Time: 2 days
Length: 27.4km
Climb: 1350m
I'd put this down as one of my biggest adventures. Others were the Pinnacles at Coromandel back in 2008, Cameron Highland Mountain Expedition in 2007, climbing Mt. Kinabalu in 2006. So as you can see, it's been awhile since I did such a thing.
So yea... 27km walk. Along the coast, should be flat right? Climb: 1350m. Didn't really know what that meant. Should be no problem. Cousin's boyfriend said it was easy. And hence that's why I decided to drag the monkey into doing it with me over Christmas. And at the same time, to camp there for the night just to make it a little more exciting. Went to this website which have the track notes. Browse through it and was still convinced it's gonna be a piece of cake.
The night before we left, I calculated the total time to reach the campground is 7 hours. So I figured, leave my place at 9 to walk to Town Hall, catch the 9.28 am train to Cronulla station, reach cronulla at 10.27, catch the 10.30 ferry from Cronulla, reach Bundeena wharf at 11 and we would reach the campsite at 6 so that leaves us time to set up our tent and enjoy the beach. Sounds like a perfect plan.
So on the day itself, I woke up at 6 whilst Ivan was still in bed. Did all the food prep - fried honey garlic chicken and cooked rice which was going to be our dinner for that night, boiled eggs and made egg sandwiches which was going to be our lunch, packed cucumber, 4 bananas, chocolates, lollies, muesli bar, packets of milk, and 3 litres of water each.
The journey all started the moment we stepped out the house. Left at 9 and because of the rather heavy backpacks, the walk to town hall station was longer than the usual. Halfway through, we were adjusting our backpacks, trying to even out the weight, figuring out what's the best way to carry the rent. Had to even ran a little towards getting to the train station, quickly bought our train tickets, and JUST made it into our train. We literally squeezed through the closing doors. PHEWWWW!! The train ride was almost an hour so we spent an hour just relaxing. Realized we were the only two people in our section and so we decided to do what you normally won't do in a train.....
Also read through the track notes and somehow got even more excited. Can't wait to start the walk. Ivan read through it... for the very first time (despite me showing him the link a few weeks before he came to Sydney). And then in a very surprised tone : "the climb is 1350m? do you know how high is that?" I replied :"ermmm... yea? 1.3 km only ma...." (what a silly answer..duh!!?!!). and he said : "do you know how high was pinnacles? that's 750m....this is like almost double! and we are carrying all this stuff. you sure it's an easy walk?" *starting to doubt myself but still acting tough* "Yeaa... along the coast only ma... phil (cousin's bf) said it's an easy walk... should be ok wan la.. maybe they just exagerrating it only... we are tough man!".. Heh :p
Reached Cronulla train station as scheduled but Ivan had to use the toilet. After that, got a little bit lost finding the ferry wharf. I thought it was just right across or something. So by the time we asked for directions and got to the wharf, the ferry JUST left. And so, it was an hour wait for the next ferry. Whilst we were waiting for the ferry, we decided to eat our last hot meal for the day and the cafe by the wharf.
So we boarded our ferry at 11.30 and arrived Bundeena wharf at 12 instead of 11. Hence ETA to campground is now 7 instead of 6. But not to worry, it's summer. Hehehe....
Got a little bit disorientated at the wharf getting to the entrance of the National Park. Almost made a wrong turn but thankfully I had my phone, which had GPS on it. Phew! Seriously, how to survive without a smartphone these days? We reached the entrance of the Coast Walk at 12.30 which was on schedule as it said 34 mins in the tracknotes.
