Bondi Beach

I’m back in Sydney and have almost completed my great loop of eastern Australia. It’s been a fantastic trip so far and I’m looking forward to the rest of it. I haven’t quite gone all the way around seeing as I’m just outside of Central Sydney at Bondi Beach. I’m curious to get back to Manly and downtown Sydney to see what it’s like. I’ve been to a couple places on the trip more than once but this will be the longest time in between visits for any of those places. I spent the first week of my trip in a backpackers in Manly and while I’m definitely not going back to that hostel, I’d like to visit Manly and see how it feels to come back to something familiar.

Already I’ve hit the oceanside paths for a good run in the breeze. The first point I came to heaps of people were snapping off shots of something in the water. Curious, I thought, there’s nothing there. Just then 2 whales breached right in the bay. They aren’t the first whales I’ve seen on the trip but definitely the closest. They came to the surface 2 more times before dropping out of sight.

After only climbing up and down a million stairs the day before I figured I’d be in fine form for a good long run. I managed 11k before the lead weights at the end of my legs slowed to a crawl and I knew it was time to call it quits for the day.

Enjoying a relaxing day near the beach was in order for the next day, perusing through a New Zealand guide book picked up at the hostel book exchange. Note for traveller’s frequenting hostels, check out the book exchanges for guide books and interesting things to read. A lot of the time it’s some German romantic novels but you might get lucky.

The next day I headed out for another run aiming only to do small trip around the close headlands. Apparently small now means 20k. I made it all the way out to South Head and could see North Head and right into Sydney. It was fun to see North Head from the other side. When I first got the car back in May, North Head was the first place I went to get a good view of the city. It was windy as all hell that day for the walk around the cliffs. The weather was a little nicer this time.

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Three Sisters

It was freezing in the mountains. The sun was still shining when I rolled in but it sure wasn’t that warm. I quickly got out the pants and jacket and made the most of the heat from the sun. I strolled around town, taking a look into some of the shops and grabbing some groceries and then it was back to the hostel to shave. I had yet this trip and my beard was getting to be a fair length, the longest I’ve ever had it. I originally had a goal of letting it go all trip just to see how long it would get but it was more annoying that I thought so the time has come. I’ll post photos soon.

Outside later my face felt cold, I had gotten used to an extra layer of warmth. It would be nice to have it gone for running though, it was just too warm most of the time. Later I checked out the Edge film at the theatre there. This particular video plays on an oversized cinema a few times a day. It’s not quite Imax sized but it’s considerably larger than a regular movie screen. The movie was about the Blue Moutains, everything you can do in and on them, and how unique they are. It starts with the recent discovery of a type of tree deep in the mountains that has survived since the age of dinosaurs and is found no where else on the planet. The theme and feel of the movie definitely tugged on a thread that made me want to protect places like these for our children to see. Most of them are dissappearing all too quickly.

I came to Katoomba to see these Blue Mountains so the second day I was there I headed out to Echo Point. You could be in Katoomba for days and not know that it hangs on the edge of a cliff that drops into the valleys of the Blue Mountains and offers stunning views off the cliffs and mountains on the opposite side. Due to my lack of time here, I elected to just do one of the basic trails that starts at Echo Point, follows the cliffs over to Katoomba Falls and then descends trail and stair to the valley floor then across towards the Three Sisters. The trail and waterfalls were incredible and I was off in my own little world until I hit the Giant Stairway.

Katoomba Falls

It was over 300m up to the pathways along the top of the cliffs and I was at the bottom. Thankfully someone decided to put a huge set of more than 800 stairs straight up the cliff so I could get to where I wanted to go. Bless their heart. Mine sure felt like it was going to explode on the way up. As usual, I was trying to keep up the pace all the way up the metal and stone stairs that was more like a ladder in some places. Most people I passed were going down and while they were having a great time commenting on how steep it was, I could only grunt in response and try to smear the stinging sweat somewhere other than my eyes. I survived the great climb and took in the awesome sight of the Three Sisters at the top.

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Church on the waterfront in Newcastle

Newcastle was much like Port Macquarie in that I didn’t spend much time there but had a fantastic run. The drive wasn’t long to get here so I had most of the day to wander and see what the place was like. The hostel was fantastic. A restored heritage building, it had high ceilings, big open fireplaces and lots of plush leather furniture. Although the fireplaces were gas it gave a nice cozy feel. The rooms were spacious and ours had an opening onto a deck with a fabulous view into the other side of the building through the courtyard. The only strange thing was the kitchen in the basement had an underground feel to it.

