Wednesday, May 7, 2008

A Royal Walk


I love waterfalls. They’re so simple —just water moving from high to low — but they have this paradisal element. They make me feel far away from anything urban or polluted. This Sunday I ditched the city for an 11km bushwalk in Royal National Park, an hour south of Sydney.

A friend met me at Heathcote Station where we picked up the Karloo Track. The first 2.5km are mostly downhill to the Karloo Pool. If we had the presence of mind to wear bathing suits, we might have joined the group of kids playing in the water, but it seemed a bit cold anyway.


From there, the track begins to head uphill, and that’s where it gets confusing. Though we had a map and hike directions, we still had trouble following the trail. Despite a few wrong turns, we finally found the Uloola Falls. Of course, we missed the easiest way down, but our improvised (nearly vertical) route proved more fun, as they typically do.



Pretty, right?


From the falls, we took the Uloola Trail up, down and through tall bush, swampy paths and eucalyptus-lined service tracks until reaching Waterfall Station to catch trains back. It’s a good hike if you can navigate it properly. And steer clear of these devils.


Royal National Park seems to have some incredible hikes along the coast, including one where a waterfall drops into the ocean, but I don’t think public transportation will get me there...

Also, anyone know the best way to edit and save photos so the colors show as brilliantly as they do in my iPhoto? That spider is crazy red and orange, but appears washed out online.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can get to the Royal by public transport via the Bundeena Ferry

Anonymous said...

Gorgeous photos. New South Wales is clearly a lot wetter than SA. I'm struggling with public transport here as well, but I have to remind myself that it's better than a lot of places (Columbia, MO for example!).

As for your photo issues, sometimes you have to ramp up the colors in iPhoto (to the point that they look silly) to get the effect you're after online.

colleenmcdevitt said...

LOVE the waterfall photos! You're giving this photojournalism student a run for the money... you've got talent girl!

Can you believe our time abroad is coming to a close? Let's plan another one! Ha ha!

See you in COMO!!!