Wollemi National Park Annualversary Hike

To celebrate our anniversary, Tim and I decided to take a few days off and hit the great outdoors. We decided on a three day hike through the Wollemi National Park, starting at Newnes and going to Annie Rowan Creek, with two nights camping along the way.

We headed up on Friday night to stay at Newnes, which was a former mining township but now exists of one pub which is in the process of being done up, and some holiday cabins. Oh, and some spectacular scenery. We stayed at the Newnes Holiday Cabins which are the only option other than camping - but what an option. All sustainable, eco-friendly and boasting solar panels and a help-yourself vegetable garden, the cabins are set in a valley and wrapped by wattle which happened to be flowering during our visit. I almost didn't want to start the hike.



But start we did, the following frosty morning. We'd secured topographic maps and looked up all the track notes we could find and were planning on leaving Newnes and walking 13k to Rocky Creek to camp for the night. On advice from the proprieter, we decided to add an extra 5k to camp at the national park ranger's campsite further into the park. We'd then do a day trip to Annie Rowan Creek before heading back.

The first day of walking was lovely. The track left Newnes and crossed a river into the national park. The first 3k or so took us up to historic ruins - this area used to be a shale mine, and there was extensive and overgrown ruins, the likes of which you rarely see in Australia. We passed old chimneys, retaining walls, and a series of coke ovens which blistered out of the side of a hill. The track then went on to Rocky Creek - a relatively easy up and downish walk. We stopped next to the Wolgan river for morning tea and continued the walk on to Rocky Creek for lunch. This was a little more difficult - had to cross the river and I, ahem, slipped in. But the sun was shining, my shoes dried while we ate, and then went on our merry way (to find only a few metres down the track a second river crossing - but shoes came off for this one!).

A guide book I'd read had recommended doing the walk in August as that was when the wattle is in bloom. It was and it was glorious. Walking through grey green valleys with cliffs looming on either side, the entire canopy was haloed with the beautiful blossom. My eyes couldn't have been happier to see it.



The walk to the national park campsite was also easy, although Tim and I had both invested in new hiking packs (and hadn't been hiking in a million years) so we were feeling a little sore and sorry. One more river crossing and there was the camp - complete with a sink and a chopping board in an otherwise remote and isolated area.



We had a lovely evening - setting up camp, cooking (chorizo pasta) and drinking (whorts. Whisky and port mixed together. Trust me, better than it sounds).

The next morning we packed a day pack and headed off along the track to find Annie Rowan Creek. After about 1k the track petered out as we hit a rocky outlook. We skirted around the river bed and climbed up it...and from there, my memory tends to be a little blank. All I can say is there was no proper track (we since learned that there isn't one as such - it is more or a scramble and see sort of thing) and we got somewhat lost. Tim did really well orienteering - he had the map and is experienced however I got a little freaked out in the absence of street signs! We scrambled over rocks, rushed through glades where we could, saw lots of animal tracks but never managed to find Annie Rowan Creek. By Tim's estimates it was another 30 mins or so ahead - but I'd had enough and we agreed to turn back. At which stage we promptly got lost. It wasn't a lost forever sort of lost - the track was between two mountains and next to a river, however finding our way back across the rocks was very difficult. We are now both nettle-stun and bramble-scratched and I am not prepared to disclose whether there were or were not tears.



Either way, the sun it was a shining and we made our way with much relief to our camp for lunch. We then packed up and walked back to Rocky Creek - my favourite part of the trip. The walk (after our lostness) was simple, there was a warm breeze, the wattle smelled like honey and the light dappled down. Can confirm that there were no tears during this section. We were wise to the double creek trick and took our shoes off for the walk over. The first crossing was fine - all sandy banks - but the second enlightened us as to why the creek is called rocky. Ouch ouch bloody ouch. On the plus side the water was so cold that feet were somewhat numb...actually, no plus side, it bloody killed.

We set up in a covered glade by the river and enjoyed the evening. Tim had snuck in an extra bottle of wine, which we enjoyed with an indian meal. Some little bits of rain started falling, which made us batten down the hatches, but it never actually took off. That night was surprisingly hot - I was ROASTING in the tent (which for me is the most unusual thing, I'd freeze in a sauna). We could hear the wind blowing above and the river running next to us, and it was just lovely. I was convinced the rain was going to come and that we would have to walk out in the middle of the night (cos of course the river was going to rise and kill us) so I was pleasantly surprised that we managed to stay put and dry the whole night.