First point of attraction, Bundeena Lookout - the view of the South Pacific Ocean from the clifftop was simply breath taking. Plus the clear blue skies we had, it was just perfect. Couldn't help but to take many photos. Stopped several times just to enjoy the view. I won't post much pictures up as I have already posted them up on facebook along with taglines so feel free to click HERE and have a look at them :)
We spent quite a bit of time pausing, taking photos all along the way from Bundeena Lookout to West Marley Beach. Meant to take 1 hr 18 mins to get to West Marley Beach from Bundeena Lookout. The track was mainly all along the coastline on the rocky area. Surfaces were pretty flat but there was some uneven ones. Occasionally, we had to walk through some scrubs which were rather muddy as it has been raining the past few days. And so, us not having proper hiking shoes, we were wasting time trying to avoid the damp areas and try not to get our shoes muddy (it worked alright in the beginning but towards the end...it was like.. screw this! but somehow throughout the whole trip, we did spend a lot of effort trying to avoid getting our shoes dirty despite them being all muddy already... don't ask why). And since we were starting to be behind schedule, and me being me, I decided to run a little bit when it is slightly flat just to speed things up a little.
And surprise surprise... Bad decision, I rolled my ankle :S So we had to stop awhile to wait for the pain to go away before starting again. And I didn't learn my lesson from the first incident. I started to do some fast walking instead of running and then.... it happened again. I really wonder how annoyed Ivan was at me. Hehehehe.... must be very dulan because he kept asking me to slow down and don't fool around and I just go my way and not listen to him. I rolled my ankle... not once... but 4 times. Found it quite funny but worried at the same time. Didn't know why it didn't cross my mind to bring some tape to strap it up. Was so wishing I did. At one point, I was thinking maybe we should just turn back because it took my awhile before I could stand on my feet again. But me being the stubborn me, we continued on.
Got to West Marley Beach followed by Little Marley Beach. At one point, we had to jump across this miniature "river" to avoid getting our shoes wet. I wanted to just take off my shoes and walk through the water but it wouldn't work because then my feet would be all sandy. So Ivan jumped across with his massive backpack, jumped back and got my backpack and jumped across again (I do not know why we didn't just throw the backpack across.. I think it was because we weren't confident if the backpack would make it across if we threw it, because it was THAT heavy and I got weak arms). And then I jumped across after and just barely made it. What an adventure! All kinds of obstacles man.
The journey all started the moment we stepped out the house. Left at 9 and because of the rather heavy backpacks, the walk to town hall station was longer than the usual. Halfway through, we were adjusting our backpacks, trying to even out the weight, figuring out what's the best way to carry the rent. Had to even ran a little towards getting to the train station, quickly bought our train tickets, and JUST made it into our train. We literally squeezed through the closing doors. PHEWWWW!! The train ride was almost an hour so we spent an hour just relaxing. Realized we were the only two people in our section and so we decided to do what you normally won't do in a train.....
Also read through the track notes and somehow got even more excited. Can't wait to start the walk. Ivan read through it... for the very first time (despite me showing him the link a few weeks before he came to Sydney). And then in a very surprised tone : "the climb is 1350m? do you know how high is that?" I replied :"ermmm... yea? 1.3 km only ma...." (what a silly answer..duh!!?!!). and he said : "do you know how high was pinnacles? that's 750m....this is like almost double! and we are carrying all this stuff. you sure it's an easy walk?" *starting to doubt myself but still acting tough* "Yeaa... along the coast only ma... phil (cousin's bf) said it's an easy walk... should be ok wan la.. maybe they just exagerrating it only... we are tough man!".. Heh :p
Reached Cronulla train station as scheduled but Ivan had to use the toilet. After that, got a little bit lost finding the ferry wharf. I thought it was just right across or something. So by the time we asked for directions and got to the wharf, the ferry JUST left. And so, it was an hour wait for the next ferry. Whilst we were waiting for the ferry, we decided to eat our last hot meal for the day and the cafe by the wharf.
So we boarded our ferry at 11.30 and arrived Bundeena wharf at 12 instead of 11. Hence ETA to campground is now 7 instead of 6. But not to worry, it's summer. Hehehe....
Got a little bit disorientated at the wharf getting to the entrance of the National Park. Almost made a wrong turn but thankfully I had my phone, which had GPS on it. Phew! Seriously, how to survive without a smartphone these days? We reached the entrance of the Coast Walk at 12.30 which was on schedule as it said 34 mins in the tracknotes.
