Otford to Bundeena...

As many of you will know, I'm doing the City2Surf charity walk in few weeks and I've been intending to put together some practice etc....
...well as part of this we decided to walk the coast track from Otford at the South end of the Royal National Park to Bundeena at the Northern Tip. A good 27km walk we thought, nicely broken up by a night's camping. The idea was to get the steepest end out of the way with an shorter and harsher 10km
first day followed by a 'gentle stroll' 17km home.

The weather report was daunting, involving rain and cold (and with a side serving of wind perhaps) and I was looking to a grey damp slippy trek. After a 7am start and a royal-pain-in-neck climb up out of the valley from Otford station we did get rewarded with a spectacular view for our customary shot of the intrepid explorers.


I also got one without, this is the Otford Lookout and the sharp eyed amongst you will notice the Sea Cliff Bridge ( a cool little bridge out over the sea round the cliffs). In the distance is 'The Gong' or Woolangong as its more officially known. Very nice. What's even nicer, as you will note, is the weather which turned out significantly better than I had hoped, to a point which I can describe it as glorious. We ate up the miles and arrived at the camp site at North Era beach at 2pm for a long lazy sunny afternoon...







The view from the headland next morning was spectacular, but to be honest was just happy to rest for a moment! This is Garie Beach and really is quite pretty eh? That cliff in the background was my Everest for this trip. I had been dreading the steep 118m climb to the top, particularly with my pack on my back.

It did, however, go a lot better than I thought and was nowhere near as bad as the climb to Martin place that we did with only day sacks in the Blue Mountains a couple of weeks ago. Must be getting fitter...lol, maybe i was just delirious through exhaustion.!

We stopped off for lunch at a place called Wattamolla, which is about the only bit of civilisation on the way, and it was really noted as we walked amongst cars, which just looked out of place...its strange but even a few hours in the peace and quiet and isolation can really make you notice things like that. Anyway, we sat down for our lunch and got a visit from a brazen Kookaburra..cheeky enough to drop on to the table and steal a slice of salami; seagull style robbery! At least Ken had the decency to stick around for a nice profile shot...


The aptly-named Eagle Rock


Eventually we arrived at Bundeena ferry, by which time my feet were killing me and my shoulders were blistered. The last hour was out of my 'pleasure zone' but even so, would do it again. Tough but worth it.

The aftermath...