Coastal Walk?

Wattamolla - swimming hole. If we only had more time we could have stopped.


View of Garie Beach - our hostel was between those two valleys you see.


Garie Beach - setting out on Day 2 we took this at 8am. The surfers were already out.


The ocean is actually quite a steep drop from here, contrary to the way it looks.


Lizzy

According to the Lonely Planet, there is a delightful coastal walk along the Royal National Park, approximately ~1hr away from Sydney. The perfect overnighter, 26km spread out over 2 days with dramatic clifftop views, rainforest, and bushwalking. Sounded like a great weekend getaway to me. I enlisted the company of a co-worker who was new to hiking but enthused about the proposed trip.

Newbie & I set off bright and early saturday morning and arrived in Otford at 2pm. No one else, save for 2 others, got off the train. Away we went, straight up a massively steep incline that was practically vertical. We were instantly rewarded with breathtaking views of the Australian coast and were giddy with excitement. Two hours into the trek and we hadn't seen a soul. Three hours in and no change. Three and a half hours in and a rustle in the bush! Ah, company at last but in the form of a massive lizard, the largest reptile I've ever seen outside of the safety of a glass container in Petland. I froze in fear as Newbie, self-proclaimed hater of bugs/insects/reptiles alike, expertly whipped out her camera for a quick shot. "Get mine too" I told her. A short time later, three male UK hikers decorated with earrings on their way to the 'unclad only' beach informed us that if we had stayed still long enough, it may have climbed up us thinking we were a tree.

Four hours later, we arrived exhausted at our destination for the night, Garie Beach. A rustic YHA 10 mins off the beach in the seclusion of the forest, there were 12 bunks but just 7 of us, no electricity, an outhouse and cold showers on the beach. Basically indoor camping. Newbie took my "the outhouse is the nicest I've ever seen" quite literally and came back looking horrified. I thought the solid oak toilet seat was a nice touch but apparently missed the enormous 'biggest spider I've ever seen in my life' hiding behind the door. I'm not a fan of outdoor peeing as most of my friends know, but I had NO qualms about it that night.

Day Two: we woke up and could barely get out of bed but had another 16km left and had no other choice but to do it. Despite leaving at 8am, the sun bore down on us immediately. Stupidly, I had forgotten a hat, which probably contributed to the heat induced delirium later in the day. Trekking across isolated beaches in our runners, the sweat poured off our faces and our sunglasses threatened to leave our faces multiple times. We re-applied sunscreen religiously as it melted off of us in the 30C incinerary. It was not a walk in the park but rather a death hike. We plodded along in silence much of the time as we focused all of our energy on putting one foot in front of the other. Our iodine sterilized water (courtesy of the tablets our American guest gave us) didn't quite quench our thirst with the rather chemical taste it left in our mouths. The markers were few and far between and we wasted precious time trying to find the path. You'd have to be crazy to attempt this alone. Thoughts of making it out alive flickered across my mind more than once as the seemingly endless 6 1/2 hour journey marched on until all of a sudden- action on the trail. Once again, I was the first to confront it and it came in the form of a large Kangaroo. No bears to worry about here, just a freaking kangaroo. "Grab your stick" I instructed Newbie. Well, we had left the walking stick behind in Garie. "Ok," I rationalized. "Let's just give it a minute and then slowly proceed. Make lots of noise. GO!" Clapping and singing, we made our way through with no future sightings. Two minutes later, footsteps on the trail behind us. Oh god. But it was only two British hikers who heard the commotion and thought, 'there's a party going on up there' and then saw us singing and bouncing along the trail and concluded that 'those girls have got rhythm!' Hilarious. We met up with them again as they ended their journey for the day in delightful Wattamolla, whereas we continued on for another enduring 3 hours.

Arriving in Bundeena to catch the ferry back to Cronulla (then a train to Sydney, then a bus ride home) we were delirious. Newbie felt as though she could touch the pavement with her hugely swollen fingers. I felt like the ocean was coming right at me. We had the giggles like I've never had and were so disgustingly dirty and rank smelling that I pitied anyone who had to a) sit next to us and b) look at us. Unfortunately for us, the people in Bundeena were very friendly and wanted to hear all about our adventure.

We arrived home sunday morning and I have never been so glad to see our grungy residence as I was then.