We walked out the next morning - we'd forgotten that there was as much uphill as there was. Not bad uphill, just continuous for the first section of the walk. But like the rest of it, beautiful glades with wattle and the gentle trickle of the river to keep you company. Dreamy.



(Incidentally - the Blue Mountains police stations loan out Personal Locater Beacons. We borrowed one Just In Case. Didn't need it but was wonderful to have the peace of mind it brought).

Possibly one of the nicest things about this walk - not another soul along the way. From the moment we left Newnes until we returned, there was nobody. No bloody Annie Rowan, noone. Tops.

Jatbula Trail

The Track
The Jatbula Trail is a five day, four night hike from Katherine Gorge to Edith Falls in the Northern Territory, through the Nitmiluk National Park. It's an Aboriginal Song Trail, which means that the indigenous people of the area would follow this trail and as they went, would sing about the next landmark coming up - like a singing map. J and I had heard about it and during my last trip home, braved up by liquor, we decided to lock it in. So a week and a half ago found us in Darwin, dusting off our hiking boots (scarily not donned for me since the 6 Foot!) and getting ready to walk!

The prep was a bit challenging - no good maps are to be had. The trail is really well marked so this didn't bother us too much, and J had a newly acquired compass watch which we assumed we'd be adept at using! There were 2 maps available - we had both - and they both have different kilometre distances between sites, and the topography on one of them was clearly inaccurate. But it didn't matter - we chose to believe that we walked 66k rather than 58 and that we are superheroes who can battle majorly steep uphill sections!

We'd also never walked just the two of us before - we'd always been in groups. Although confident about our sisterly cameraderie, we figured there were bound to be a few tantrums thrown along the way, particularly with the heat. So in order to prevent these as much as possible we devised a rule - if one of us chucked a tanty, the other was to go straight in there and take a photo of it in all the surly glory, so the tanty thrower could be mocked upon return! True it was a risky business...but we're risky ladies!

The night before the big hike we stayed in Katherine, assembled our food and packed our bags for the next 5 days. We then sat down and drank some of our hiking whiskey, in preparation you understand. The next morning, keen as mustard, we headed to Katherine Gorge and jumped a ferry across to the start of the walk. There were only two other hikers starting the walk - and would you believe it, the girl in the couple was wearing the EXACT same outfit as me! Like, what the hell are the odds of that! Identical t-shirt (pink, with a tree on it, wicks away sweat allegedly) and brown shorts. I would like to think it was clearly because we both had a keen sense of hiking fashion...but it was a total fashion faux pas!

Day 1 - Katherine Gorge to Biddlescombe Cascade (maybe 5k?)
After hopping off the ferry, we started the walk up to Biddlescombe. It started out well - gentle incline through bushland, stretching out forever as far as the eye could see. After a good solid tramp we arrived at the Northern Rockhole, which had water for swimming but no waterfall as we were at the end of the dry season. We chose to push on - we'd started late due to ferry times and already the heat was getting intense. We found that by about 11.30 each day the heat was too much to walk in - so we aimed to be done by then most days. We carried on up the escarpment, and although the walk itself was easy the heat and the reflection off the rocks made it challenging - we had to take many breaks in the shade to cool down and water up. It was worth it though - the top of the escarpment led to a shady campground where we threw our bags down and inhaled lunch. Brief exploring - about 2 mins away - found the river. This ran, as the site's name implies, in cascades down the rocks and formed a beautiful crystal clear pool, before waterfalling down and joining the river again. We had the most refreshing swim ever and marvelled at how the water seemed to appear from nowhere and was almost too idyllic to be true. The couple caught up with us at this stage and Twinnie (her name due to her matching outfit!) washed some clothes in the river, losing her bra to the mercies of the rapids gods!
We then killed some time during the heat of the afternoon, lazing in our tents and avoiding the march flies which pack a nasty bite. Late afternoon we headed down for another lovely swim before watching the sun set over the river. It was then time for cocktail hour - we'd brought along vodka and some powdered Tang, thinking it would make a delicious vodka orange delight. I didn't mind it but Jen hated, so we only had a couple of them before ditching that option.
While we were camped here, a few truckloads of people rocked up - the rangers and the traditional landowners, the Jaowyn, were doing a week's tour of the park. They were there to map some of the traditional sites, talk ab out traditional stories and to pass this information on to the rangers as well as their own younger people. J and I were too shy to go over and chat; I totally regret not doing so. We found out later that one of the Elders there was the granddaughter of the man the trail had been named for and I can only imagine the wealth of knowledge there was that night.
Instead we cooked up dinner, and then had a beautiful night's sleep under the starts - it was so lovely and warm we didn't need the fly on the tents, so we could lie and watch the brilliant moon and millions of shimmering stars. We're both cold sleepers so woke at about 3am a bit chilly - but once we knew this was going to happen we prepared for it and were AOK.

