In 1994 Bob Carr listed Congwong Beach to Henry Head as one of his top “Foot Paths” . He had this to say:
For another exploration of a landmark site head for La Perouse. Visit the La Perouse Museum, a bicentennial gift to Australia managed by the NP&WS. It’s open from 10 am to 4.30 pm, seven days a week. There is a marvellous walk that provides grand views over the entrance to Botany Bay. You reach it by crossing Congwong Beach, turning left at the end of the beach and starting on a track that takes you through eucalypt woodland, up behind Little Congwong Beach and then even higher above Botany Bay to some old gun placements at Henry Head. I recommend you then retrace your steps. But, before you do, stand there and imagine Cook, La Perouse or the First Fleet limping into this bay and the first Australians standing on these cliffs and beaches watching in anger and bewilderment.
FULL ARTICLE - Walks On The Mild Side, Sydney Morning Herald, 27/10/1994* - Bob Carr
Walk for a day in a national park near Sydney and you’ll clear your head and arteries. For a day, you’ll become part of the ancient character of this continent. The appeal of bushwalking is the appeal of propelling yourself, under your own steam, through changing landscapes - say, from coastal heath through to dry forest woodland. Or into a rainforest pocket beneath a sandstone cliff and up onto an alpine plateau. And, if it’s wilderness or near-wilderness, you will emerge with a sense of what the continent was like for those hardiest of all walkers, the Australian Aborigines, who had the continent to themselves for 40,000 years. European Australians began acknowledging the beauty of Australia’s mountains, coasts and forests at about the turn of the century. This change was reflected in the paintings of the Heidelberg school and
(* Bob Carr became Premier of NSW in March 1995)
the writings of the bush balladeers. A little later it became acceptable to explore the bush for pleasure.
Established in 1879, the Royal National Park is the second oldest in the world. There is one walk in it that I do in spring or autumn each year. It takes you from Bundeena in the north to Garrawarra in the south. A short distance from Cronulla railway station there is a ferry wharf. Here you catch the regular ferry from Port Hacking to Bundeena, the suburb on the edge of the park. Ask for directions to Scarborough Street. At the end of this street you’ll find the track that takes you into the Royal and across heathland to the coast. Descend onto Marley Beach, climb to the line at its southern end and continue to Wattamolla, where there is shade and water and you can eat lunch. Then resume walking along the cliff line to Garie Beach and to North and South Era beaches before turning westward and steeply upwards to Garrawarra car park.
This is a marvellous walk offering opportunities to swim. It gives you sweeping ocean views. You observe wildflowers at the right time of year. In the right season you might spot a passing whale. It’s a tough but manageable 13-kilometre walk, tough because you’ll know you’ve done hard slog by the end of it. And you will have to arrange to be met by car at Garrawarra.
Alternatively, go only to Wattamolla and return to Bundeena, being careful not to miss the last ferry.
(The advice from the National Parks and Wildlife Service is that the walking trail from the Bundeena end of the Royal is closed because of the destruction in January’s fires. New trails are being designed. So file this walk for future reference. But make it a yearly ritual. It’s worth it.)
There’s a shorter walk at the other end of the Royal. Set out from Otford Lookout (a short walk from Otford railway station or reach it by car. Parking is available). Start climbing a trail that gives you a view right up the coast, along the national park towards the heads of Botany Bay. Follow the trail through woodland, ignoring the turn-off to Werrong. This is an easy track that follows the top of the cliff line, offers a spectacularly high view from Werrong Point down the coast to Wollongong and then leads you to descend through the Palm Jungle.
You emerge from this rainforest pocket onto a grassed area with the escarpment towering to your left. Continue along the coast to Burning Palms Beach, an ideal place for lunch. There is water and plenty of shade. The return is steep enough to give you a good work-out: you’ll climb back to Otford with quaking thighs. Or, you can return by going to the north end of Burning Palms, climbing to Garrawarra and reaching Otford along a level, well-marked track. That would make a walk of 12 kilometres from Otford Gap. It’s an easy walk that, with lunch and a swim, takes only three-quarters of a day.
Check with the NP&WS about the reopening of this track after the bushfires. I know the ridge track is open between Garrawarra and Burning Palms, as is the coastal track from Garie Beach to Burning Palms. The Royal offers several walks and all standard guides to bushwalking in NSW detail them, as they do with Blue Mountains walks.
The Blue Mountains deserve your attention. Walks in this system of national parks can be as tough as any in the State, but the mountains also offer some good one-day walks.
Here are two near Springwood. Leave the train (or car) at Springwood railway station and find Homedale Street and Picnic Point Reserve. From here you start out on a trail that runs north-east into a ferny gully and leads you to Magdala Creek. Veer right at the sign that says Lawson’s Lookout Track. The plentiful ferns and small waterfalls in this shady forest make it a very pleasant and easy walk. The usual Blue Mountains cautions apply: don’t drink water from the streams and watch out for snakes in summer. You will emerge, after this 11-kilometre walk, in Sassafras Gully Road, Springwood.
An alternative walk is from Springwood to Faulconbridge through Sassafras Gully. It’s eight kilometres long and it is easy walking. Again, you are in a world of eucalypts, ground ferns and rock pools.
Tyrone Thomas’s 100 Walks in New South Wales (Hill of Content, Melbourne)has many recommended walks that take you into the great gorges of the Blue Mountains, for example, those that are reached from Blackheath. Many of these are solid one-day walks of between 10 and 16 kilometres, ending in solid climbs. Make sure you carry wet-weather gear and carry one of the guide books. By sticking to the well marked trails you can’t get lost. Gregory’s National Parks of New South Wales Guide also provides details of walks in more than 60 national parks, 19 State recreation areas and several historic sites.
Closer to home, North Head in the Sydney Harbour National Park, with walking trails donated by the Fairfax family, provides spectacular views. Here, I find it impossible not to think of how the Aborigines of the Sydney region watched the First Fleet haul its way through the Heads. Explore the buildings of the quarantine station and be reminded of the waves of European migration.
For another exploration of a landmark site head for La Perouse. Visit the La Perouse Museum, a bicentennial gift to Australia managed by the NP&WS. It’s open from 10 am to 4.30 pm, seven days a week. There is a marvellous walk that provides grand views over the entrance to Botany Bay. You reach it by crossing Congwong Beach, turning left at the end of the beach and starting on a track that takes you through eucalypt woodland, up behind Little Congwong Beach and then even higher above Botany Bay to some old gun placements at Henry Head. I recommend you then retrace your steps. But, before you do, stand there and imagine Cook, La Perouse or the First Fleet limping into this bay and the first Australians standing on these cliffs and beaches watching in anger and bewilderment.
BOB’S TOP FOOT PATHS
Bundeena to Garrawarra
Otford to Burning Palms Beach
Picnic Point Reserve to Sassafras Gully Road
Springwwod to Faulconbridge
Congwong Beach to Henry Head
BOB’S ESSENTIALS
A map or guidebook
Lightweight wet-weather gear
Water
Hat and sunscreen
Fruit or nuts for an energy boost
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