The second day of my big walk

Me at the start of the second leg of my big walk: Ryan took photo

Ryan with his current book: The Mismantle Chronicles

Palm Beach

Sept 13.
Finally I have gotten back to my coast walk, only almost 2 months since I started. This time we (yep, it's Ryan and me once again) walked from Palm Beach to Little Head along the cliffs towards Whale Beach, and then back through bush land to Palm Beach (and where the car was parked - have yet to make it on a bus). It was an absolutely glorious Sydney spring day, warm and sunny, hardly a cloud in the sky and since it was a Monday, an almost deserted beach. Poor Ryan doesn't like the sunshine (need to bring an umbrella next time), and ran from shade to shade. Fortunately a dead rat along the way made him forget how hot it was - for a while at least. I got him to follow the map so that he could see that we were making our way back to the car - eventually. The views of the ocean though the trees and houses are stunning - and the absence of machine noise is filled in by the washing of the waves, bird song and leaves rustling in the trees. Oh, forgot, not so 'machine noise' free - Monday must be garbage day, and we were pursued by a very enthusiastic garbage truck for most of the walk. But the bushland provided a lovely surprise - two very tame King parrots (or a King and a Queen if Ryan could have his way). Just look at the photos - the colours of these birds are amazing. Ryan seemed to enjoy this walk more than the last one, especially since the second half was through bushland and therefore in the shade. Distance: probably 4k.

Female King (Queen) parrot

Palm Beach on a Monday morning in spring

King parrot

King parrot enjoying my trail mix: photo by Ryan

Ryan doing a spot of weeding in the shade

The rat - well I hope it was a rat and not some little bush animal - I wasn't going to get too close to it.

The gorgeous King parrot, up close and very friendly.

Going home......

The start of a big walk

Me at the start of my big coast walk on the Pittwater: photo taken by Ryan

Palm Beach from Barrenjoey

25 July 2010: At long last I have started on my quest to walk Sydney's beaches, following the coast from the very northern beaches of Sydney, to the most southern, that is from Barrenjoey Head and Palm Beach all the way to Cronulla. I've been told that it's about 100 k, but need to check that. My son Ryan was forced to tag along with me on this my first day, totally unaware that his mother is on a mission! He's 21 years old and has autism, and so gets to do lots of things like this, and I am forced to work a bit harder for him to make it interesting for him too. Today we started at the southern end of Barrenjoey Beach and walked along the beach and then up to the lighthouse. I am sure that the last time I did this walk was in 1987 when I was very pregnant with my first son, and I'm also sure that it was much easier because we walked up the road. I really don't think that I would have made it up the narrow and steep path we followed this time. Ryan's great on hills and managed to pass most others struggling up, and not knock anyone over at the same time. He didn't want to go into the lighthouse, but did follow a short bush track out to the point, and was sort of interested in the grave of one of the lighthouse keepers who was supposedly killed by lightning - but who probably died of a heart attack unrelated to lightning. The walk back along Palm Beach was just gorgeous. Back to the car and happy and satisfied to have finally started my walk. Distance: about 3 k.

Barrenjoey Lighthouse and Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage

The Pittwater, looking north