Trying to get out of Sydney area with a rented car is a quite interesting task: You have to navigate through unfamiliar streets with lots of traffic, get used to an unfamiliar car, remember to keep left, try not to confuse window wipers with the blinker (which is on the right side of the steering wheel), get used to change gears with the left hand, still remember to keep left and try not to crash into other cars, pedestrians or bikers while trying to remember those things. At the same time you have unnerved Australian drivers overtaking you from the right – and sometimes from the left, too.
Fortunately, there is a green area on the street map in about 50 km distance south of Sydney. Green like a sanctuary for the inexperienced tourist driver being close to a nervous breakdown: The Royal National Park.
The woman at the desk of the visitor centre is very patient and helpful to the tourist not knowing anything yet: “There is still space at the bush camping side in the North era of the coastal trek. You have to bring all the water you need – and don’t underestimate the amount, it is getting hot today, about 30 °C. Take at least 3 liters – if you have some bottles, I can fill them for you. If not, you can drive to the village of Bundeena, there is a shop.” I learn that bush camping is usually free of charge but costs here in Sydney region a small fee of 5 $/night. And you usually have to make a reservation. The national park is that close to the large town that park rangers have to manage visitor numbers in the area. Another interesting aspect of being here is that they will close the gates of the national park at 8:30 pm and reopen them in the morning. It makes sense regarding managing the amount and impact of visitor numbers in the national park – but nature being accessible through gates is a quite strange aspect for me.
As I learn from the brochure I got in the visitor centre the area got national park status already in 1879 and covers today a landscape over 16 300 hectares. Its special feature is its variety of ecosystems: The northern section of the park is mainly dry heathlands on sandstone. As I find out soon, this heathlands are not some 30 cm high Calluna like shrubs like I imagined but an at least 3 m high heath-jungle! You feel like an ant while walking through it, can hardly see the sunlight anymore and hear the waves from the Tasmanian Sea only from the distance. There is a path through the heath jungle though, so that you can reach the rocky coast.
I think I even saw a sea turtle on the way back from laying her eggs into the sand of the shrublands. The turtle was crawling down to the coast and I was coming up – using the same sandy path. I was thinking for a moment if I should help her, carry her to the sea. The problem is just that I basically don’t know anything about turtles and therefore could not be sure where that animal was heading to. I just guessed the sea because of her walking direction and the dried algae on her back.
I think I even saw a sea turtle on the way back from laying her eggs into the sand of the shrublands. The turtle was crawling down to the coast and I was coming up – using the same sandy path. I was thinking for a moment if I should help her, carry her to the sea. The problem is just that I basically don’t know anything about turtles and therefore could not be sure where that animal was heading to. I just guessed the sea because of her walking direction and the dried algae on her back.
A thunder storm is approaching. I drive to endless sclerophytic bushlands further south down to the coast. Here, the area is moister and suitable for a totally different ecosystem than the giant heathland: Rainforest: High trees with quite closed canopy, ferns, cabbage palms and lots of different flowering bushes. The thunderstorm hits me when arriving at the parking lot: Lightning, rolling thunders, pouring rain, storm, branches falling down. I wait in the car until the rain stops, and then shoulder my backpack and hike down along a path through the rainforest towards the coast. It is late evening and will get dark soon. Dawn is usually around 7:30 and after 8 pm it gets dark.
Camping area
The forest is full of strange noises, exotic birds singing with melodic voices, loud bird calls, breaking branches. It is weird to be in a forest far from home being unable to interpret a single sound! When coming closer to the coast with its steep cliffs and sandy beaches in between the rainforest ends and gives way to grasslands and shrub areas. The camping side consists of a meadow and a toilet right next to a beach. I manage to pitch up my tent in dawn, but when cooking my noodles, it is already dark. There is a little swamp area close by and the air is full of the sound of strange frogs and birds. I fall asleep while listening to that concert.
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