Day 2 - Biddlescombe Cascades to Crystal Falls (allegedly 12k)
We both woke up around 3 in the morning - we had decided against bringing sleeping bags as it was so warm, but we're both cold sleepers so got a little chilly around this time. But it didn't matter - we'd slept without the fly on our tents and were able to gaze up at the beautiful stars until it was a reasonable time to get up and kick on.
The walk was again quite easy although the heat played a major role (and being a dirty ginga J has to watch her skin even more in the sun). The landscape was flat and dry, and the horizon just stretched out in front of you for miles. The trail was easy to follow, but if you wandered too far away you'd get totally lost, miles from anywhere. 'hey were never seen again' became our catch cry for any track deviation for the rest of the hike.
Along the way was some amazing Indigenous art, painted on towering rocks that formed an incredible natural gallery. We later found out that one of the paintings (of a human-like figure with wild hair and hands doing 'spirit fingers') was actually a god that women would sing to. All the women in the tribe would go, alone, and sing to this paining in order to be given a husband. If any woman were able to sing to it all day, they would be able to choose their partner. J and I were disappointed we found out about this after being there - we could have used some burly husbands to carry out hiking packs!
The day's walk took us to Crystal Falls, which was my favourite camping spot. Set against a river, it was shady and green and the river was a series of rock pools and waterfalls - and covered in blossoming water lilies. We swam, relaxed, named our new best fork/knife/spoon combo ('Spike') and then watched the sunset sitting on rocks in the river and drinking Camp Whiskey. We also spent some time trying to work out how to cross the river - the next morning we had to get across to continue the walk and neither us nor the couple could work out a way across without at least some foot wetness. We figured it was our best puzzle and the answer would come to us in the morning, hopefully.

Day Three - Crystal Falls to 17 Mile Falls vis The Amphitheatre (11.5k)
Over our morning coffee and condy (condensed milk, mmm!) we fretted a little about the puzzle. But being brave intrepid hikers, we strapped our packs on (making sure everything was waterproofed, just in case of a fall) and started rock hopping. We made it across - there was one section where our feet had to go in and although the current was fairly strong there were no embarrassing falls! A bit of foot repair later and we were on our merry way!
The early morning took up past the Crystal Falls after which the camp site was named. These were spectacular although a little far from the track to get a really good look. Once again, the day's walk was quite easy and a lot quicker than expected. We were aiming to get to the Amphitheatre - a cave with lots of rock paintings and butterflies - around lunch but it barely seemed a few hours and we were there. J has a (rather amusing) fear of moths and we were wondering how the Amphitheatre would be - it was supposed to have butterflies of all sizes and colours flying around. We descended and found loads of amazing rock art - some really worn but some still looking fresh and clear. Lots of animal figures, and again some of the human like god figures. The butterflies, it turns out, were not at all scary - there were lots of them, mainly black, gently fluttering around (but fortunately staying out of my sister's hair and general personal space!).
There was only another 3k to camp and it was mainly along a hot rocky ridge. Nearing the camp, we spied the 17 mile falls, which were breathtaking. We walked around the rocks towards camp to find that the camp itself was basically an empty space on the rock. It was getting to the middle of the day and the heat was getting nasty, so we threw our bags down and tried to go and find some shade. The campsite and general area was really exposed and it was quite hard to find anywhere out of the sun. We swam across the rock pool to an 'island' in the middle of the water that had a few scraggly trees on it and basically spent the afternoon following the shade like hobos! We regularly wet our shirts and German Tourist headbands to keep cool, and amazingly the afternoon wasn't so bad.
That night we settled in to camp and made our way over to our neighbours (in a shared solidarity about how difficult the heat-avoiding had been). We got chatting and decided to instigate cocktail hour - our vodka tangs weren't working, but they had some berocca - so The Vodka Rocca was born! 1/4 of a tropical berocca, add vodka, and then water to taste. I know heat stroke and desperation may be talking, but they were mighty fine!

