Well here we are again. This time I will tell you about the Royal National Park which you find just 2 miles south of Cronulla beach.

A five minute trip with a ferry brings you there, and it was there that I made my first walk in the outback.And what a walk! I walked for 23 hours and only stopped for something to eat or purifying some water.It was hard, but all day long I walked along an amazingly beautiful coast on one side and the roughest possible bushland on the other side.

Along the trail I discovered all sort of weird animals, such as guano's (2 meter long lizzards), kangaroos, wallabies and of course the occasional snakes, spiders and handsized cockroaches.

By the evening I entered the rainforest. I will tell you one thing and "don't try this at home kids".
All night long I was accompanied by thousands and thousands of flying foxes that kept circulating above me. Though it seemed dry and hot during daytime, the nights were humid and frogs would pop up by the millions, and funny enough they don't make the same noice as in Europe - over here they sort of whistle.

I found it all very, very spooky, and this spooky atmosphere was certainly not improved by the sound of kangaroos bouncing away from you in the dark. And my god believe me - a rainforrest is DARK at night!! If you're really lucky, you once in a while run into spiderwebs that are so strong that you need booth hands to get rid of them. I can tell you that at least one old chap was pleased to see the sun come up in the morning.

When Ii left the park, the local rangers couldn't believe what I had done. They told me that my route was normally considered a 3 day walk. That could make sense - 8 hours a day times 3 equals 24 hours and I did it in 23 hours straight. I looked back at them and were still shaking their heads. What do they know - This is one tough old bastard.they

Back in the hostel I slept just a couple of hours before I left for the Blue Mountains Area. Whatever you saw on telly, the whole area burning down, I swear I had nothing to do with it!

But more about that next time!!

Tony


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