Urunga was my 47th different parkrun event back in 2020. We were on our way home from a trip to Sydney. It is one of those fantastic New South Wales mid coastal towns in the Bellingen Shire. It used to be called Bellinger Heads because it was on the Bellinger River but changed its name early on, to Urunga which means "long white sands" in the Aboriginal Gumbaynggir langage. The European settlers used the river to transport timber from inland down to Sydney. They needed people to live where the river meets the ocean because of the dangerous sand bar. Even with a break wall and pilot guides the sand bar crossing was still very dangerous and was eventually replace by a railway. Nowadays Urunga is mainly a seaside holiday town.
The course was a multiple lapper on a short flat path with a small hill at the northern end. It started from the playground opposite the boardwalk and ran along the edge of towns. Toilets and the shops were close by too.
22:28 for the 5 kilometres got me 9th out of 75 runners and walkers. From memory it was my first three lap course.
After parkrun we explored the kilometer long board walk, which lead over the tidal Lagoon along sided the river and the break wall all the way to the ocean beach. @consciouscat actual bumped into friend she used to work with.
The Kalang and Bellinger Rivers actually meet here before heading out to the ocean.
The break wall had some interesting rocks.
Bellinger Heads Beach
The dangerous sand bar. We could have easily spent more time exploring this area and would love to return one day.
View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.
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@consciouscat actual bumped into friend she used to work with.