First point of attraction, Bundeena Lookout - the view of the South Pacific Ocean from the clifftop was simply breath taking. Plus the clear blue skies we had, it was just perfect. Couldn't help but to take many photos. Stopped several times just to enjoy the view. I won't post much pictures up as I have already posted them up on facebook along with taglines so feel free to click HERE and have a look at them :)
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| we were walking along the cliff n trying to avoid puddles |
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| overlooking the south pacific ocean |
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| took me awhile to realize how dangerous taking this photo is :S |
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| from afar, on the right hand side, that's West Marley Beach |
And surprise surprise... Bad decision, I rolled my ankle :S So we had to stop awhile to wait for the pain to go away before starting again. And I didn't learn my lesson from the first incident. I started to do some fast walking instead of running and then.... it happened again. I really wonder how annoyed Ivan was at me. Hehehehe.... must be very dulan because he kept asking me to slow down and don't fool around and I just go my way and not listen to him. I rolled my ankle... not once... but 4 times. Found it quite funny but worried at the same time. Didn't know why it didn't cross my mind to bring some tape to strap it up. Was so wishing I did. At one point, I was thinking maybe we should just turn back because it took my awhile before I could stand on my feet again. But me being the stubborn me, we continued on.
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| where i sprained my ankle :( |
Got to Little Marley Beach at 2.40pm when the estimated time to reach Little Marley Beach was actually 2.17pm. So half an hour behind schedule. The time it takes from Little Marley Beach to Wattamolla Dam was 1 hour 8 mins. The initial plan was to have our lunch there as there's a picnic area there but it was already quite late and hence we stopped on a rock after the beach and had our egg sandwich for lunch, lighten the load a little.
Got to the dam at 4.09 p.m. when it was meant to be 3.48pm if calculated from the time we departed Little Marley Beach. At that point, we still had 10km more to go which according to the track notes will take approx 3 hours 40 mins. That means we would only reach the campground at 7.50pm. And that is provided if we can keep up and not keep falling behind schedule. I just don't understand how we could fall behind time when we have stopped taking photos. We weren't really talking to each other as well, just focusing on getting to our next pit stop.
Our legs were so sore by then and Ivan had a blister between his 4th and 5th toe. At this point, Ivan was saying "No more. We are not doing this again". I was rather miserable and tired too and all I want is just get to the campground. I kept telling us "It's gonna be worth it. Suffer now, later, it will be awesome. It would be such an achievement man!" ..... just to keep us going.
We got loss somewhere at Curracurrang Cove. We didn't take any photos of that place as we weren't even sure where we are. We walked up some steep slopes and realized we were walking away from the water. I was quite worried so I asked Ivan if we did miss a turn. The path seem to lead us into the bushes so he became doubtful too. So we turned back and walked all the way down but did not see any other paths. There was this rocky area bit near the waters where there was a family fishing so we asked them. And he said just keep following the path it will lead us there. It's only one path. He also told us to be quick as it's getting late. So.... all the way up we go at fast pace.
Reached Eagles Rock Lookout at 5.50pm. The ETA from the time we reached Wattamolla Dam was 5.40pm. So not bad, only 10 mins behind time and we did spend awhile getting lost. But we were still worried as we were walking really fast. Realized all the time estimates in this route is for fast pace walking, not an easy stroll. Perhaps it would have been easy if it weren't for the heavy packs. All the people that we saw (there wasn't many anyway) did not carry any backpacks, just small day packs.
Next destination: Garie Beach. We had more muddy encounters somewhere in the bushes. The walk down to Garie Beach was so hard on the knees as it was down steep descends on rocks and wooden steps. At points, I had to go down on my bum just to step down. And with the backpack, it wasn't easy. Our campground unfortunately wasn't at Garie Beach. So tempted to just set up our tent there as it was already 7pm. Had to walk across the beach to get to the car park. Hate walking on sand. Legs felt so heavy after walking down to the beach. It makes walking along the sand even more harder. There were cold showers on the other end of the beach because there's a surf life saving club. I really wanted a cold shower just to wash off. However, there was a sign saying no camping allowed. Ivan at that point was saying, let's catch a bus back. Haha!! There's a massive carpark too and there were quite a few people at the beach. He was tempted to ask them for a ride. That's how bad he wanted to go home. I think he was more concern with of how I am going to cope the next day because he can very well cope. Whereas me being me, I always tend to over-estimate my abilities and go over the limit and then suffer later on. Our very initial plan (IF we caught the right ferry, IF we didn't get lost, IF we were on time) was to actually shower at Garie Beach, have our dinner, maybe swim in the sea for a bit and then only make our way to the North Era Campground.
