Tomaree Coastal Walk Day 1 Tomaree To Big Rocky

The Tomaree coastal walk is a mountain and coastal dune hike that starts at Shoal Bay and finishes at Anna bay. It is best done like most hikes along the east coast starting at the North and finishing at the south. This is because the sun is then always on your back for the majority of the hike.

https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/experiences/tomaree-coastal-walk

The hike is a mixture of naval World war 2 history mixed with significant sections of National Park and coastal viewing platforms. Different sections detail the history of the local Aborigines subsistence on the coastal dunes and surrounding Eucalypt Forest.

The hike is done typically over two days with a hard first day with significant climb and then an easier second day as you wind in and out of beaches and Headlands. To make the best of the hike doing the early part up Tomaree mountain to watch the dawn at the old radar tracking site would be best.

There are two ways that you can do this hike and after exploring it I recommend that if you are to do this hike over 2 days the best place to break the hike is Big Rocky carpark. This car park is best because it has a conventional car access point at the beach via a short gravel road. We chose to use two cars and park one at the finish and one at the start of each day.

If you were to overnight pack this hike I would suggest that you book accommodation at Samurai Beach which is just on from Big Rocky car park. National Parks New South Wales has the Tomaree track actually going up the four-wheel drive track into Samurai Beach. This is an extremely dangerous track for hikers given that it is a will used tough four-wheel drive sand track. You can book overnight camping at the NSW National park website.
For those planning to park a car at Shoal bay be aware that NSW has a very expensive car park option for most sites at the start of this event and that you will probably have to walk in from some distance to avoid this.

Starting from Shoal bay the hike first progresses along the foreshore and then walkway around the base of Tomaree Mountain up to the gun in placements that guard the entrance to Shoal bay. From there it progresses to the radar station at the top and then angles down to take a detour along the Ocean Rocks track to get some nice photos of the entrance to Shoal bay.

From there we progress to Zenith Beach before heading into the coastal dunes surrounding Stephens peak the mountain that a joins Tomaree mountain. Following the coastal dunes you eventually get to Fingal Beach. We chose this point to have a coffee as the track passes a surf club and a coffee house. It is possible to make a detour to Fingal Spit and at the right tide and walk out to Shark island.

From Fingal Beach you enter Tomaree National Park where there are many viewing points looking out over Fingal Point. Shortly before the end of the days hike we made a detour along Big Rocky beach to have a swim in the in the beautiful ocean at that point before heading up to big Rocky car park to end our day 1.

A really beautiful walk, quite physical amongst the coastal sand dunes. I really appreciated breaking the hike at Fingal bay for coffee. We did examine options to end the day at some other point to shorten Day 1 of the hike but nowhere could we get the access of Big Rocky car park.