When Karen retired from teaching she didn’t want a fuss made at a grand function. However her colleagues felt something needed to be done to mark the occasion after over 30 years. Two friends in particular who Karen had previously done the Oxfam 40 km walk with as a team thought a walk and lunch might be nice. So after some research it was decided they would invite interested colleagues, friends and partners to join in on tackling part of the George Bass Walk. The whole walk from Kilkunda to San Remo, adjacent to Phillip Island is about 7kms each way.

A date in February was chosen. It’s about an hour and a half from where we live to drive there. We arrived about 9am but some of the group were a bit late in arriving so it was about 9:30 when we finally set off. The trail was gravel but easy to walk on at the start.

It really was close to the clifftops and we had great views as we walked.

The sides of the trail were quite bushy at first

but after a while we were a bit more exposed to the weather.

We had been walking for nearly an hour when we had the opportunity to divert off the trail and walk along a beach section.

About halfway along the beach we came to a flat rocky platform

which we walked across.

Here’s the view out to the ocean.

After walking along the rest of the beach we made our way back up to the trail. It was quite sandy and we now had a short steep ascent. Fortunately there were boards beneath the sand to give us a bit of grip.

At the top of the rise we had a good view back to where we had been.

The trail was now grassed but we were very exposed and the day was becoming very hot as we made another ascent.

At the top we had a wonderful view ahead of us

and we were pleased to be able to stretch some different muscles as we had a short downhill section.

Over the next hill we came to an overview of another little bay

We continued on. At the top of the next rise we had a good look back to where we’d come from.

Now we were walking along a ridge. Down below us at the next inlet we could see a fishing boat.

The next inlet had no sandy beach and the waves were crashing in across the rocks.

On closer inspection we could even see a cave that had been created by the constant erosion caused by waves over time.

Time was moving on and the temperature was continuing to rise. As the group had made a lunchtime booking back at Kilkunda pub we made the decision to turn back even though we hadn’t quite reached San Remo. A phone call was made to the pub to let them know we were still coming but would be a bit late. We did enjoy the views as we went but kept going rather than stopping.

However a better view for our tired legs was this one, the little bay at the edge of Kilkunda.

Finally we made it back to the Kilkunda Ocean View Hotel.

Lunch was good but the ice cold beer was even better.

Most importantly Karen had enjoyed a retirement function without too much fuss.