Saturday 3rd March, Gary Williams, my 13 year old daughter Vicki and I left Minto in Sydney's South West to catch the 7.40am train to the City. This is my daughters first ever 2-day bushwalk and we are greeted with overcast skies. At Central we change trains for the 8.44 train to Otford, south of Sydney. After two walks following the Royal Coast Track from Bundeena to Otford (north to south) we are finally doing the walk from south to north, though we will not be walking all the way to Bundeena - the National Parks and Wildlife Services (NPWS) act of closing the Curracurrang camping area means that we have had to organise a pick up at Wattamolla, some 15km from our starting point rather than try to push ourselves and Vicki on the 2nd day in a bid to reach Bundeena before the last ferry leaves. It also means we could take our time on the first day of the walk and allow Vicki time to adjust to carrying a 50 litre capacity rucksack on her back.

Our train arrived in Otford just after 9.40am. By now it had started to rain, albeit lightly, so we did not worry about putting our raincoats on for the short ascent up the bushtrack from the station to Lady Wakehurst Drive and the start of the Royal Coast Track. 40 minutes later we were there and the rain had stopped. We took a short break to admire the view of the coastline below us which stretched south to Wollongong and beyond. Gary took this opportunity to remove his first leech of the day from the top of his trousers.

We followed the track which ascended steeply through eucalypt forest and fern covered bushland, occasionally giving us excellent views of the coastline. After some distance the track levelled out and widened and it was not long before we reached the track junction for the steep and long descent through Palm Jungle. Another rest break at this junction revealed we had collected more leeches. Vicki squealed quite loudly when she discovered one on her lower leg.

We now started our descent. Early on we had more excellent views of the coast, but as the descent became steeper we found ourselves in thick sub-tropical rainforest, dominated by palms, ferns and thick vines. We had to stop many times during the descent to remove leeches from our boots and legs, we counted nearly 50 in all between us, definitely the most prolific of any bushwalk I have ever done. Eventually we left the forest and followed the track over an open hill, still some distance above sea level. After all the recent rain the track here was very muddy and slippery. Vicki came to grief several times and it was not long before she was covered in mud from the knees down. She started to get a little upset about her inability to remain on her feet, but Gary and I reassured her she was doing fine and that falls such as these were part and parcel of bushwalking. We steadied her through the more difficult sections and it was not long before the mud gave way to level sandy track as we came closer to Burning Palms.

The only trouble here was that the track suddenly disappeared in a maze of animal tracks and several times we found ourselves at a dead end. We had little choice but to descend to the beach and follow the sand to the rock platform at the northern end. We arrived there at 1.40pm and stopped for lunch. Vicki took this opportunity to remove her shoes and socks and wash her muddied legs in a tidal pool. She was quite shocked to locate no less than 3 leeches inside her socks and a bite on each ankle. Once cleaned up we sat down and enjoyed a long lunch break with views south along the coastline.

We moved off towards our campsite at North Era at 2.30pm. No sooner had we put our packs on and set off than a heavy downpour started. Once again we did not bother with the raincoats - we had quite a steep hill to climb and we felt the rain would keep us cool. We ascended yet another muddy and badly eroded track past the private cabins of Burning Palms. The rained eased as we reached the top and we made our way through another muddy track as it crossed the hill to Burgh Ridge. Once here the track opened up to a large grassy hill which we descended to South Era. The hill looked like it had been recently mowed, but of course the reason for this was soon known as we came across several large herds of grazing deer. The rain started up again as we crossed the old wooden footbridge over End Gully to the old surf lifesaving club at South Era. The heavy rain had filled the two watertanks behind the clubhouse and both were overflowing. We took this opportunity to wash off more mud and slake our thirst.

The rain stopped again as we made our way across South Era beach and across the rock platform of Mid Era Point. Gary was most relieved that the tide was out and he did not have to negotiate the rock ledge high above this platform. It was not long before we stepped onto the sand at North Era, climbed the dunes and stepped onto the grassy expanse of the North Era Camping Area. It was 3.30pm when we dropped packs at a suitable campsite and had a 15 minute rest break.

