In the Footsteps of George Bass

After three days of cycling (and one day of eating Devonshire Teas), it was time to exercise a different set of muscles. The George Bass Coastal Walk is surely one of the most spectacular short walks in Victoria, however up till a few years ago, it was also one of the least known.

The walk itself begins at Punchbowl and then stretches some 8 km along the clifftops of the Bass Coast. Along the way you can expect an ever changing vista of vast ocean views and white capped waves breaking on the rocky shoreline.

Thirteen walkers gathered at the Anderson car park to organise some car shuffling. Although we were all looking forward to doing the walk, none of us was ready to do it twice. That meant we had to make sure there was a vehicle at Kilcunda to get the drivers back to Punchbowl. That should have been an easy task, but when most of your group is of extremely advanced years, it took an undue amount of explaining to get the message across. Eventually we managed to elect Peter to be the designated driver. You could imagine my surprise therefore when I noticed that Peter was still wandering around the car park about 10 minutes later. At that rate it was going to be a long day indeed.

Eventually things were sorted out and our 13 walkers were safely deposited at Punchbowl. Because of the increased popularity of this walk, parking is progressively getting harder and harder. There is no designated parking area, meaning that you just have to squeeze your car in anywhere you can.

Once you start the walk there is really no "Plan B". You have to keep going till you reach Kilcunda. We were relieved to discover that the weather looked like being kind to us, although there was a steady wind blowing all day from the east. This meant that we would be walking into a headwind. For me it also meant that I would be hanging on to my hat grimly all day. I had already scored a sunburnt nose from the cycling days and did not want to add to the redness.

We were finally underway soon after 10 am and very soon we were all marveling at the incredible views spread out before us. We were also marveling at the incredible stupidity of the fishermen who were standing on the very edge of the ocean, in spite of all the warning signs explaining just how dangerous the waves are.

After an hour of energetic walking, the trail descends down to the sand, We found a sheltered location and settled down to enjoy our lunches, accompanied by the hypnotic sounds of the rolling waves. We were also hoping that we would not hear the ominous cracking noises from the rocky overhang, just above our heads.

The second half of the walk undulates regularly and it was evident that the efforts of the preceding days were starting to take their tolls. I think that everyone was happy when the little town of Kilcunda came into view and we knew that a hot coffee was not far away.

After sorting out the cars again, we left Inverloch to drive to Traralgon. Tomorrow we will be back on the bikes again, when we ride the Gippsland Plains Rail Trail from Traralgon to Heyfield and back again.Read more