On a beautiful clear, crisp winter day 20 walkers followed leaders Kurt and John D'C from Bundeena to Marley Beach. Unfortunately towards lunch we encountered strong winds but nobody seemed unsettled by this event. We had morning tea at the Balconies where we were greeted to a whale watch by a pod of, some say, seven whales. The walk to Marley Beach continued along beautiful sand stone rock formations, including Wedding Cake Rock, and great views of the cliffs of this part of the coast to the south. The walk has been greatly enhanced by the NPWS with metal grill type walk ways and sand stone steps including a “grand stairway” over the gully of the intersecting creek which gave us problems in the past. At lunch the group broke up, some remaining on the stone shelves overlooking the beach whereas others followed the leaders to a promised wind still area from the offshore winds only to discover the winds came from the opposite direction. Nevertheless we still enjoyed our lunch. After lunch came a first even for a Plus walk. Wanting to catch the 3.00 pm ferry but not missing the mandatory coffee without which HVB could not survive, the group reached, according to GPS results, speeds of up to 5KM per hour. Nothing stands in the way of the HVB after walk coffee session. Another burst of energy worthy of the Olympics came at the Cronulla end with 8 minutes to cover the distance between the ferry arrival and the train departure. A great day to remember.
At the ferry wharf - the old: our ferry was commissioned in1946,
- and the new: a mass production line of 7 craft in dry dock
Flora on the route, clockwise from top left: Plank Plant Bossiaea scolopendria, Coastal heathland, Prostrate Sydney Golden Wattle Acacia longifolia and Tea Tree Leptospermum
'The Balconies' and 'Marley Beach' for morning tea and lunch: Three wonderful aspects.
The 4 images above: The outlook from morning tea - walkers at morning tea - some walkers lunching on the beach - the lunch view at beach level.
The view from the cliff top overlooking Marley Beach, where some walkers had lunch, is the first image in this report.
Layers of rock.
At left 'The Wedding Cake' in the morning sun and below
Traversing the ''grand stairway' - south in the morning and north in the afternoon.
Returning to Bundeena across the wind swept heath.
John M has a birthday this week.
Many Happy Returns, John.
And please keep us company on the track over all those returns.
For the record:
The walkers led by Kurt and John D'C were: Helen A, Nick, Clive, Chris B, Don B, Wendy C, Elaine E, Anne G, Mary, Celia, Chris Mc, Dawn, John M, Steve, Wendy P, Pragati, Anne R, Sue S, Lyn.
First aid officers were Mary and Christine McA.
Don B was tail-end Charlie.
Words: Kurt
Photos: Christine McA (1, 12), Helen A (16), Sue S (2, 4-7 [flora captions provided by Sue], 10, 15), Wendy C (3, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14)