The Clarence Coastal Track from Cremorne to Mays Beach, is a distance of 4.5km, with panoramic coastal views along the entire distance. This track is well maintained, signed and is a reasonably easy undulating walk with a few slightly challenging climbs.

Parking at the end of Frederick Henry Parade, we walked about a hundred metres to the northern end of Cremorne Beach. The track starts at the end of this beach with a short walk uphill to Calverts Hill Nature Reserve.

Walking past a grove of young sheoaks, a small plaque informed us that the trees were planted in 2022 to commemorate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Sheep grazed on the dry hillside, wallabies watched from a distance unperturbed by our presence. The linear reserve is managed by the Parks and Wildlife Service and contains the rare and endangered Eucalyptus Morrisbyi, but the dominant trees we saw were sheoaks (allocasuarina). The track passes beside cliffs, the sea below rolling onto the rocky shore until we reach Mays Point, a popular surfing break. On the day we walked, dramatic cloud formations added to the beauty of views across Frederick Henry Bay to Primrose Sands and the Tasman Peninsula. An occasional aeroplane, white against the blue hills, flew towards the airport.

Smooth pebbles cover the shore at the southern end of Mays Beach. Small sea treasures are wedged among the rocks. The rest of Mays Beach is a kilometre curve of east coast facing sand.

Mays Beach is named for the Mays family, who farmed the adjacent land from the mid-nineteenth century. The fruit from their orchards were sent to market from a wharf at Mays Beach. Weathered posts are now the only remains of this once busy wharf.

We returned on the same track, accompanied by the sound of cicadas chirping in the warm afternoon sun.