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Stage 2 - Garie Beach to Stanwell Park

The sun was shining and a gentle southeasterly blew as we strolled across the sand of Garie Beach on our next stage. The National Park Service has done a great job of upgrading and realigning the track where it had eroded or become dangerous. However, we did not appreciate the change to climb 80m over Edna Head that replaced the old flat walk around the rock platform below it. The climb was a sign of things to come.

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Heritage shacks at South Era

The heathlands of the northern headlands had given way to lomandra and tussock grass as we crossed the communities of beach shacks at Era Beach and Burning Palms. These shacks are heritage listed and reflect the recent history of human usage of this coastal area. The large shell middens at North Era, built by the Dharawal people over thousands of years, reflects a much longer history of human usage that we unfortunately tend to forget. Lunch at Burning Palms was accompanied by several curious skinks and bearded dragons; constant acquaintances along the track and reminders that all humans are but a very recent part of this landscape.

Burning Palms Beach

	Palm Jungle where rainforest meets the sea		After Burning Palms, the long hard climb to the top of the escarpment began, at first gradually through deeply eroded tracks cut into the lomandra covered slopes, then becoming steeper as we passed through the palm groves and densely forested area known as Palm Jungle. Here is an excellent example of littoral rainforest, whose dark canopy contrasts dramatically to the open heath or grassy headlands and where low hanging woody vines try to trip unwary hikers or snag their packs as they pass.

Gradually the climb became less steep and the rain forest plants merged into temperate eucalypt forest as we reached the rocky outcrops near the top of the escarpment, and took a break overlooking the green slopes leading down to a small beach at the base of Hell Hole, 240m below us. We realised why we had walked this track from south to north four years ago and, having hauled our heavy backpacks up from the coastal strip, developed a great admiration for Sherpas.

We continued on down to the road near Otford, where we finally came to the end of the Coast Track. We had completed this track for a second time and its magnificent and diverse scenery had impressed us just as much now as before.

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For the next 2 km, we were obliged to follow the bitumen to Bald Hill, much loved by the world's hang-gliders. The breeze was evidently perfect, as the sky was full of multi-coloured gliders. We took our boots off, sat on a grassy slope and watched with envy for an hour and dreamed of gliding down to our destination of Stanwell Park beneath the cliffs of Bald Hill.

Dreaming over, we rebooted and continued along the road for another 2 km, descending rapidly into the village below. Stanwell Park is a gem, with friendly residents and multilevelled houses perching on steep rainforest slopes above a sandy beach. We checked into one such charming house, the Ocean Blue B & B, had our first hot shower for 3 days, and lounged on the veranda next to a rainforest gully.

View over Stanwell Park from Bald Hill (left)
and our B & B (above)


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