PROLOGUE.

A few years ago Garry Brown and Ian Edwards completed a walk from Sydney to Melbourne. I was fortunate enough to do a couple of the legs with Garry on the outward legs from Sydney, through The National Park. At the time I had indicated to Garry that I would be interested in doing this walk when I retired and he indicated that he wouldn’t mind doing it again. Well time moved on and in March 2008 I retired. In September,2008 Garry contacted me and told me that there was a lady from the Bush Club that he was a member of who had asked for expressions of interests in doing a coastal walk from Sydney to Melbourne. I thought about this for about a milli second and told Garry that I would be interested and he indicated like-wise.

To participate in this venture there was a requirement for me to join the Bush Club and complete three qualifying walks. The first qualifying walk just happened to be with Maureen Carter who was the lady who had initiated the Syd-Melb walk idea. This walk was on 24 September,2008 and was from Riverwood to Panania via Salt Pan Creek, Padstow, Georges River to Panania (approx 17 kms). There were 12 walkers and these were a great bunch of healthy, fit and enthusiastic people. We lunched at 1215hrs when I devoured my chilli salami and tomato sandwiches. We encountered some street walking some very interesting walking along the Salt Pan Creek and Georges River and finally some bush walking back to Maureen’s home where we had afternoon tea at about 1440hrs.

At Maureen’s home a short discussion was had about who may be interested in the complete trip. Several people expressed an interest but as was advised at a later date there are only five who have advised Maureen of their intentions to complete the full trip.

STAGE ONE.

Stage one of the Syd-Melb adventure started at Macquarrie Place, Sydney on Wednesday 15 October, 2008. Garry and I left Emu Plains at 0724hrs to join the group and leave Macquarrie Place at 0915hrs with a total of 17 walkers. This leg was to go from Macquarrie Place to Watson’s Bay via Elizabeth Bay, Double Bay, Rose Bay, Neilson Park and other inner harbour areas.

The day started in some-what of a disastrous manner for me as, while sitting on a sandstone wall at Macquarie Place my wallet fell from my hip pocket and landed behind me but close to the wall. Fortunately, as we neared Circular Key, I had a bad feeling that something was wrong and within a few seconds realized what it was. I promptly headed back to the wall and retrieved my wallet. [first lesson: don’t store wallet in rear pocket, always leave in back pack!]
The walk covered some streets around Woolamaloo which provided some wonderful examples of early architecture of Australian settlement. A lot of these buildings have been restored and were a wonderful site. After some street walking we spent the remainder of the walk (with some minor areas of streets) walking around Sydney Harbour; what a wonderful place. About every 10 -15 minutes I took time to look over my left shoulder and mentally put a picture frame around the view. This took in the Opera House, Garden Island and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. A wonderful clear day, coupled with the fact that the Sydney yacht clubs have their race meetings on Wednesdays, with a great profusion of coloured sails, really accentuated this view and thus caused a very memorable start to this adventure. We had morning tea at Double Bay at 1045 hrs and lunch at Nielsen Park at 1345hrs. Once again I feasted on chilli salami and tomato sandwiches which I feel will be my “trade-mark” lunch for this adventure. A very picturesque spot at which we were “harassed” by Noisy Miner birds who, not only wanted any morsel of food from us, but intended that no other bird was going to trespass on their territory!!

We finished at Watsons Bay at about 1405hrs and as Garry and I had to get back to Emu Plains for various requirements, and the fact that the ferries were scheduled for hourly trips, we had to leave the main body of walkers and miss out on a pleasant drink and chat and head home. What a wonderful group of people amd a great way to start this adventure.

STAGE TWO (29 OCTOBER, 2008)

The second stage of our adventure has taken us from Watsons Bay to Maroubra via Bondi, Bronte, Clovelly, Coogee and into Maroubra. Again Garry and I left Emu Plains at 0724hrs and met up with some of the group at Circular Key and the remainder at Elizabeth street where they boarded the bus for Watson’s Bay. We had 14 (?) people on this leg of the walk, some of whom were with us on the previous leg but who are not completing the whole trip.
The day was overcast and drizzly rain for much of the walk. However, the temperature was mild and the views of the houses and coast line in this area was magnificent. We had a higher amount of street walking on this leg but non-the-less it was very picturesque and interesting to observe how the “other half” live.

As we progressed along the various shore lines (beach areas) we had the opportunity to observe the “Sculptures by the Sea” which is an annual event on the Sydney social calendar. There were some very good and interesting pieces but alas, for some one who is very “square” in his outlook on art, some of the pieces left me very confused and un-impressed. We late lunched at Maroubra and Jan offered to buy ice creams at the local hotel which has been in the news lately for some very unsavoury reasons. Once again, because of distance and connecting buses and trains Garry and I had to leave the group early and head back to Emu Plains. Perhaps the next leg we will be able to stay for a little while and chat with the people in the group.