Royal National Park

After a week of not doing a whole lot, we have packed in a weekend of fun. Friday we set out to the Royal National Park, which is just south of where we live. It was established in 1879 and is the world's second oldest national park. Who knew! I just learned that from google. Hah. Anyways...there are miles and miles of coastal trails, aboriginal rock carvings and camping spots and the only way to get there is to take a ferry from Cronulla to Bundeena, which is a small artsy town nestled in the park. We drove out to Cronulla and as we were looking for a parking spot, we realized we only had 10 minutes before the ferry left. If we missed this ferry, the next one wasn't for another hour and a half. Needless to say, the 1/2 marathon (now a 10K for me...I decided to set more reasonable goals) is finally paying off! We quickly found a spot in a neighborhood and booked it all the way to the ferry in T-7 minutes. After we boarded and caught our breath, we ended up sitting at the dock for about 10 minutes while the slow pokes found their way on board. Ugh!! We should have remembered that the way of life here is LAID BACK!! That should teach us not to be in such a hurry from now on.

The short 20 minute ferry ride had some spectacular views of the bay, the Pacific Ocean and of course, multi-million dollar homes on the cliffs. After getting off the ferry, we first found the information wall to figure out where to start the hike. It was a little confusing where to go, but we used our smarts and just set out towards the direction we thought would be good. After a nice long walk through a neighborhood, we found an opening down to the beach and walked along the sand for a while. Then...we found the actual trail! We enjoyed some awesome coastal hikes, bush walking and tree canopy forests...and the best thing is we didn't get lost or get bit/stung by anything! This is definitely something we will do again, probably with my mom and John when they come in just over a week!

Finding our way to the beach

Tide Pools with nothing in them

Yep, I got soaked on that splash

Pretty Wildflowers

Lunch Spot

This is for you, Mick!

Tree Forest Canopy

Friday night was our 3-course dinner night. Sorry to say the pictures did not do the meal justice and our plate-up wasn't great, so I didn't post pictures. But, looks are deceiving because it was really good! For the appetizer, we had baked brie and french bread - main course was an herb-crusted rack of lamb with lemon risotto and baby carrots - and dessert was a chocolate fondant with vanilla custard. Hmm-mm good!

Saturday has mostly been a relaxing day filled with walking Ollie, afternoon golf and an attempt at baking Lamingtons, a classic Australian dessert. Tomorrow we head to the city for the day with a forecast of 66 degrees, clear and sunny!