One
of Australia’s most scenic walks
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| Looking south from Stanwell Tops |
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| The Sea Cliff Bridge |
September
means the start of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere, so that means it’s time
for so longer walking here in Sydney. Before I get started though, I need to
mention how the seasons are tracked differently in Australia to Europe. In
Australia, like the rest of the world, seasons are 3 months long, but in
Europe, they mark the beginning and the end of them differently. Spring in
Australia starts on the 1st of September, and ends with November, with
summer starting on the first day of December. Simple. However, in Europe Autumn
runs from the 23rd of September to 21 December 2023, which is based on the
equinoxes (Spring and Autumn) and solstices (Summer and Winter). I always
argued with people in Spain about when seasons started, as they follow the
European way, and I had always known the simple 3 month to a season system. I
know that the European way is probably the more accurate way of measuring, as
it actually runs with the distance of the Earth from the Sun that actually
determines the seasons, but I much prefer the easy way. Anyway, just a little
factoid for anyone that is interested. So it was Spring in Australia, and with
the days getting longer and the weather warming up a little, I decided it would
be time for a longer walk. We’d already done plenty of walking along the coast
in Sydney, but this time the walk would be a little further. Starting at Kiama,
we were walking 2 sections of the Kiama Walk, the Mid Section from the Kiama
Blowhole to Loves Bay, as well as the South Section, finishing at Gerringong.
The
Kiama Walk website says both parts are about 11 kms in total, and while stating that
the grade is medium-hard, I think we could do it quite easily. Although I’d
been to Kiama many times before (but not in ages), I had never done any part of
this walk before, so a whole new coastal walk and whole new experience. The
website also says that this walk is ‘one of Australia’s most scenic walks,’ and
so it was looking forward to it even more!
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| Rock fishermen living on the edge |
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| You can walk all around this amazing bridge - even under it! |
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| Walking the Sea Cliff Bridge |
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| It was an early start to the day - but what a sunrise! |
For
the sake of storytelling, I am going to combine a short day trip in the car
done after the longer walk we did. The reason for this is because if you are
driving to Kiama to do this walk, you must drive the more scenic and coastal
road along the Sea Cliff Bridge. We did the walk before we had a car - we
bought our great little Corolla in Dec 2022, a few months before this walk, and
so missed out on this part of the trip because we were going by train. We left
our house and jumped on the Prince’s Highway (which many people think is called
the Princess highway),
which runs south and out of the city. This big road starts at the edge of
Newtown (our part of town) and runs all the way through suburbs like Rockdale
and Kogarah, crossing over the George’s River via the Tom Ugly’s Bridge (named
after the bit of land on the north side of the bridge, and possibly a guy
called Tom Huxley 80 years before the 1927 bridge was built), and over into the
Sutherland Shire. You keep going down past the Royal National Park on your
right, but at this stage you’re still in Sydney – you don’t leave the city
until you’re past Waterfall and meet endless trees either side of the road. from freak waves.
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| Waiting for the blowhole to blow |
The Royal National Park forms part of Sydney’s national park system, made up of half a dozen or so within the boundaries of the city – it includes the Sydney Harbour, Ku-ring-gai Chase, Botany Bay, and Lane Cove National Parks. The Royal though, was established in 1879, making it the world's second-oldest national park, but I will leave that adventure for another post. Today we headed out of the city, turned off the highway at Stanwell Tops, named this because of view from the top of the cliff (and maybe some guy called Stanwell as well). It’s from here that you can park your car, get out, and see all the way down the coast towards Wollongong. Such an amazing view, it always brings people no matter the weather, and I usually stop here before a big drive down the coast. I took a few pics, then we got back in the car and drove down through what seemed like a rainforest, and then joined up with the Grand Pacific Drive. This was the road that everyone took before the big main highway was built, and it winds its way around the coast, and is very scenic. The Sea Cliff Bridge was built in 2003, costing $52m and its main purpose was to allow cars to drive along the road without the risk of falling rocks, which was an issue with the old road that hugged the cliffs. We parked and walked along this bridge, admiring the views and the engineering feat. Its 40m above the crashing Pacific Ocean, and is just under 500m one way. The whole area around the bridge is beautiful, and if you have the time, explore a little more under and around the bridge too – but be careful on the rocks, lots of rock fisherman get washed off all the time from the freak waves.
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| Kiama is still mainly a fishing town |
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| The rocky coast of Kiama |
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| Watching the waves |
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| Cheeky Corellas in Kiama |
So
that was a day trip a few months after Kiama, but it can be done with the same
walk if you have car – just keep heading south. Back in September though, we
got the train from Central down to Kiama, roughly 2.5 hours, to start our walk.
It was an early start, early enough to see the sunrise from our balcony before
heading to the station, and a nice train ride as well, especially when snippets
of towns like Coaldale and Coalcliff are visible through the window, with the
ever-present blue of the Pacific in the background. Kiama is a town on the
South Coast of Sydney, and one that has very pleasant memories for me. As a
kid, I would often come down here with my dad, feed the pelicans and see the
blowhole. It was also a stopping point to another beachside town, Culburra,
where I used to spend the school holidays with my grandmother and her
sister-in-law. So all in all, one of my favourite places – although there is
nothing particular special about it compared to other towns, there is for me.
It hasn’t changed that much over the years either, which is a good thing, as
the small shop-lined main street is charming, with a healthy mix of craft
stores, independent fast-food places, a pub, and a historic building. On the
other side of the road is the ocean, with grassy areas for relaxing on the
foreshore.
