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WOODY HEAD - On borrowed time - going, going ... gone ?
Posted on January 13, 2015 at 7:42 PM |
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Woody Head – A
Northern Rivers Natural Wonder - On
borrowed time, going, going ... gone ? Erosion is
posing an ever bigger threat to numerous beachfront campsites and caravan parks
along Australia’s magnificent coastline. In recent years, huge waves and strong
currents have caused massive changes to many, many areas and it’s far from just
an issue in our towns. Woody Head in Bundjalung National Park is one of the fastest-eroding
beaches in New South Wales … and is retreating at about two metres every year. Artificial
dunes have slowed erosion considerably along part of the beach. Around 5000
cubic-metres of sand, has been ploughed into an artificial dune on the shorefront
at Woody Head to stop the damaging effects of coastal erosion. The National
Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Roads and Traffic Authority undertook
a two week, $200,000 project to construct a beachfront dune that measures about
100metres long. The
massive dune barrier has been built directly in front of the Woody Head Camping
Reserve and has been planted out with native trees and plants. It is reported
that the man-made dune was the most effective method of protecting the
rapidly-disappearing coastline and camping infrastructure at Woody Head from an
eroding longshore current. It is estimated that the magnificent Woody
Head campground will almost certainly be gone by 2025. Woody Head is a campground with the lot - you can pitch
your tent, park your caravan or book a cabin to enjoy a pleasure packed beach
escape for the weekend or longer. It's a great place for a family holiday.
There are heaps of things to do and children and adults alike will love
exploring the rainforest, shallow reefs and rock platforms around the
campground. There's also a boat ramp for those who bring their boat along,
great places for fishing and water babies will love being so close to the
beach. There is one designated group camping area and the campground is wheelchair
accessible. Woody Head is a hugely popular north coast campground and you'll need to book
with plenty of time to secure your campsite. The
Hammond family were the pioneers of Woody Head and of the 3 sons, Charlie, Bert
and Bill (all commercial fishers). Their original family house (hut) has been
restored ( Hammond Cottage) and offers accommodation to holiday makers. If
you’d been fortunate enough to have known Charlie and Bert particularly, you
might have seen one of their little trawlers (“Woody H” or “Endeavour”) moored
in the bay adjacent to what is now the boat launching area. What you may not know is that at the top of the boat
ramp there is a small green shed, the purpose of which is unknown to most. The
shed housed a ’29 Chevy engine that was hooked up to a windlass and in times of
heavy seas wooden ladders were placed on the beach and into the surf, along
which the trawler would be hauled to eliminate the danger posed by big seas.
When this happened, it was literally all hands on deck, as wooden rollers were
attached to the vessel to steady it as it was retrieved from the water. The
beach where this happened is long gone and where it was is now eroded to the
rock at the right of the boat ramp. Those days, when they launched their boats
to head out for snapper, they parked their vehicles on the beach above the high
tide mark. Nowadays you can’t even get to the beach. Keep in mind, however that
the beach at that time was a straight beach to Shark Bay Rocks. So when you
drive into Woody Head campground, you will feel that you have arrived somewhere
really special and unfortunately, future generations will definitely not be
enjoying this which is such a pity because there's so very much to enjoy at
this Northern Rivers Natural Wonder. |
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