Katherine Ashley, Senior Project Officer, South Coast Branch, NPWS takes five with Great Walks to talk about the newly revamped Light to Light Walk.
What’s your earliest bushwalking memory?
Walking with my dad and my sisters in Sydney Harbour National Park. He used to take us to some hidden spots in the bush around the harbour. I loved the bush, the sense of adventure and freedom. We always took a packed lunch – ham sandwiches.
How has the great outdoors affected your view on life?
It’s given me a sense of just how big this world is and how small we are in the landscape. You can be walking in a valley or standing on top of a mountain and you realise that you are just one small being in a vast world.
What’s your current role with NPWS?
I’m a Senior Project Officer with the NPWS South Coast Branch based in Merimbula on the Sapphire Coast of NSW. I work as part of a team that delivers major projects for NPWS including walking tracks and campgrounds. The Light to Light Walk has been a career highlight for me – walking the track and overseeing the final construction and completion of the walk.
What are the main updates to the Light to Light Walk?
Upgrades were undertaken to realign sections of the walk to more closely follow the coast and to improve views and the visitor experience. We wanted to better connect the walk with beaches, lookouts and other nearby points of interest. This included new walking track sections from Bittangabee Bay to Green Cape that provides visitors with a completely new experience – traversing rock platforms and hidden bays that weren’t previously part of the walk. NPWS also upgraded the starting point of the walk at Boyd’s Tower and the finish point at Green Cape.
Why were these updates required?
The Light to Light Walk has always been a popular walk on the Sapphire Coast of NSW. We wanted to provide a new and exciting experience for visitors and also make the track safe and more accessible. The track was severely impacted by the 19/20 bushfires and 2022 floods and we undertook significant post bushfire recovery and flood restoration works to repair damaged tracks. The new hike-in campgrounds have also made it possible to offer a new 2-night 3-day walking experience so visitors can stay in remote campgrounds and immerse themselves in nature.
What were the biggest challenges on making the new track work?
The remoteness and isolation of the site. Beowa National Park is the most southern national park in NSW with the closest town in Eden, NSW. All the materials had to be delivered via 4WD tracks or flown in via helicopter to the track sections along the walk. The contractor’s walking track crew spent two years building the trail working day in and day out through all the seasons with heat waves, tick bites, wind and rain. Add onto that the thousands of hours of NPWS staff in the design, planning and construction of the walk since 2019. A huge amount of work has gone into it.
What is your favourite section of the Light to Light Walk?
I love the new section from Pulpit Rock to Green Cape. Walking along the rock platforms is spectacular. It really gives you a sense of the remoteness and wildness of the area and you catch a glimpse of Green Cape Lighthouse in the distance at the finish point.
For more info on the Light to Light Walk click here.