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| The relentless waves of Kiama and the South Coast |
When in Kiama, if you don’t do anything else (and there’s not much
to do otherwise), you should visit the famous Kiama Blowhole! The hole in the
rocks, which is 2.5m wide, is the source of the attraction, as when the tide is
just right, a stream of sea water shoots up to 30m above the rocks. This makes
it the world’s largest blowhole (something I did not know before writing this),
first seen by Europeans in 1797 by a whaler, and has attracted visitors for
over 100 years and now has over 900,000 tourist visits a year. The weather was
overcast, and the waves weren’t quite right, so we didn’t get to see anything
above 5m, but I was not disappointed, as I just love Kiama. Some other people,
however, were very disappointed, and every time they put their selfies stick
down, a jet of water would shoot up behind them, and they’d miss it. The plume
of water is created by the shape of the rock underneath the surface, where a
large bowl or reservoir chamber fills up with water from the incoming surf, and
then when that pushes back against the next big wave, there is nowhere else to
go but up. This process is invisible to the viewers waiting for it to happen,
but you hear the great thuuuaaamp as the waves come in and collide. The rock formation here is
very interesting, and if you look hard enough, you can see that they are not
ordinary rocks – the shape is something like The
Giant’s Causeway with 6-sided basalt columns pushing up from the ocean. We
continued on the walk, passing the lighthouse which stands guard over the rocky
coast, and some noisy corellas playing on the grass.
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| Swim at your own risk! |
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| Clouds over Kiama |
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| Watching the Little Blow Hole |
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| Perfect place for a picnic |
Some
people come here to sit and watch the waves, others to take photos of the
blowhole, a few even for yoga/tai chi/meditation, but a lot of walkers come
here too, just as we had. Following the coastal path, you can clearly see that
the coastline here was formed by volcanic activity, even for a novice geologist
like myself. Even though I haven’t been to Hawaii, I have seen photos, and
Kiama looks a lot like what I’ve seen – dark volcanic rock, that once bubbles
down from the volcanoes into the sea, with dark soil and vibrant green plants.
Even the weather here is in a micro-climate, as it feels more humid that a
coastal area should, but then again Kiama is squashed between the great Pacific
and heavily forested hills – it rains often, but is hot and humid, so no wonder
the South Coast is always so green (and makes great land for dairy!). Doing a
bit of research after the visit, I discovered that there were volcanoes here –
two in fact, which erupted from the Saddleback Mountain near Kiama 66 million
and 200 million years ago (the second being before the dinosaurs even, give or
take a few million years!).
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| Cliff walking |
We walked past Kiama Surf Beach, which is aptly
named as I think it looked a bit dangerous for swimming, and then Kendall’s
Beach. The beaches here are beautiful, with jet blue waters and curling waves,
yet dangerous, and there is signage warning of this. We continued around the
headland towards the Little Blowhole, the little sister to Kiama’s. Although
smaller (as the name suggests), it was quite active and made regular eruptions,
surprising me and the people that had gathered to see it. There was no loud
noise as the water came in, and there were also no barriers, so people got
quite close and quite surprised when it went off, wetting them completely. The whole
area was populated with First Nations People before the Europeans settled here,
with the landscape of thick forest and abundant sea providing all for them.
After colonisation, the Europeans also realised the potential of this area,
cutting down the huge trees that grew here, thick rainforest plants and tall
gums, creating farmland. This ended a way of life that had existed for
thousands of years. Today, while there are still plenty of farms and cleared
land, there is still large chunks of greenery, and although there are now
towns, roads and rail along the coastline, there is still plenty of nature from
the coast to the mountains.
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| An architect's dream home |
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| The New South of Wales |
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| Ocean. cliff and trail |
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| This area's microclimate makes it so green |
From
beaches and blowholes, we moved onto large cliffs and rolling green hills. If
the first part of the walk felt like Hawaii, then this part felt like
Pembrokeshire, on the South Coast of Wales. Every wonder about the entomology
of some places, especially in a country like Australia that was colonised by
the British? Look no further than names from the Old Country – explorers must
has walked the south coast of Wales, then here, and felt right at home, and
hence the name New South (of) Wales. Loves
Bay is stunning, with the backdrop of grassy green hills and the deep blue of
the ocean. Huge basalt cliffs drop into the ocean, with the waves unceasingly
smashing for all they’re worth into the rock, trying to bring the cliffs down
into the water. We continued walking, following the small weathered path that
you can see both right in front of you and way off in the distance, going right
over the next hill. This part of the coast could almost make you feel like
there was nobody else in the world, like you were walking a virgin part of the
earth. That, or you had accidently walked into Jurassic Park, and soon there
would be a great herd of dinosaurs rushing across the grasslands, being chased
by a lone T-Rex.
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| Basalt cliffs of the South Coast |
Thankfully, there were only a few cows and some birds, not
T-Rex or Pterodactyls, and civilization was also just around the corner in the
form of Gerringong, and more importantly, lunch and beer! I had read that if
you spend $20 or more on lunch at the Gerringong Bowlo, they courtesy bus would
take you back to Kiama station. How could you say now to either of those –
food, beer AND a free ride to the station. We staggered in, quite tired and
fairly sweaty too I might add, but the staff at the club were very friendly,
and still serving food… just! I had an amazing beef and bacon burger, washed
down with a couple of cold ones, made all the better by having just walked
16kms. The website advised 11kms for 3.5 hours, but we done 5 kms more for a
total of 4 hours and 15 minutes. Not sure where those extra K’s came from, but
it was a great walk and easy enough too. After lunch, we got our ride to the
station, which is only the next town away. We got taken on the scenic route, as
the driver had to drop a few guys off at a house at the top of a hill for a
bucks party, but we didn’t mind as the view was great. We got the train without
much of a wait, found our seat and chilled for the ride back to the city. Next
time we will have to do the Kiama to Minnamurra River part of the walk.
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| Beautiful Gerringong - the end of the walk |
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MyUncleTravellingMatt.
September 2022.