Walking along the rocks were quite a challenge too. The tide started coming in and we had to walk quick. They were massive, uneven, slippery rocks. My balance isn't at its top condition. Small feet with big backpack doesn't go well at all.
Day 2 - Merry Christmas!!!
(this post is getting too long so I won't be as detailed as Day 1)
Next morning, we got up at 5 but it was quite cold outside and the morning dew made the outside of our tent and shoes wet. So, we just stayed in the tent and ate our breakfast - sandwich and cucumbers (so glad we got the cucumber because we running out of water so the cucumber was so refreshing).
At about 8, the sun came out and our shoes were semi dry. Went to the stream again to wash up, packed and left the campgrounds just after 9.
Eventhough it was only another 10km to the finishing line, it was quite tiring because there were lots of uphills and walking through bushes again. Got lost several times so it was more back-tracking. Major backtrack was walking down a muddy stream and walking back up again thinking we got lost. I reckon' someone should put more clear signs along the way.
We were really low on water, taking really tiny sips along the way. Whilst walking through the palm jungle, we had to climb up this really steep hill and hence consumed quite a bit of water. Thighs were burning, throat was dry. Not a good feeling at all.
As we got closer and closer to the finishing line, we could hear engine noises of cars. Best sound ever at that point! Because it means we are not too far from the main road!! On the tracknotes, it says 2 hours 48 mins to Otford Lookout which is our finishing line.... And we reached the finishing at 12 noon!! Right on time despite getting lost again. We were just soooo happy when we saw other humans! Finally!!!! It's all over!!!! View... was pretty awesome too!!!
To think that it's finally all over........ Think again....
When we got to the train station, we found out we just missed the train by 5 minutes and the next train is 3 hours!!! Guess the adventure hasn't ended. Seriously, why so unlucky???
There was no reception so I couldn't even call a taxi. So Ivan suggested to go to the main road and see if we can wave one down. But when we got there which was a housing area, there was nothing. Plus, it was Christmas day. Saw a young kid on a skateboard and we asked him to give us some water. He looked a bit scared when we approached him but he still took our bottles and filled it up with water. When he was filling our bottles, this other lady from a different house came out and asked where are we looking to go. We told her that we just missed our train and wanted to catch a taxi to another train station nearby as there's more trains over there. She said there's hardly any taxis around here and later offered to drop us to the train station at Helensburgh. Her husband sent us there and we were so grateful. He said they always find lost campers around the area and it is very normal. So nice of them. Ivan called them our Santa Claus. Hehehehe....
Reached the city around 2 and then had KFC before we headed home. Best meal ever!!!! Taste sooo good!!!
Used the bathrooms in the swimming pool area to wash off our muddy shoes when we got home. hehehehe.... And the prize after walking over 30km..................
And so... that's the end of the biggest adventure for 2011. It was really an adventure but definitely not doing it again. Will just go to the start of the walk next time and enjoy the view of the south pacific ocean. I think that's the best views of the trip. Ivan said, next time, it either camping itself or hiking on its own. Haha! Not both together because the bags were so heavy and that's what made the trip so tiring. And if I want to do something like this again.... I am better off finding someone else! Hahahaha!!
I dedicate this post to the monkey, who agreed to do this "walk" with me. I don't think anyone else would have done it with me. I don't think I can find anyone else to do it with me. Thank you for your patience and your care. Thank you for carrying all the heavy things and trying to make my backpack as light as possible. Thank you for making this trip possible. An adventure to be remembered. Definitely going into my books of big adventures to be remembered. And I am so happy to share the experience with you. Got through all kinds of terrains all in one walk. You're the best!!!
