Black Rocks Campground is in Bundjalung National Park, north of Woody Head along Ten Mile Beach. The campground is popular with anglers, kaykers, birders and families. For day visitors there is a picnic area and a lovely walk along the Jerusalem Creek track.
A sandy track leads between the dunes onto the beach, which can only be walked at low tide. The dark brown rocks beneath the sand dunes are called coffee rock (humicrete), formed from soils or decayed plant material on sand, and exposed by an estuary or wave action. The rock is very soft, with green algae growing on it in places. Sand mining in the 1960s through to 1982 took place in this area.
We wandered up the beach until deeper water and waves around headlands forced us over the dunes and onto the main track. This track leads to the lagoon at the mouth of Jerusalem Creek. Bundjalung National Park is an important habitat for birds – we were fortunate to see white-bellied sea eagles soaring on the thermals off the dunes, as well as pied oystercatchers, a pair of beach stone curlew and other shore birds. On the creekside track. an echidna was shuffling along, sniffing out treats with its nose.
You will need to turn around at the Jerusalem Creek lagoon, as further north is part of the Evans Head Weapons Range, used for gunnery practice since 1949 for military aircraft. You might hear jets overhead. This is not a place you want to accidentally stray into! Back at camp, there are concrete bunkers in the campground, used during target practice in World War II.
Walk back to the campground along the track, through banksia on the dunes and shady creekside forest. Parts of the track may be flooded, but are easy to wade through. Near the campground, stop at the pontoon for a swim in the creek. If you have a kayak, you can also paddle on Jerusalem Creek.
