Bushwalking, sauna and salsa

Views of the coast in Royal National Park.

The bush here is fantastic. I've done plenty of bushwalking over the last two weekends. A week ago a on Saturday I walked up Mt Keira. That’s the mountain behind the University’s main campus; I mentioned it in my first post. The northern part of the Ring track was closed due to risk of rockfall and at the top, an old viewing spot had been fenced off as a rockslide in 2007 had left the spot on a dangerous overhang. It serves as a good reminder of how powerless humans are in the face of the forces of nature; either work with nature, or perish in a rockslide. Nevertheless, there is a somewhat overgrown and partially very steep trail to the top. My 1-litre water bottle was woefully too small for the endeavour; I had barely a fifth left for the way down. 

On Sunday, I armed myself with a lot more water (3 litres, in fact), and headed to the Royal National Park and more specifically, to the Figure Eight Pools. The Royal National Park stretches from southern Sydney down the Illawarra Coast to Otford. From Otford station one can access a place called Figure Eight Pools, where there are natural rock pools, some in the shape of a near perfect figure eight. Going there requires that it is low tide and that wave conditions are calm. The last part of the track involves scrambling over rocks on the tidal flat. From Otford, the first bit of the walk follows a ridge, yielding magnificent views. At about half-way, the the track forks and the Coast track takes the traveller down the escarpment and to Burning Palms beach and from there to the Figure Eight Pools.

The Pools themselves were a bit like Milford Sound in New Zealand: the tourist brochures present them as a beautiful, sunny spot where you can lie in a pool and relax. In reality, the pools are in shadow in the afternoon and if the waves are any bigger than a ripple, lying in a pool exposes one to being washed around by a wave. There were plenty of people, including myself, with blood dripping down their legs or arms from having been smashed against the rocky walls of the pool by a large wave. However, I feel that one gains the ‘real’ experience when conditions are less than perfect. That is the true nature of the place.

The trail itself was bliss. Gorgeous all the way through, easy going at the top of the ridge (somewhat harder scrambling up and down the Coast track), with magnificent views of the majestic New South Wales coast and coastal hills. It was like meditation, though disturbed by the chatter of other walkers.

Burnt palms on the Coast track.

There was a nude beach, but by the time I got back from the Figure Eight Pools, I wasn’t really in the mood for another scramble down to the shore and a scramble back up again. Plus, I would have missed the 3.15pm train and had to wait another 2 hours for the next one. Perhaps another time, though don't expect any photographic evidence from that one. 

Seeing as it was Sunday, and travelling on an Opal card (the local travel card) cost $2.50 for the entire day, I headed up to Sydney. I was going to go dancing, but I was sweaty from climbing up and down hills. I googled “Sydney pool sauna” and the search came up with three swimming pools with spa and sauna areas. One was the Olympic Park Aquatic Centre, the others were the Bathurst and Hurstville Aquatic Centres. I picked Hurstville, because it was cheaper than the Olympic Park and Bathurst was miles away (about 125 miles or 200 km away, in fact. I don't know why it came up on the search at all).

The sauna was excellent. There also seemed to be quite a regular sauna community, with a Russian(-speaking) woman, a few Russian(-speaking) men, a Japanese man, a few Chinese(-speakers), and a couple of Aussies. There were intense conversations (although some of them were one-sided) about the greediness of American big business and corruption in various places around the world. There was also a debate about whether to throw water or eucalyptus oil on the stones and a comment about not needing Viagra if one came to the sauna and threw eucalyptus oil on the stove. I took care not to take part in these discussions; they seemed to have it all covered anyway. (The latter discussion was solved a week later, as a notice saying "Do not throw any foreign substances on the stove. This is a health and safety issue" had appeared.)

The end result was a very happy if completely exhausted Finn who wanted to head home and slept through the entire two-hour train journey.

A happy, still sweaty Finn heading back towards Otford.

Last weekend I got some more bushwalking done. On Friday night, the UOW Outdoor Club organised a twilight walk to Sublime Point in Austinmer. It turns out that Sublime Point, like all of the Illawarra escarpment, is prone to rockfall. Seeing the track I'm not surprised; the escarpment is steep. This time I armed myself with water, chocolate-covered liquorice and a headtorch. The club provided some glowsticks. We carpooled to the starting point and did rounds of names and interesting facts about oneself until everyone had arrived. It was a sleep climb, involving 5 or 6 ladders. Once up, we could see the Illawarra coast stretching below us. I couldn't help ruining the awed atmosphere with "Look at all that light pollution."

I must say that the trip was very well organised. Not only did everyone get a ride, but a lot of people, including myself, got rides on only a couple of hours' notice. Praise for that must go to the club's secretary. I met very nice people, got an excellent tip about Saturday morning beach volleyball and discovered another great walk. I was also protected from leeches by my over-the-top high ankled walking boots. Not all of those with trainers were lucky.

By some strange mental lapse, I had neglected to take my camera, so no photos of Sublime Point for you.

Spot the trail on the Mooray track.

Yesterday it was $2.50 Opal day again, so I went to Heathcote National Park, across the trainline from the Royal NP. I walked a 5.5 km loop, first the Mooray track, then part of the Bullawarring track. This loop was not for sweeping views, but for bush and pushing through scratchy vegetation on an overgrown trail. I saw no one at all on the Mooray track. I ate my lunch at a beautiful pool at the junction of the two tracks. There were more people on the Bullawarring track, but it was still much quieter than the trail to the Figure Eight Pools. I recommend Heathcote NP for those who enjoy walking in peace.

Last night I made it to salsa dancing too.

Lunch spot in Heathcote National Park.