The coastal walk: Otford to Bundeena
Last week we walked from Otford to South Era, not quite a third of the coastal walk. Today we thought we'd try to get a little further. The weather was cool, with a pleasant breeze and an occasional spit of rain: yesterday at 37°C we wouldn't have considered it.
We got to Otford about 8:30 and had breakfast at the pie shop there, along with a couple of dozen cyclists (actually I didn't count them). At 9am we set off, hoping the rain would hold off.
The wind last week did have the good effect of keeping the flies away. Today they were horrible! But otherwise it was lovely walking, neither hot nor cold, and no sun to get in our eyes and give us sunburn. And the flowers were out to show it's Spring.
We got to our last week's finish point without stopping, and pushed on to the estimated half-way point: the steep hill at the north end of Garie Beach. There we took a break and debated what to do. Graham was keen to try going all the way to Bundeena, while Liz was more concerned that we hadn't planned how to get home from there. We decided to make the attempt.
Despite the assurances of a resident of the cabins at Garie that there were "lots of porcupines about", we didn't see any, or any echidnas either. We did see a female lyrebird, at the same spot we'd seen the male last week, and four giant native cockroaches.
This time I did carry Louka some of the way myself, but after a while my shoulders got very sore and at Wattamolla I had to hand her back to Graham. After Wattamolla for some reason the flies disappeared, which made for much pleasanter walking without the constant arm-waving (which annoyed Louka, who didn't really mind flies on her face).
Just when the track turned inland to Bundeena, the rain finally set in. By 4:30 when we reached the town we were pretty wet, and some people hanging out in their carport offered us a lift to the ferry wharf. We didn't accept, but we did ask them for directions to the ferry. We asked in a café whether we'd be able to get a taxi (to take us back to our car at Otford) but apparently we'd have to call for one to come from the city.
We decided to take the ferry instead and go pick up the car in the morning. But when we got to the ferry wharf, no-one knew when the next ferry was due, or even if there was another ferry. But while we waited in the shelter, some more walkers turned up and told us the ferry was due at 5pm. So, only about quarter of an hour to wait. Then another quarter hour wait for a train at Cronulla, no wait for a change of trains at Town Hall, but unfortunately no trains running on the North Shore line so we had to change to a bus at North Sydney.
Update: Graham went to fetch the car on monday morning: it took him 2½ hours to get to Otford by train, then 1¾ hours to drive home in the peak hour traffic.
We got to Otford about 8:30 and had breakfast at the pie shop there, along with a couple of dozen cyclists (actually I didn't count them). At 9am we set off, hoping the rain would hold off.
The wind last week did have the good effect of keeping the flies away. Today they were horrible! But otherwise it was lovely walking, neither hot nor cold, and no sun to get in our eyes and give us sunburn. And the flowers were out to show it's Spring.
We got to our last week's finish point without stopping, and pushed on to the estimated half-way point: the steep hill at the north end of Garie Beach. There we took a break and debated what to do. Graham was keen to try going all the way to Bundeena, while Liz was more concerned that we hadn't planned how to get home from there. We decided to make the attempt.
Despite the assurances of a resident of the cabins at Garie that there were "lots of porcupines about", we didn't see any, or any echidnas either. We did see a female lyrebird, at the same spot we'd seen the male last week, and four giant native cockroaches.
This time I did carry Louka some of the way myself, but after a while my shoulders got very sore and at Wattamolla I had to hand her back to Graham. After Wattamolla for some reason the flies disappeared, which made for much pleasanter walking without the constant arm-waving (which annoyed Louka, who didn't really mind flies on her face).
Just when the track turned inland to Bundeena, the rain finally set in. By 4:30 when we reached the town we were pretty wet, and some people hanging out in their carport offered us a lift to the ferry wharf. We didn't accept, but we did ask them for directions to the ferry. We asked in a café whether we'd be able to get a taxi (to take us back to our car at Otford) but apparently we'd have to call for one to come from the city.
We decided to take the ferry instead and go pick up the car in the morning. But when we got to the ferry wharf, no-one knew when the next ferry was due, or even if there was another ferry. But while we waited in the shelter, some more walkers turned up and told us the ferry was due at 5pm. So, only about quarter of an hour to wait. Then another quarter hour wait for a train at Cronulla, no wait for a change of trains at Town Hall, but unfortunately no trains running on the North Shore line so we had to change to a bus at North Sydney.Update: Graham went to fetch the car on monday morning: it took him 2½ hours to get to Otford by train, then 1¾ hours to drive home in the peak hour traffic.
posted by Liz + Louka at 7:53 pm
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