Day Four - 17 Mile Falls to Sandy Camp Pool (16.5k)
We woke up in time to watch the sun rise as we ate our breakfast - we'd aimed to get an early start as the walk was a big 'un. The walk, although long, was again flat and easy, and we got a good stride going and made Edith Falls Crossing in good time (Edith Falls Crossing is another camp site, but it was horrid - the water was stagnant and it was nowhere near as lovely as the places we'd stayed).
The second leg of the trip was difficult - we'd thought it was going to be much shorted than it was, having confused our distances. There was lots of shoulder-high grass to walk through which was a little scary (I kept thinking 'snake in the grass, snake in the grass'!). Again it was easy walking, but the heat had set in and our energy was waning - we were waiting til camp to eat which on reflection wasn't the smartest idea!
Luckily, Sandy Camp Pool was lovely and shady - it was set on a lagoon like pool (with a tiny waterfall going in to it - we were so spoiled over the last few days that it was a little inadequate!). The lagoon again had waterlilies over it and was totally a Crocodile Dundee-esque setting (apparently there are actually fresh water crocs in the pool - we didn't see them but we did hear movement at night that we pretended was crocs...I think it was really cane toads!). It was deep as well - the first swimming pool that I could dive into. We set up our tents in the shade and snoozed the afternoon away. Although lovely, this site had the worst march flies we'd experienced all trip - they were brutal. Again we had cocktail hour with the neighbours (primarily spent bitching about the flies and talking about how great Vodka Roccas were!) before having a really early night. We'd planned to get up before dawn to start the walk as it was another long one and we had to be at Edith Falls by 3 in time to get our bus back.

Day Five - Sandy Camp Pool to Edith Falls (14.6k)
We had a 5am start, so it was still dark as we ate breakfast and refilled our water packs. We had to walk with head torches in the dark, which was a little scary. We'd find one post, I'd keep sentry while J scouted ahead to find the next. Because of this we went quite slowly and I'm not sure our early start made up any good time!
The walk was long and hot, and after the large walk the day previously we were both tired. The track was really marshy at places and this made it quite difficult to navigate. We were basically focused on walking out, although we did stop briefly at Sweetwater Pool which was lovely. There was another camp ground there which would have been nice for a day walk from Edith Falls, but we were more than happy with the stops we'd made.
After a slight incline (which on our crap map looked like we were about to hit Everest!) we walked down into Edith Falls, and straight to the kiosk where we demanded some ice cold beers. My biggest disappointment of the whole trip was that the kiosk was not licensed, but we made up for it drinking 'three drinks immediately' (as a cranky blogger had written!) and eating ice creams, chips and other good things that are the opposite of camping food! We had hoped to make it out in time for our bus by three - a time check revealed that it was 9 in the morning! We spent the day sitting in the shade, drinking sugar and went on a brief stroll to Edith Falls to see the large pool and falls at the end of our walk (incidentally - the couple saw a snake at Edith Falls - the only one on our whole trip!).
We were picked up by a ranger who gave us a lot of amazing information about the trail and almost made me wish I'd done it in a group so I could have heard about it as we'd walked (but I hate the rigidity of group walking, and as Kel says, I don't mix well with strangers!). We were taken back to Katherine where we visited the supermarket pronto and bought a range of scrubbing and exfoliating products and had the best showers ever. We enjoyed a platter, some bubbles and then hit the town in celebration for the night, telling everyone who would listen about our fabulous Jatbula Trail walk (and how awesome we were for doing it!).

There were too many highlights of the trip to even rank them - but ultimately I guess it was seeing such an amazing remote part of Australia, on foot, with one of my favourite people in the world (and the photo rule worked - there was not even a hint of a tanty from either of us!). We've got ten gazillion photos and many a tale, but even without these it's a trip that I'll be remembering for many years to come.

6 Feet of Fun

Kel and I decided, since our Bali holiday was cancelled, to hike the 6 Foot Track. It's a three day, 45k walk that runs from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves (or vice versa, which is what we did). With a wretched hangover I packed my bags on Sunday and we got a lift to the caves, where we stayed overnight before starting the hike. A few beers and a huge steak sorted the hangover out a degree; we divvied out food up and packed bags and were ready to go bright and early (although not at the crack of dawn as we had boasted to the reception girl!).

The walk started off with a challenge - a fairly steep incline that took us about an hour to conquer. An hour, and several stops! We got to the Jenolan Caves Cottages (which would have made a good starting point for an easier walk) and from there it was smooth going. Wide path (6 foot in fact, ha ha), rolling hills all around and relatively easy walking - mainly flat with a little downhill. We paused for lunch (mmmm tuna wraps!) at Black Range camping ground and enjoyed the surprising Autumn sun.







