Klaus Hueneke is known as a mountain man. Over the last 35 years, the affable lederhosen-wearing outdoorsman has penned many books on the Australia's high country, including his bestseller Huts of the High Country (Tabletop Press, 1982). Just two years ago, this column celebrated his exploits (Mountain King, 12 June, 2012) when he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to conservation and Australia's heritage, particularly the huts of the high country.
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However, for over four decades its seems that Klaus has been harbouring a secret – he has been secretly swapping his skis for snorkel and mask and his knickerbockers for speedos and has been exploring a parallel universe on our south coast.
Klaus reveals that he has made "several hundred trips over the Great Divide down a breathtaking escarpment to dozens of forest-enclosed beaches and striking headlands between Jervis Bay and Eden." He reckons that "a speedometer for all those trips would read over 100,000 kilometres, or four times around the globe." Who knows how many more kilometres he's chalked-up rock-hopping around wind-swept headlands, tip-toeing across scorching sand and kayaking in his beloved Yellow Swan along every nook and cranny of the coast.
On many of these coastal odysseys, Klaus explains that he recorded ad hoc observations and experiences, "scrawling them on whatever he could lay his hands on – from notepads to opened-out tea bag cartons". One time, having forgotten a pen, he even resorted to a writing with a chunk of charcoal from his campfire. "There can sometimes be an overwhelming urgency to write," the Canberra adventurer-author explains.
Over the past three years, Klaus has been creatively collating these field notes into a book which has just been published in time for the holiday season. Exploring a Wild Australian Coast (Rosenberg, 2014) is more than just a collection of his observations, and it's more than an expose of his coastal escapades, it's a journey in which the real Klaus finally bares his soul (and sometimes more than that, but don't worry he spares us of those photos), and in doing so he succeeds in weaving personal experiences into the bigger picture of history, philosophy and the natural world.
If you are after a travel guide about where you can swim or the best places to stay, then you best pick another south coast title off the bookshop shelf, for this is a rollicking ride from a youth spent frolicking in the waters (and among the sand dunes…) at Garie Beach (north of Wollongong in the Royal National Park) to half a century later, living off the land (and sea) along some of our more remote sections of coast.
It's not always smooth journey either. This isn't the south coast that the tourism bodies would necessarily showcase, this is the coast viewed through Klaus' partly scratched binoculars – from the "stench of disposable nappies and rotting food scraps" at Mystery Bay campground to "prising paralysis ticks out from the more tender parts" near Eden. It also seems that each chapter has a snake or lizard ready to play chief protagonist, like the black snake that tried to nibble his feet at Nargal Lake near Narooma, or the lace-monitor that charged at him when it was cornered in the swamp near Potato Point, just south of Tuross.
After a flock of emus stole his backpack, Klaus devised a peculiar dance in which his hands, arms and body became a two-headed emu look-alike. "Whenever they came near, I rose, raised my arms above my head and with thumbs and forefingers, opening and closing like the beak of an emu, ran straight towards them," writes Klaus, who adds, "emus can't reverse, so at the last minute they would swerve to the left or right, accelerate at tremendous speed and head for open space."
Not all his close encounters are with live specimens. Near Meroo Head, south of Tabourie, our billy-boiling beachcomber stumbles upon a dead humpback whale with the "the stench of rancid fat, the ugly blotches of red and orange and the malodorous liquids oozing from several holes."
Some of the hazards Klaus faces are unseen. For example, while taking a must-have sunset shot of the sand ripples at Comerong Island on the Shoalhaven River Klaus finds himself floundering in quicksand. "Helplessly being sucked down by a terrifying subterranean force is a petrifying sensation," he recounts. Heck, I didn't even know we had quicksand on the south coast.
Don't get me wrong, Exploring a Wild Australian Coast isn't all a Bear Grylls-style man versus nature adventure. Klaus is a nature lover at heart and he also shares moments of ecstasy, like the day, after 40 years of trying, he finally gets to see a bellbird at Trunkatabella, near Tuross. The olive-green bird "was much bigger and brighter," than he imagined." Then there's the more tender accounts of romantic evenings canoodling around driftwood fires. Apparently, they are especially romantic at dusk as the wood burns green and blue due to the salt content.