I think I summed it pretty well in my facebook description:
"From walking along the cliffs, down and along the sandy beaches, over rocky terrains, through muddy grounds, into and out of jungles, winding through bushes, encountering lizards in different shapes and sizes....getting lost and backtracking several times.... racing against time before the sun sets....we've conquered over 30km on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and came out alive."
Got to the dam at 4.09 p.m. when it was meant to be 3.48pm if calculated from the time we departed Little Marley Beach. At that point, we still had 10km more to go which according to the track notes will take approx 3 hours 40 mins. That means we would only reach the campground at 7.50pm. And that is provided if we can keep up and not keep falling behind schedule. I just don't understand how we could fall behind time when we have stopped taking photos. We weren't really talking to each other as well, just focusing on getting to our next pit stop.
Our legs were so sore by then and Ivan had a blister between his 4th and 5th toe. At this point, Ivan was saying "No more. We are not doing this again". I was rather miserable and tired too and all I want is just get to the campground. I kept telling us "It's gonna be worth it. Suffer now, later, it will be awesome. It would be such an achievement man!" ..... just to keep us going.
We got loss somewhere at Curracurrang Cove. We didn't take any photos of that place as we weren't even sure where we are. We walked up some steep slopes and realized we were walking away from the water. I was quite worried so I asked Ivan if we did miss a turn. The path seem to lead us into the bushes so he became doubtful too. So we turned back and walked all the way down but did not see any other paths. There was this rocky area bit near the waters where there was a family fishing so we asked them. And he said just keep following the path it will lead us there. It's only one path. He also told us to be quick as it's getting late. So.... all the way up we go at fast pace.
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| See the Eagle? |
Next destination: Garie Beach. We had more muddy encounters somewhere in the bushes. The walk down to Garie Beach was so hard on the knees as it was down steep descends on rocks and wooden steps. At points, I had to go down on my bum just to step down. And with the backpack, it wasn't easy. Our campground unfortunately wasn't at Garie Beach. So tempted to just set up our tent there as it was already 7pm. Had to walk across the beach to get to the car park. Hate walking on sand. Legs felt so heavy after walking down to the beach. It makes walking along the sand even more harder. There were cold showers on the other end of the beach because there's a surf life saving club. I really wanted a cold shower just to wash off. However, there was a sign saying no camping allowed. Ivan at that point was saying, let's catch a bus back. Haha!! There's a massive carpark too and there were quite a few people at the beach. He was tempted to ask them for a ride. That's how bad he wanted to go home. I think he was more concern with of how I am going to cope the next day because he can very well cope. Whereas me being me, I always tend to over-estimate my abilities and go over the limit and then suffer later on. Our very initial plan (IF we caught the right ferry, IF we didn't get lost, IF we were on time) was to actually shower at Garie Beach, have our dinner, maybe swim in the sea for a bit and then only make our way to the North Era Campground.
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| Left: Our very tired and sad face wishing we can just set up our tent here. Right: My face after a refreshing cold wash. All ready to go to our campground. |
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| Left: Ivan's all ready too!! Right: Last view of Garie Beach. Wishing we could just stay here for the night. |
But seeing that we are behind time by 2 hours of our initial plan, this is not possible. We washed our feet, our face, Ivan finished off his egg sandwich, and then.... off we go to the North Era Campground. We left Garie Beach at 7.20pm. It says 43mins to the campground. On the tracknotes, it says to walk up some grassy hill, passing some community hall, walking on wooden steps and so forth but we did nothing of that!! Haha!
We were just walking along Garie Beach and then saw some rocks and we thought that's the path. It did say "Path closed" and "Beware of falling rocks". But we didn't know where the other path was. I think we had to actually go through the carpark but really, we couldn't be bothered to turn back. And walking up more grassy hills and then down again to the North Era Beach doesn't sound tempting at all. Enough of going up and going down for me. Sick of that. And from the distance, we saw some people walking along the rocks so we figured, it should be alright. When we walked pass them, they said it should be fine too. Haha!!
