It’s Sunday and it’s Mooncake festival! Poor Marissa had to go to work sick, while I get to take the van and go to the Royal National Park! I read about this place yesterday morning at Dymocks bookstore and it sounded really good with promises of fantastic scenery! It’s only 32km away from Sydney CBD, so off I went!
Took me a while to find the place! It’s a standard $11 car entry to the park. I was told that I must visit Audley and Wattamolla. Didn’t really spend much time at Audley at all, since it’s appears to be a little town. So headed straight for Wattamolla, which is near the beach. I had the option of the North Coastal track or the South Coastal track. So went for the North one.
At first, the views were definitely no ‘Blue Mountains’ quality. It seems to be all bush, and no signs of the ocean. But soon, I was rewarded with the amazing cliffs that’s similar to the ones I saw at Watson’s Bay. Further north was Marley beach, which I took a lot of photos of. And then finally the climb up ‘The Big Marley’. Didn’t really go any further. The sun is starting to take its toll on me. Most of the track was open open bush! Lucky I brought a bottle of water! Besides, my tummy started groaning, so I headed back.
Once I was back at Watamolla, I had a bit of lunch. It’s now at least 2 weeks since I had any meat, after reading the book “The Food Revolution”. Anyway.. there wasn’t much choice in terms of food there, so I bought a little ham sandwich for $6 along with a packget of chips. Unhealthy, but satisfied my tummy groan.
Next, it was off to Garie Beach, which is suppose to be famous for surfing. When I got there.. NOT A SURFER IN SIGHT! Ok.. not much a surfing spot.. maybe it’s a bad day for surfing. The scene is very different here. Definitely a lot more ‘bondi beach’ feel than a national park. The good thing about this side of the park, it has a tree covered mountain track! It was STEEP though.. took some nice photos on the cliff, with a silly ice-cream stick out of the mouth. This place feels like the place I imagined Robinson Crusoe to live in. Would love to build a house here.
If there is one thing I was disappointed about this park, it’s the lack of a decent waterfall. On the way home, I drove past the only waterfall which was named “National Waterfall”. That has got to be the silliest waterfall I have seen. It’s more like “Water-Drip” than “Water-Fall”..
To finish the day off, I drove to Hurstville since I had a bit of time left. I have heard a lot about it being a ‘chinese’ place. I was soon to be both surprised and amazed. It’s like another Chinatown, and Chatswood all over again! The asian groceries are lined with mooncakes to sell. Definitely wanna come back here again to try out some of the food on offer.
Overall, it’s a weekend the way I wanted it to be. Another new place to see, another photo opportunity! 4 stars!
