Sydney, Australia: We left Sydney and headed south to Royal National Park. It is about an hour drive away along the coastline. Our first stop was at the Audley information center. Here we heard a lot of loud screeching birds as soon as we got out of the car. Inside the information center we were told that they were Cockatoos screeching at a Goanna (a type of large lizard) to scare it away from their nests. We were told that sometimes the birds will actually peck and pull at the lizard to keep it from stealing their eggs. After talking to the ranger and deciding which trail to hike in the park, we headed back outside.

There were a field and a small lake nearby.

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We drove the short distance to Wattamolla Beach and parked the car.

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We took the short cliff walk down to Providential Point Lookout, which is one side of the cove in which the beach sits.

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Out at the point we looked around for a while and watched the waves crashing against the rocks.

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We then headed further south along the Coast Track. The Coast Track is a 26 km trail running from the town of Bundeena at the north end of the park to Wollongong at the south. Obviously, we are not hiking all of it and there are different spots to get on and off the trail. Looking south we could see in the distance where the trail was (barely visible in the picture below on the far ridge on the opposite side of the cove).

The trail was on a raised platform in spots and a simple dirt trail in others. It also ran along the tops of the cliffs, down to the ocean, and back up again. After about an hour we arrived at a small cove where Curracurrang Gully empties into the ocean.

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The waves would get funneled into this area and cause the ocean to come in and go out quite a bit. The two pictures below are of the same spot about three minutes apart.

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Kelly saw a four foot snake hiding under a rock ledge in this area, but we were unable to get a picture of it. We also saw some interesting shells clinging to the rocks in the small tidal pools in this area.

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While we were busy looking out at the water, three lizards came down to sun themselves on the rocks right behind us.

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The entire cliff area seems to be made of sandstone. The water has made interesting patterns on both the underlying rock and the walls of the gully.

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Heading up from this cove, we went back up the cliff and continued to head south. The trail went through brushy areas, some of which looked like there had been a fire in recent years.

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The brushes / trees themselves looked odd and had seed pods I have never seen before.

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There were a lot of spots where we had great views of the ocean, the cliffs, and the waves crashing on the rocks below.

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In some areas there are creeks that empty out along the cliff tops. In the wet season these would cause waterfalls, but it has been pretty dry lately. So, there were mostly small pools with only a little bit of water flowing.

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After reaching Eagle Head Rock, we hiked on for a bit longer, but eventually decided to turn around and head back.

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Back near the parking lot, we saw some more interesting patterns on canyon walls in the sandstone.

We also saw a pretty large bird up in a tree nearby. Although this looks like a small sparrow in the picture, it is a Laughing Kookaburra and is over a foot tall (typically 15″ – 17″ tall).

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After finishing our hike we headed into the town of Bundeena to find somewhere to eat. However, it appeared that pretty much everything was closed. Eventually, we decided to head back to Bondi and eat there. We parked the car near the apartment and walked down to the beach, seeing some flowers along the way.

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We decided to eat at a restaurant with a nice patio and a view of the beach. I was again amazed at the number of people walking around in bathing suits and carrying surfboards with them towards the beach. Also, a Life ProTip: If you ever find yourself getting too much confidence in your body image, head to Bondi Beach for the day and that should be taken care of. I think just about every guy walking downtown was either heading to or returning from his cover photo shoot for Men’s Health magazine. As the sole representative for the doughy, middle-aged guy crowd, I tried to proudly represent as best I could.

Finally, I have to wish a happy birthday to my much older sister Jill. Since she is probably too old to understand how any of this internet stuff works, if anybody reading this sees her in person, please wish her a Happy Birthday for me.

Uncategorized Australia Sydney