Walking along the rocks were quite a challenge too. The tide started coming in and we had to walk quick. They were massive, uneven, slippery rocks. My balance isn't at its top condition. Small feet with big backpack doesn't go well at all.
Reached North Era beach and the campground at 7.53pm!!! 1 hour behind the estimated time from the very start!! That's how much slower we are.
So relieved when we saw the campgrounds. Best thing ever that happened to us for the day. Pitched our tent and then clean up by the stream. There was a toilet but it was a long drop and doesn't have any running water so we didn't use the toilet. Luckily there was a stream that flows into the sea so we brushed our teeth and washed our face there so it's not too sticky when we sleep. For dinner, we had rice and honey soy chicken (so chinese style of camping!) that I cooked that morning and drank soya milk.
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| Winner winner chicken dinner! |
Legs were so sore with all the walking and climbing we were quite worried how we will manage the next day. Couldn't really sleep well because there were lots of insects outside our tent making so much noises. There were other 5 tents around us too so it was quite safe.
Day 2 - Merry Christmas!!!
(this post is getting too long so I won't be as detailed as Day 1)
Next morning, we got up at 5 but it was quite cold outside and the morning dew made the outside of our tent and shoes wet. So, we just stayed in the tent and ate our breakfast - sandwich and cucumbers (so glad we got the cucumber because we running out of water so the cucumber was so refreshing).
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| Sunrise! Damn clouds!! |
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| This is the stream where we washed our face, brushed our teeth.. I even brought soap to wash my arms! Hahaha! |
We were really low on water, taking really tiny sips along the way. Whilst walking through the palm jungle, we had to climb up this really steep hill and hence consumed quite a bit of water. Thighs were burning, throat was dry. Not a good feeling at all.
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| Up up up! Up we go!!! |
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| Otford Lookout |
Our very happy faces!! It says 26km but I reckon we walked way more than 26km judging by the number of times we got lost.
To think that it's finally all over........ Think again....
When we got to the train station, we found out we just missed the train by 5 minutes and the next train is 3 hours!!! Guess the adventure hasn't ended. Seriously, why so unlucky???
There was no reception so I couldn't even call a taxi. So Ivan suggested to go to the main road and see if we can wave one down. But when we got there which was a housing area, there was nothing. Plus, it was Christmas day. Saw a young kid on a skateboard and we asked him to give us some water. He looked a bit scared when we approached him but he still took our bottles and filled it up with water. When he was filling our bottles, this other lady from a different house came out and asked where are we looking to go. We told her that we just missed our train and wanted to catch a taxi to another train station nearby as there's more trains over there. She said there's hardly any taxis around here and later offered to drop us to the train station at Helensburgh. Her husband sent us there and we were so grateful. He said they always find lost campers around the area and it is very normal. So nice of them. Ivan called them our Santa Claus. Hehehehe....
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| Central-Town Hall : Homebound!!!!!! |
Used the bathrooms in the swimming pool area to wash off our muddy shoes when we got home. hehehehe.... And the prize after walking over 30km..................
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| Spa time!!!!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! |
I dedicate this post to the monkey, who agreed to do this "walk" with me. I don't think anyone else would have done it with me. I don't think I can find anyone else to do it with me. Thank you for your patience and your care. Thank you for carrying all the heavy things and trying to make my backpack as light as possible. Thank you for making this trip possible. An adventure to be remembered. Definitely going into my books of big adventures to be remembered. And I am so happy to share the experience with you. Got through all kinds of terrains all in one walk. You're the best!!!
I think I summed it pretty well in my facebook description:
"From walking along the cliffs, down and along the sandy beaches, over rocky terrains, through muddy grounds, into and out of jungles, winding through bushes, encountering lizards in different shapes and sizes....getting lost and backtracking several times.... racing against time before the sun sets....we've conquered over 30km on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and came out alive."
THE END :)