Looking around us we had a large area of grassy field, dominated by many tents. To the north, south and west were 3 large hills and 2 Enviro-toilet blocks (though one of these was out of order). The ground was littered with deer pellets. Our campsite was sheltered by palm trees and a small plantation of Cabbage Tree Palms which looked quite strange in the open field. We spent the next 45 minutes erecting our 2 tents and setting up our bedding for the night.

We found out that the other campers were a school group from Canberra and we noticed many of them taking a walk up to the top of Thelma Ridge, the hill to the north. Gary, Vicki and I decided to have a look for ourselves. It was a steep climb, but quite easy, Short grass dominated the climb threequarters of the way, then there was thick scrub and a tangle of dead branches to negotiate until we reached the top. Halfway up I tried my mobile phone and found I had a full signal, yet at the top there was none. At the top we were treated to a magnificent view of Garie Beach and Garie North Head, complete with rainbow from a rain shower on the cliffs. We returned to our campsite at 6.00pm and proceeded to prepare our dinner. We noticed several more large herds of deer grazing an area not far from our campsite, perhaps they were the same ones we saw at South Era.

At 7.30, with everything cleaned up, we decided to grab our torches and take a walk. Loaded up with our depleted waterbags we set off back to South Era surf club to fill up. By the time we returned to our tents at 8.15, it was dark and had started to rain. We decided on an early night and hit the sleeping bags at 8.30. I fell asleep almost immediately with the sound of rain pattering on the tent.

It was 6.30am when I awoke next morning after a solid nights sleep. Vicki too had a comfortable night, but our insomniac friend claimed he was still awake at 2.30 in the morning. Outside we were greeted by an almost cloudless blue sky. Two eagles were soaring high above the hill to the west. It was going to be a very hot day. We had our breakfast and wasted little time packing up our gear. It was 8.30am when we loaded the rucksacks onto our aching shoulders and set off through the field towards the beach.

We made slow going while negotiating the rock strewn coastline of Thelma Head. Vicki did not have that much confidence with her footwork along this stretch but Gary and I helped her along the more difficult sections. It was not long though before our track reappeared at Little Garie and this followed the base of the cliffline until we reached Garie Beach. It was then a weary slog though the soft sand to the old camping area at the base of Garie North Head. We arrived there at 9.30am and took a long rest before tackling the climb to the top.

The ascent was easier than we thought it would be. It was steep, but the track was well defined until the last 50 metres where we had to scramble over rocks. Sections of the ascent where steps had been cut were the most tiring, but we only stopped to catch our breaths twice. Vicki never complained once, she appeared to be enjoying herself and the views that opened to the south during the climb. It took us less than 30 minutes to reach the top, where once again we took a long break to cool down and admire the views, which stretched all the way to Wollongong.

The next stage of our walk took us along the clifftops of Curra Moors and the badly eroded tracks that dominate this section of the walk. Gary and I found them easier to negotiate coming from Garie than the other way around, it was now getting very hot under the cloudless sky but a strong wind helped keep us cool. The scrub on either side of the track was full of different varieties of birdlife, and lizards scampered from the sandy track as we came upon them. We took a rest break on a rock platform where a small creek fell to the sea in a spectacular waterfall, only the strong wind was forcing the water up rather than down. The spray cooled us down quite quickly.

Continuing on, it was not long before we could see the cliffs of Curracurrong in the distance and the sight of Curracurrong Creek falling to the ocean in a spectacular twin waterfall. We descended to Curra Brook where we again replenished our water supply from the crystal clear cascades before they also fell to the ocean via another spectacular fall. The track now took us through Curracurrong. We stopped to admire the  formation of Eagle Rock before crossing Curracurrong Creek and ascending yet another hill to the heathlands above Curracurrang. Here the track has been replaced by metal mesh walkways and our walking pace was almost relaxing. At 12.35pm we arrived at the old Curracurrang Camping Area and stopped for a 25 minute lunch. The last section of the walk to Wattamolla was only 35 minutes, but by now we were very weary after walking nearly 9km on a hot sunny day. We stepped onto the Upper carpark of Wattamolla at 1.35pm and wasted little time making our way to the kiosk for a cold drink and an ice cream before heading off for a refreshing swim while we waited for our lift home.