The walk after lunch was tops - again, very easy going and it was through lots of gum forest. We covered a lot of ground as we were hoping to make it as far as possible (having heard the last day was going to be a nightmare). The map we had was poor - we were heading for the rain gauge but we missed it and ended up walking about 2k further downhill before finding a campsite. We settled in for the night - I was excited to put up my new tent for the first time (not without a few confusions, mind!) and relaxed over a campfire, camp food and camp whiskey!

I had panicked that I'd be freezing - the Blue Mountains in winter had me terrified, so I'd overcompensated and taken a thermarest as well as a -10 sleeping bag. As a result I was totally overheated...but at least not cold. I always sleep poorly while camping (and generally, actually) but it was very exciting in my one-man home and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The next morning we headed off, stiffly and steeply, downhill to find the elusive rain gauge. We had to cross a few creeks (Kel did this far more elegantly than I; my shoes and socks were wet the first one we hit!), and passed through private land that had several lovely camp sites. We continued on to find Allum Creek camping ground, which meant we'd walked much further than we'd though which was welcome news. We got water from the creek there (the ranger had said it was drinkable...but to be honest we were keen for morning coffee so it wouldn't have mattered too much!). After that we continued the day's hike - slightly up hill but again flattening out to a comfortable walk down to Cox's River camping ground.









We lunched at Cox's River before heading on - again under the theory of covering as much ground before the last Death Day. Just after Cox's River is a suspension bridge, built to be used when the river below is flooded and too high to cross. Kel was keen as mustard to try this; I am scared of heights but convinced myself it'd be a great opportunity to try and conquer said fear. Oh stupid, stupid girl. The bridge was made of chicken wire (well, admittedly, more stable...but only just) and was very narrow. I'd only gone a few steps (although Kel says it was halfway) and I got bloody caught. The chicken wire had snagged the tent on the back of my pack, and there was no moving. I completely freaked out. There was lots of loud, panicked, unlady-like cussing, and more than a few tears. Eventually I was able to unhook myself (I couldn't look at it to work out what to do - too scared!) and keep going. After that, though, I came out of the sheltered part and the wind hit and it was all I could do to look ahead, hang on tight to the wire and keep moving. I finally made it to safe solid ground and quite literally sobbed like a schoolgirl! I didn't see Kel crossing but she said she found it hard also...and had to pick up the jacket I dropped half way across!



The rest of that day was a delight in comparison to Bridge From Hell. A gradual include out of Cox's River Valley, and long views of the mountains ahead all the way along. We passed a lot of private property, and had to climb over lots of stiles as we went, which was murder with a pack on. The Megalong Valley stretched out ahead and we finally made it - very tired at this stage - to the cemetary. From there we took a detour to the Old Ford campsite (home of the world's grossest unisex loo. The cleanest thing in there was the loo brush!) where we pitched up for the night.

Again, this was lovely - the camp fire was reluctant to light, but we managed to relax with an Indian-esque stew (sounds scary but was tops!), more whiskey and some firecrackers that went completely askew and chased us when lit! Kel also invented the best camping tiramisu for dessert - a chocoalte muffin bar, smothered with coffee and milk from a tube, drowned in warm custard and sprinkled in crunchy brown sugar!! Too too unhealthy, but apparently sugar is important to keep one warm at night, and who am I to argue with such camping law?!

The final morning was a bit tough. Kel was sore, and we had no water. Luckily, the nice young Canadian tourists camping nearby helped us out waterwise and Kel managed to talk her body into action, and we headed off anticpating a challenging walk.

The maps indicated that the final leg would be a very steep uphill climb, and fellow walkers (from the opposite direction) had been very pessimistic about what lay ahead for us. As it happened, the incline was initially gradual, and we covered a lot of it just in walking up to Nellie's Glen. Shortly after this, the steps started - we'd agreed to have lunch at the base of them to build up energy and then take it slowly up. Which we did, quite successfully! They were difficult, but not nearly as horrendous as anticipated. We climbed through the green rainforest environment slowly - it was wet and slippery, with lots of lush waterfalls and dark green leaves. The blue sky peeped out the top, getting ever closer as we huffed and puffed our way to the top.



We finally reached Explorer's Tree - all up it had taken us three hours from leaving camp. We then started to head to Katoomba - which was nothing like the 1k walk as we'd been informed. A taxi passed us, and we must have looked so desperate he radioed back and another one came and picked us up. We went straight to the pub for a few delicious coldies and talked ourselves up before heading back on the train to Sydney.