After a little orientation and parking the car where it wouldn’t get towed, I got out the running gear and hit the pavement. I’m not a huge fan of running around in cities but sometimes a few blocks are required to get to the pretty spots. At last I hit the seawall and cruised along to the point of the harbour in front of Fort Scratchley. I continued around the coast to the ocean baths and another old war bunker. In that same park I could help but laugh at the kids as they tumbled down the hill when their cardboard sleds stopped dead in it’s tracks.

The day was warm and being the genius I am was around running during the hottest time. There were a few fountains along the paths I found but not nearly enough. By the time I got back to the hostel I could drink a lake but could only find the smallest cup in existence. I threw back numerous glasses of that so I could breathe properly and hit the showers.

Not really wanting to cook and curious about the local bars, I signed up for a free sausage dinner through the hostel. Free doesn’t get you much these days. We had to play Bingo for a bit before we got into our 5 course meal of sausages and pieces of white bread. I won an hour of free internet! Everyone did though.

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The morning I left I overheard the Aussie guy commenting on how loud one of the girls snored. I couldn’t believe he said that straight to her face and expected some sort of decent conversation to follow. She just gave him a withering glare and left the room. The owner of the hostel explained to me afterwards that there had been trouble with the guy at another hostel and she put me into his room to make sure nothing went wrong. Thanks for letting me know.

Lennox head is a little surf town 10 meters away from the water 20 minutes south of Byron Bay. I stayed at a friends here, which is the only reason I had heard of the place. It’s known for little else than the good surf and another place to stay that’s close to Byron.

It sits right on 7 mile beach which is a gorgeous pile of sand. At the south end is a headland which frequently launches hang-gliders over the water, floating around for 25 minutes or more in the warm air. Gromfest was on while I was there so we watched a bit of the surfing. Groms or Grommets are little surfers so the competition was all kids under 18.

I had the pleasure of running a few kilometers across the wet sand while the sun was going down and there is no better place to relax and catch your breath.

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Mount Warning

I made it out there around 12 and thankfully it wasn’t smoking hot. The few days before had been quite warm and I was not looking forward doing the steep ascent in the heat. It begins with more stairs than I can count and then turns into steep switchbanks peppered with rocks and more stairs. I made a point of going as fast as I could on the way up to see how hard it would be. It turned out to be just regular, pretty hike up a big hill until you get to the rocks near the top.

Not steep at all

About 300 metres from the top the trail goes from dirt to rock and seems to go straight up into the bush. They’ve kindly installed a chain railing the rest of the way up to help anyone silly enough to do the rest of the climb.  Being impatient about getting to the top, I hopped onto the rock on all fours and motored past everyone. I paid for that little show of faux athleticism though, and spent a couple minutes buckled over at the top catching my breath.

Once my breathing returned to a healthy rate I could enjoy the incredible 360 degree view from the top of the mountain. There are 4 viewing platforms at the top so you do have to circle around to get the full view but it was definitely worth the battle to get up the hill. Out one side you can see off into the rest of the mountains in the area and a valley or 2 and then the other side looks out towards the ocean and Byron Bay on the coast.

It's all worth it for the view.

A quick lunch at the top and I was ready to begin my final assault on the trail. I did find the trail beautiful and the people fun to talk to on the way up but there’s always something nagging at me to go as fast as I can, just to see. The climb up the trail is tough but it’s different muscles than the way down. I find there is different thinking involved on the way down. All that’s involved in climbing the trail is keep going, keep going, keep going. On the other hand, heading down is much more fast-paced and exciting. One slip and you’re bones become well aquainted with rock, one trip and you’re heading over the cliff into the brush. It took just under and hour to get up to the top, and coming down less than 40 minutes.

I smiled at the many comments on the way down that masked the “WTF!” expressions on the other hikers. Near the end is always a battle to continue the pace. Every muscle is tired and just placing your feet requires intense concentration. The rapid fire stairs didn’t help either. They were an awkward distance apart and either were too close or to far to allow comfortable running.

Sweating bullets and grinning like a fool, I emerged from the trail to the carpark and stopped to catch my breath and cool down. One more hike completed and one more summit to add to the Summit List.

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