuff said - just look and take photos and they will leave you alone too.

Oskar with Eastern Grey Kangaroos

Once passing the small bay the path climbs gently towards the next point, then a national parks sign directs you to the path that heads up to the top of Durras Mountain. It is fairly obvious as it is an old logging road that is slowly recovering and has a well worn path. The path climbs up through Spotted Gum forest and towards the top of the hill the vegetation changes and becomes more lush as the soil changes into what looks like a basalt derived soil. The top of the hill is an old farm, which must have been taking advantage of the good soil. There is not much to see but a few old fence posts and water tanks, and the view of the coast is obscured by all the regrowth in what were old paddocks. There were plenty of wallabies and kangaroos to be seen though, which were taking advantage of the morning sun and the remnant lush grass of the old farm. You can keep walking north from here to the coastal town of Kiola. We had a snack and headed back down to pebbly beach.

Small bay north of Pebbly Beach

The camping area at Pebbly Beach is very well appointed for car camping, with level sites with bench seating, metal barbeque areas and firewood supplied. The camping area is set back from the beach amongst the forest. There is a covered communal kitchen area with gas hotplates and burners, and a kitchen sink. The bathroom blocks are clean, but the showers only have cold water if you are a cold water wimp.

Pebbly Beach camping site

The wildlife we saw at Pebbly Beach was: wallabies, kangaroos, Lyre Birds, Kookaburras, parrots, possums ( Oskar had great fun blowing rasberries at them to scare them off when they kept on hanging around the camp at night ), ducks and finches.