Thursday, April 6, 2017

The Forgotten Gem (Royal NP)

Every visitor to Sydney makes it to the Opera House. Most of them cruise the harbor with the spectacular entrance at Manly, the Taronga Zoo, and so on. They also explore the various city districts such as The Rocks (touristy, but nice), Glebe (hipster, but nice), Newtown (used to be hipster, now primarily noisy), Kings Cross (only for backpackers without money), Bondi Beach (only for backpackers with money), and so on. In terms of excursions, the Blue Mountains are by far the most popular destination. Which is surprising since there is a splendid natural beauty directly south of Sydney: the Royal National Park. It does, of course, not match the mountains in terms of sheer drama, but according to what I can find in the internet, the coastline is still awesome, alternating between rugged cliffs, hills with meadows and palm-dotted, sandy beaches.

I decide to explore the park. Given that the weather forecasts for the weekend are mixed, I take a day off, and on a sunny Thursday morning, I make my way to the southern end of the park. The train takes lots of curves and slowly passes through beautiful eucalyptus woods, with small rivers and lakes inbetween. When I reach Otford train station at about 9h, the only other two persons who leave the train are two German girls. Could have been expected. First, we are many, second, we like nature, third, Australians get up earlier.

I walk for two hours through subtropical rainforest. The views over the South coast are awesome and temperatures are still bearable.



Finally the vegetation opens up, and I arrive at Burning Palms Beach. Well, this one has survived the fire.


From there, you can make a short detour to a famous spot just beneath the cliffs: Figure Eight pool. It is only accessible at low tide and essentially consists of stone ledges with deep water pools between them. (See also the blog background image on top.) After hours of walking, it is a pure joy to dive in, especially since barely anybody is there.


Then, however, a group of noisy Frenchies arrives and I decide that it is time to move on. I encounter more groups on the way back to Burning Palms beach and nod to myself for getting up at 6:30. After 1,5 hours of walking on, I am at Garie Beach.




It is past noon and I have lunch, followed by a bath in the sea. I have to decide whether to go for the German Infantry Marching Prize and to complete the Coast Walk up to Bundeena. A little bit less than 30 km in total---people normally do this in two days. Unfortunately, I would have to make it before 19h: then, the last ferry departs and if I miss it, I will be stuck in the middle of nowhere. Also, I don’t know the terrain, I can’t refill my water and it is 30 degrees in the shadow. I postpone the decision until after a nap. When I wake up, it is one hour later, and the choice has been made for me. Not without a slight feeling of relief I return and walk back (this time not at the coast, but on the ridge). It is still a very honorable 25km walk and I arrive home exhausted, but happy.

Whenever you make it to Sydney, be sure not to miss this beauty!

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