NSW Coast Walk : Bulli to Sydney

KM this section : 58
KM completed : 712

You know where I am?  I'm in the jungle...

Looking to the north from Bulli, I can see that the land slopes steeply up away from sea, there are high cliffs a little way inland in fact.  Sure enough, my route goes that way, to begin with climbing along mountain bike tracks, through what the Australians call rainforest, rather different to the forests I've mostly walked through up 'til now, much of the undergrowth being some kind of palm tree, it feels very exotic.  Then I get to the 'Sublime Point Track', this is crazily steep, a sign warns me that there will be ladders, I assume this is local dialect for steps, but no, a series of metal ladders takes me up a vertical cliff face.  It is hard work with my pack on, but I'm rewarded with a fine view, and then a pleasant and pretty much flat track through more familiar forest.  Eventually I start to descend again, this time a gentle enough grade back down to a beach, and then up again, this time on an unpleasantly busy narrow road for a kilometre or two.  From here, the rest of the walk will be along the 'Royal Coastal Walk', this is a lovely walk, mostly along cliffs, and almost entirely on a walkway with a tough, artificial surface - I think this is the sort of thing the Kiwis I spoke to meant when they talked about Aussie paths all being wheelchair accessible.  I make it to camp at sunset, there is just enough light to cook up the kangaroo burgers I've bought as a celebratory last meal in the wild, who says such a thing cannot be cooked on a camp stove.  They're pretty tasty too...  There are many other campers, it seems to be some kind of christian young men's thing, well, they don't really bother me.

View from Sublime Point.

The christians leave at 4am, all very character building I am sure.  I wait for the rain, which has come down pretty heavily during the night, to stop, and then continue on the Royal Coastal Walk - it seems that the artificial surface is a recently laid new route, sadly they haven't bothered to remove the signs pointing along the old route, this leads to me walking around in a circle.  Then a few more beaches, passing a few points of interest such as wedding cake rock (carefully fenced off to prevent people taking selfies on it, apparently it may fall into the sea at any time), and some examples of aboriginal rock carving.  And that's pretty much it for the planned walking route... though in fact, after a ferry to Cronulla, and a rail replacement bus to Sydney's Central Station, I still find time for hurried tramp around the city - I have to get to the opera house for a photo.  Sydney seems nice, I like the botanic gardens, I should come back here.  Not totally sure about the harbour area where my hotel is, there seem to be lots of loud bars, but I manage to find one more to my taste for one last Aussie burger.

On the Royal Coastal Walk.

Well this was all rather awesome, totally worth the trip, great walking through beautiful countryside, and just so many interesting creatures to gawp at.  I could maybe have done with slightly less swimming, although honestly it worked pretty well, and given that this was not an official route in any way, it's amazing how little trouble I had, only very small amount of hacking through the bush or climbing fences, which to be honest with a little better planning I could probably have avoided.  I may do a more detailed retrospective at some point, with more facts and figures.  And I can certainly see me coming back to Australia, I have only scratched the surface of this huge country for one thing - or indeed, even within the region I was in, there is also a trail leading up the the country's highest mountain which sounds worth a look.

Had to be done.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.

NSW Coast Walk : Kiama to Bulli

KM this section : 60
KM completed : 644

Walking out of Kiama, past the lighthouse.

Unsurprisingly I make it a lazy day in Kiama, it seems a nice place, and there are actually things to see - various buildings dating from victorian times, a large lighthouse, many churches, and I see many signs for the 'blowhole', which I guess will be a sea cave with a partially collapsed roof.  But apart from getting out to do a bit of shopping, I pretty much just hang around the campsite TV room...

Basalt columns.

It really is not far to Sydney now, and not far to walk on my first day out of Kiama, just twenty-seven kilometres in fact.  The Kiama Coast Walk continues, it is still nice, passing some interesting rock formations today, some are natural, some are the results of old quarrying.  There still is a quarry here, my GPS line goes along the road to it in fact, and there look to be many lorries rumbling along it - I find a better route among houses, although for a while I worry that I am in a gated community.  Then back to the sea, good to return to a beach, except, oops, it seems to be being dug up - there is a new marina under construction it seems, there are many danger signs, and on the beach a massive bulldozer is slowly shifting sand about.  Of course, I backtrack and walk around on the road, going through the construction site would be bad and wrong, and I certainly wouldn't want to spend the rest of the afternoon worrying whether somebody there called the police to report me for trespassing...  Well, I make it to camp, at a place named Windang, by 5pm, for the third night in a row I'm at a proper site.  And there is a nearby bowling club where it is schnitzel night - like the Kiwis, the Aussies like their schnitzel, although over here they still generally make it with chicken.

There is a beach somewhere under all that.

I walk out of Windang along a busy road, looks like there's not much land between the sea and the (very large) Lake Illawarra, what isn't this road is houses or a huge golf complex.  I do expect to leave the road after a few kilometres, but, it turns out the GPS line runs along a railway line, not ideal in this country where, unlike America, trains are fairly frequent and go faster than walking pace.  So, I walk along a cycle path instead, which is absolutely fine, for all that it is beside a six lane highway, with a truly enormous steel works between me and the sea.  The afternoon is rather better, I'm still on the cycle path, but it's now a nice route along the coast.  And it is another short day, I reach (another paid) camp for 4:30pm and this evening I find a 'workers club', I must say I approve of Australia's clubs, I have visited a few now and they are generally comfy, and are happy to provide non members like me with food - massive fish and chips tonight - and beer.

Windang Bridge, over the Lake Illawarra inlet.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.