29 May 2019
After two reschedules due to weather, we finally completed the Coast Track from Bundeena to Otford. We assembled at Cronulla Wharf early on Thursday, 16 May enthusiastic to eventually embark on our adventure. We caught the ferry to Bundeena Wharf, where we would begin our walk. Everyone was excited and ready to go, dragging our overweight bags behind us.
On Thursday we hiked over 20km, to North Era Campsite, with minimal errors. The surrounds were beautiful, and the weather was perfect. The mix of beach, cliffs and rainforest was breathtaking. Arriving at the campsite, we were all exhausted. Fixing broken poles and searching for spare pegs took up the next hour, until all of our tents were up and complete. The rest of the night was filled with cooking dinner (who knows if the food Max ate was from 1996, 2006 or 2016), yoga with Ms Stevens, falling into the river and cleaning our clothes. Then off to bed, ecstatic about the next day.
At the crack of dawn, we all packed away our tents, ate breakfast, packed our packs whilst laughing about the (terrible) sleep we had. We then went off on the track to complete the last 10km. We speed along to the end of the hike, eventually, we reached the gorgeous views of Otford Lookout, which marked the end of the hike. Sleepily, we dragged ourselves to Otford Station and back into civilisation. On the train ride home, we all realised how dirty we were and how much we stank.
Overall, it was an amazing experience and we enjoyed it so much. It’s a great achievement to finally complete our Bronze Duke of Ed qualifying hike.
Indiana Y10