Exploring a Wild Australian Coast also dabbles into maritime history such as the tale of the SS Merimbula stranded during a "pig and whistle run" (so-named because of the main cargo carried and the whistle that went off before leaving port) on the rock-shelf near Currarong on a stormy night in March 1928. Thankfully no one died in this incident, but Klaus reveals that, "on some voyages pigs were carried on the top deck while passengers ate in sumptuous dining rooms beneath them" Mmm…I hope the floor didn't leak.
This book was always going to be a winner with this columnist for it ventures off the beaten track and in doing so uncovers hidden gems like the "sauna" an anonymous number of campers created using a gas burner concealed under a sheet of canvas in a remote sea cave. "The rocks would heat up and then they'd splash water around to give off the steam" explains Klaus who adds that the ingenious had even had carved a boulder-free path to the ocean where they no doubt cooled off. Then there's his perplexing account of a possible UFO encounter, the (clearly) mythical Wallagoot Monster and enough simulacra (don't miss the Pinocchio nose poking out of sea stacks at Wonboyn or the setting sun shining through Australia Rock at Narooma) to fill this column's simulacra corner for months.
Klaus' trademark descriptive and honest prose is interspersed with enticing photographs, colourful sketches (May Gibbs' aficionados will love his "banksia man going walkabout") and a generous splashing of hand-drawn maps (haven't they made surprising come-back in today's increasingly digital world). It is also clear that Klaus has been enamoured by the writings of the late Englishman Roger Deakin, who masterfully combined incisive observations of natural history with local history into a number of semi-autobiographical traveller tales.
Just as Klaus describes his favourite bush camping spot as "hard to leave and easy to return to," so too is Exploring a Wild Australian Coast. It's the perfect last-minute Christmas gift for anyone who makes summer pilgrimages to our south coast.
Fact file
The book: Exploring a Wild Australian Coast: on the South Coast of New South Wales (Rosenberg Publishing, 2014) is available at www.tabletoppressbooks.com or email: khueneke@bigpond.com.au (RRP: $29.95).
Emu on the beach: Have you spotted an emu on a south coast beach? I've seen many a kangaroo bounding across the scorching sand, but never an emu.
Christmas photos, 2014
Regular readers would be aware of this column's annual tradition of a Christmas photo. Choosing this year's image was a no-brainer and was snapped earlier this week while I was snooping around Christmas Island. It seems the Australian Territory, located in the Indian Ocean, isn't only a popular spot for naturalists who flock here each December to witness the annual mass migration of red crabs , but also as a secret getaway for the big fella in the red suit. After months toiling away in the freezing North Pole, Santa's visit to the tropical island is no doubt part of his acclimatisation program to prepare for warmer conditions that await him all over mainland Australia, including of course, Canberra, for his big night of deliveries later this week. Fingers crossed his elves and Mrs Claus have everything under control back at his workshop.
Until next week, Merry Christmas!
Where on the south coast?
It's that time of the year when many Canberrans will be dodging beach balls and shooing away flies while perusing this column on their favourite south coast beach or waterfront cafe. If that sounds like you, take time to note your surroundings because you might recognise the mystery locations in my 'Where on the South Coast' competition which temporarily replaces 'Where in Canberra' for the remainder of this holiday season.
Clue: This seaside village begins with the same letter as the items on this tree.
Degree of difficulty: Easy
Last week: Congratulations to Lynda McPadden of Hackett, who correctly identified last week's photo (inset) as the lookout near the top of the enlarged Cotter Dam. Is it the only place in Canberra (apart from the gaol) where there is razor wire?
How to enter: Email your guess along with your name and address to timtheyowieman@bigpond.com. The first email sent after 10am today with the correct answer wins a double pass to Dendy cinemas.