Kel is going to be writing our adventures up in Outdoor Magazine. Hopefully all bridge related tantrums will be omitted!

The Coast Walk

This Anzac day, Mel, her mate Jo, her cousin Jo and I packed our hiking gear and headed to do the Coast Walk. It runs from Otley to Bundeena (or the other way) through the Royal National Park following the spectacular coast line. We caught the train to Otley, chatted with some diggers on the way (one mocked our overpacking for one night...thinking about it now it must seem absurd, when you compare what they must have carried for wartime survival), and finally alighted ready to get walkin'. The hill out of the station was bloody awful, and it started spitting when we got to the top of it, but after wet weather gear and the official start of the walk were found, we were on our way!

The Coast Walk is 23 odd kilometres, usually done over two days. The first day we were walking 9k to the camping ground at North Era beach. We got off to a good start - the sun was shining, the leaves were glistening on the bush floor from the recent rain and every few metres you'd catch a sparkling glimpse of the spectacular pacific ocean through the trees. We stopped for lunch at a rocky outlook that had a view back down the coast towards the Gong. It was very blustery but gorgeous. A sea eagle flew overhead while we were eating - it was huge, even at a distance.





After lunch the walking conditions deteriorated significantly. We headed into much more rainforesty type bush, and due to the recent rain Sydney has had, the track was completely muddy. Like, up to ankle in mud in some places and of course very slippery. It made the next few hours fairly hard going - trying to concentrate on balance with huge packs and side step trees and fronds at the same time while trying our best not to fall over. A pity really because it was lovely lush scenery that was kinda wasted on me! We finally got out into the open - flat scrubby land with small grasses and shrubs in the foreground, but with the hills and the ocean all around. My absolute favourite type of scenery. At this point, the path changed almost to a trench, and it too was very muddy and slippery - there was evidence that other walkers had gone on slippery slides before us! During this section of the walk we heard an 'uh oh' from Mel - one of the soles of her hiking boots had started detaching. The uh-oh turning a little more serious when the whole thing decided to fall off. About fifteen minutes of very slippery and difficult walking later (for sole-less Mel at least!) the other bloody sole decided to make a break for it as well, leaving Mel with no grip and not much chance of walking in the awful muddy conditions! I must say she took it like a total champ, lots of giggles and not a second of crankiness! Of all the things to happen...one could never predict the soles would decide to go AWOL!



Luckily we weren't too far from North Era so we struggled on and made it to the beach to camp for the night. The beach was gorgeous - quite blustery but brilliant blue water and clean sands, amazing rock formations and hardly anyone around. There was also a midden site used by the Dharawal Aboriginal people, fenced off for protection but still quite visible. The campsite was spacious and although quite marshy we managed to find a great sheltered sport for our camp. Once we got there we pitched tents and set up, and when taking off our shoes I found that - gulp - I had my first leech! Gross! I've been terrified of them for years, but by some miracle never gotten one before. Luckily it had detached itself (obviously had its fill on my delicious blood) so I didn't have to do that; but it was nestled quite happily in my gaiter (you can sort of see it in the picture below, towards the shoe-end of the gaiter). I am afraid to say that I didn't let it live happily ever after, so after that was taken care of I strapped the leg up and we got on with the evening.



We took it easy with some relaxing ports, a delicious beef stew made by Mel and lumberjack sans custard (the trangia tasted too metallic!) for dessert. One never gets a good night sleep camping but I was certainly warm and relaxed when we retired (at really early o'clock, ah camping!).

We didn't rush off the next morning - we would have had to if we were planning on finishing the walk as there was about another 7 hours to walk to Bundeena. But luckily for soleless Mel there was a beach that has road access about a 40 minute walk from North Era. So we set off in idyllic weather - the sun was shining, a light wind blowing and the scenery was absolutely wonderful. The walk that morning was great - an easy coast side track, dry enough for comfort, and lush green hills and sparkling blue water as far as the eye could see. Looking ahead we could see several little beach inlets, golden sand and black rocks, rising up into rich green forest. With the sun shining down I felt a million miles away from anywhere and I couldn't have been more relaxed. We got to Garie Beach in good time and relaxed in the sun until Mel's heroic brother came to rescue us!



Despite The Shoe Incident and The Gross Leech Attack it was a lovely getaway. Even though cut short I felt like we'd been away for ages, and it was just lovely to see the amazing Aussie coast line, which I always forget is so close to home. And the best thing about not finishing is we have a great excuse to get back out and do that final leg! With soles, this time, I think.