Friday, 2nd July 2010
We left Sydney at around 6am and arrived at 8am at the Kiama Harbour Cabins where we had booked our accommodation. The folks at reception thought we were mad we actually thought we could check in at such an early time of day. Half an hour later a taxi picked us up driven by a very friendly maltese (but born here, go figure it) driver... who took us to our starting point at Shellharbour. Had breakfast at the Santorini Cafe (run by a turk, not a greek as you’d think). This is Australia after all – nationalities get somewhat blurred...... which is probably a good thing.
We started our walk through the beach and asked a friendly local fisherman about the track (was supposed to be approx 13km walk). He emphatially warned us not to go through the inlet where the quarry is situated as this is about an extra 5km route each way and there is no way out. But John C decided to ignore this very wise advicde and had the bright idea of walking right along the coast through the inlet, contray to what our leader Di suggested. Well, we walked and walked but everywhere led back to this darn Quarry. Then we were confronted by a group of quarry workers who told us we weren't allowed there (there were signs posted everywhere warning trespassers would be shot or something the like) but I didn't see any. John H on the other hand, took great delight in photographing all these menacing signs. The men told us to go down the cliff and keep walking, waring a big grin on their faces, especially when they saw how frightened some of us were (bastardos....). Being a scary cat as I am about heights I had to go on my bum and had scratches all over my legs and later discovered small stones and gravel in unmentionable places. We got to the bottom of the cliff; walked around the bay stepping over big bouders only to find our way blocked off by the sea. Time and time again we took on a new route only to be blocked off. Geri and I even waded in the water and had to walk the rest of the day with soaked shoes and sox.
Just after 12pm we finally got out of the quarry. I couldn’t believe it we must have walked about 20km but because we veered off our path; had only travelled about 1km of our track and it was lunchtime. We all glared at John C whilst in my ears I could still hear the words of the fisherman “Stay away from the quarry..............”
We proceeded on our track and by the time we reached Minamurra it was getting close to 3pm, so we stopped at a small cafe for lunch. By then it was starting to get darker and we proceeded on our walk feeling tired, cranky and dejected. Until we reached a small park close to Kiama at 5pm. Geri and I couldn’t go on and we sat on a park bench whilst Di and the 2 Johns went on ahead. Then John C returned and picked us up in the car. We got to the cabin at 6pm and we could hardly move, everything hurt. What was supposed to be about a 13km walk turned into a marathon, from 9am till 6pm. I have no way of knowing how many kms that would have been, but to some of us it felt like 50kms...... ouch.....
We took turns to soak our old and weary bodies in the spa bath. It was wonderful.....
Saturday, 3rd July
The world cup match was on at 4.30am between Uruguay and Ghana (Ghana won penalties) followed by the Netherlands –v- Brazil (the Netherlands won 2-1) and I was very surprised to find out that John C didn’t watch it. He must have been really tired....
In the morning we strolled around Kiama, it’s such a pretty little town. They had a car boot sale and we all found really good bargains.
Then we set off on our 2nd leg of our journey. Today we’re walking to Gerrigong (about another 13km south) and unfortunately Geri couldn’t join us (although she did try for a short while) her leg and foot are troubling her (no wonder, after yesterday’s marathon) and she headed back into the cabin for a well deserved rest.
We took the Kiama coast walk which has only recently been opened. It is a coast hugging walking track from Love’s Bay, Kiama to Werri Lagoon, Gerringong. It has amazing scenery through rolling green hills (it reminds me of Ireland, although I’ve never been there I could imagine it might look similar to this). In fact we came upon a local Irishman (been living in the area for 8 yrs) and he told us “yay it is very much like Ireland, only even more beautiful” in his irish accent, and pointed out a hill where they filmed a commercial for Irish Baileys. (You just never know what titbits you pick up from the locals).
We kept an eye out for any whales but saw none, unfortunately. It was a splendid day, the sun was shining (unlike yesterday when it was cloudy all day) and better still, not one quarry in sight. We stopped for snacks at a point where the remnant of the original forest was still there before the settlers came and cleared all the trees to make room for grazing to feed the cows. I’ve got to say, this was one of the most pleasant walks so far and quite easy to do. We saw entire families with little ones in tow along the track.
We arrived at Gerrigong and Gerri joined us for lunch at the Seavista cafe happily positioned right on a cliff with spectacular views of the ocean. We tucked into our delicious lunch very pleased with ourselves today, having had no dramas along our track.
When we got back to our cabin we lit up candles and had ‘happy hour’ drinks.
Sunday, 3rd July
Today we shall rest and depart after lunch. We decided to have a BBQ and ate like kings. We cooked garlic prawns; huge mushrooms and fish fillets with salad. Yummy......
Bye, bye Kiama....
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