The Maitland Bay Track is in the Bouddi National Park near Gosford on the New South Wales Central Coast. This is one of many walks available locally. We chose this one because it goes down to a beautiful beach with some amazing rock formations.
Maitland Bay Track Information Centre
The car park is large but becomes full on busy days. Nearby is a visitor centre which has information about the local area, from the bush walks available to the local fauna and flora. At the back of the building is a room with the history of the SS Maitland , which sank here on May 6, 1898. Of the 36 passengers aboard the Maitland, 24 lost their lives.
SS Maitland Memorial
Outside the information centre is a small memorial to the Maitland and those who lost their lives. The centre piece of the memorial is the Bell from the Maitland.
Maitland Bay Track
The Maitland Bay Track starts from the car park and then descends down a series of pathways and steps to the beach. Rated grade 3, the track is well maintained, but you will need a reasonable level of fitness at the track is quite steep. Over its one kilometre length, the track descends 146 metres. This might not sound like much until you have to walk back up.
The scenery as you walk along the track is very nice Australian bush, with eucalypts and ferns everywhere.
Maitland Bay Beach
The walking track ends at Maitland Bay Beach. This is a lovely sandy 500m long stretch of beach that is great for a swim or relaxing on. Have a look at the rocks and small cliff faces and you will find some interesting weathering patterns.
At the north end of the beach is Bouddi Point. This is the area where the SS Maitland came to grief. We had a look and could not see any wreckage. The volunteer at the Information Centre told us later that it would have to be a very low tide to see much. Still, the rocks were fun to climb over.
Walking Back to the Car Park
The walk back up took us twice as long as walking down because of the uphill grade. We decided to take a detour along the Bouddi Coastal Walk, which takes off to the left as you go uphill. There was some really nice coastal views along this walk and made the detour worthwhile.
We enjoyed the Maitland Bay Walk and will be going back to walk some of the other tracks in the area.