by Bek Batson
There's something truly special about launching a brand new Coastrek event. They don't come around often, and this one feels especially important. In August this year, Wild Women on Top will host our first ever event on the NSW South Coast, with 20km and 35km hikes starting at Malua Bay or Corrigans Beach, travelling through Surf Beach to Batemans Bay along the spectacular Munjip Trail. A stretch of coast where pristine white beaches meet rugged headlands, carved by bushland trails and sparkling ocean waves.
My name is Bek, and the South Coast is where I come from. I grew up with this coastline in my bones – school holidays at Batemans Bay, summers that smelled like sunscreen and saltwater, afternoons that stretched long and golden before anyone thought to go home. The South Coast wasn't a destination for us; it was just life. The kind of place that shapes you quietly without you realising, until one day you're grown and you feel its pull like a tide.
The South Coast NSW has always held a special place in my heart.
Coming back to this stretch of coast – this time with Coastrek – feels like something I can't quite name. Part homecoming, part responsibility. I've spent years working in this space, passionate about the stories held in this land and the Indigenous art and history that marks it at every turn. The Munjip Trail, with its murals and message poles and yarning circles, speaks to something I've felt here since childhood: that this place asks more of you than just passing through.
What makes this event truly different is not just the breathtaking scenery. It's the feeling of being a part of something bigger – something connected, something that came long before me and my ancestors. The feeling that this is a place to slow down and understand deeply. That's how Coastrek speaks to me. How it speaks to Beyond Blue. And how it speaks to the trekkers I've met this year. We crave intimacy in community, connection in nature, and faith in the unknown.
Coastrek and the Wild Women team would like to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this land, the Walbunja people of the Yuin Nation, and pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging.
This event takes place on Country that has been cherished and cultivated for hundreds of thousands of years. The Munjip Trail invites us here to learn and listen. It stretches along Eurobodalla's coastal headlands from Batehaven to McKenzies Beach, rich with flora, fauna and cultural heritage, threaded with the artwork and stories of the Walbunja people. Aunty Loretta Parsley, Walbunja custodian, teaches that munjip means "walking together, let's go" in Dhurga language. We have so much to learn from the world's oldest living culture, oldest language, and oldest community. Together, let's go.
Australian Geographic describes the Munjip Trail as part of a much older journey – a saltwater songline binding people, places and stories from La Perouse to Eden. Aunty Loretta explains that lore is not written in books but sung into the landscape itself, and that walking Munjip is a way of moving through those stories and feeling the knowledge of Country beneath your feet. Songlines trace the routes travelled for ceremony, fresh water, ocean food and trade. You can almost hear it on the wind. This land asks more of me than admiration. It asks me to notice, to recognise that this coastline has been known, walked, named, sung and cared for across generations.
Munjup - "Walking together, let's go"
It's heartening to see local councils collaborate with traditional owners throughout this region, and to see that care embedded in the experience of walking here. Dotting the route are signs, murals, audio posts, carved message poles and yarning circles that invite walkers to engage with Walbunja stories and ways of seeing. Eurobodalla Council enlisted local Walbunja artists and students from Batemans Bay High School to share cultural stories through art, honouring the deep connection to Country and the enduring ties between community, story and place.
At the trailhead, Leanne Brooks' 'Mirida-wara, Two Sea Eagles' captures the symbolism of the white-bellied sea eagle, a totem for the trail. At Malua Bay Park, Nigel Stewart's 'Gadu – Umbarra – Gadu Dreaming' depicts a mullet run and cultural gathering practices within a yarning circle – a welcome rest spot when you need a sit and a yarn. At Caseys Beach, Bronwen Smith and Gavin Chatfield's 'Celebrating Community' speaks to connections between land and sea, while Natalie Bateman's 'Wimbie Beach' celebrates marine life and family traditions. Further along, Timeika Reena Slockee's 'Gadu Gurrad – Coastline Connections' is incorporated into a privacy screen at a picnic table, reflecting natural coastal patterns and spiritual ties to Country. Batemans Bay High School students also contributed intricately inscribed wooden message poles that embody unity and shared storytelling.
Leanne Brooks' 'Mirida-wara, Two Sea Eagles'
This is just one of the reasons this trail leaves such a lasting impression. The land comes home with you – not just in your camera roll or sandy soles, but in your body.
Our newest Coastrek route moves through elaborate ecosystems of both land and sea: bushland, beaches, rocky platforms and headlands, with lookouts over Snapper Island and the Tollgates. There are scar trees, cliffs, geological formations millions of years old, snake trails and kangaroo droppings, culturally significant landmarks like Grandfathers Gully, Sunshine Bay, Denhams Beach and Pretty Point, glimpses of whales and dolphins offshore... The longer you look, the more you'll find.
That element of discovery matters to us, because Coastrek has always been about more than just crossing the Finish Line. It's about spending long enough outdoors to soften, to connect, to notice each other and ourselves. Here, that invitation feels stronger than ever. The trail itself – its history, its stories and artwork – asks us to gather here. 'Walking together' is in the very name.
So as we prepare to bring Coastrek to the NSW South Coast for the first time, I hope for our trekkers to meet this land as it is. Acknowledge Walbunja Country with respect. Understand songlines not as abstract ideas, but as fluid lines of connection between people and place, story and responsibility. Pause at the yarning circles and message poles. Read, listen, learn. Notice the sea eagles soaring above the saltwater horizon and the crimson grevillea grazing your fingers as part of a living system – cultural and ecological – that make this Coastrek unlike any other.
I can't wait to walk it with you.
If you're yet to register – sign up here before July 5 – and come be a part of history.
References
Coastrek. (2026). South Coast NSW event. Retrieved June 10, 2026, from
https://www.coastrek.com.au/events-south-coast-nsw
Eurobodalla Tourism. (n.d.). Munjip Trail: Batehaven to Malua Bay coastal walk. Retrieved June 10, 2026, from
https://eurobodalla.com.au/highlights/munjip-trail/
Watson, M. (2025, November 24). Walking together, let’s go: Country, songlines and the Munjip Trail (with Walbunja Elder Aunty Loretta Parsley). Australian Geographic. Retrieved June 10, 2026, from
https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/new-south-wales/2025/11/walking-together-lets-go-country-songlines-and-the-munjip-trail/
Image Credit: Eurobodalla Coast Tourism Mandatory @eurobodalla #eurobodalla
