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The Coast Track

‘Where spoilt meets the unspoilt’

If you want to explore The Royal National Park coastline the 'Coast Track' is for you. A marvellous 26 kilometre track which extends from Bundeena to Otford, this track passes through Little Marley and Marley Beach (a popular swimming and fishing spot), Wattamolla, Burning Palms and Garie. Of all the trails in the park the Coast Track is the most spectacular. The walk follows the sandstone cliff line which affords beautiful, panoramic views over the Pacific Ocean. In winter and spring the low scrubland and heath is alive with magnificent displays of wildflowers.

The smell of the wildflowers, the tang of the winds blowing up from the ocean, the sculptured sandstone of the headlands and caves, the sandy beaches, and the sounds of the birds, all contribute to make the Coast Walk an unforgettable experience.

All walkers in the National Park should pay particular attention to the park's rich diversity of fauna and flora. The park has six major vegetation regions and substantial pockets of rainforest are spread throughout the park.

And much more…

While any national park offers bushwalkers and people who want to explore the natural beauties the greatest rewards, it is true that the Royal National Park offers much more than flora, fauna and landscape. The beaches at Garie, Burning Palms and Wottamolla are, for example, places of exceptional beauty. Burning Palms, a hideout for fishermen since the turn of the century, has a number of small cottages which have been tolerated by the park authorities. The difficulty of building and maintaining the cottages is obvious. Every piece of timber, and all food supplies, had to be carried by hand down the steep slopes to the cottages.

The entire 19 kilometres of coastline which forms the eastern boundary of the park is noted for its excellent fishing. Apart from the hardy fishermen who are lucky enough to have shacks at Burning Palms there are regular day fishermen who find spots at the base of the cliffs where they catch a variety of fish from the rock ledges and beaches.

Flora

Beyond the rainforest and coastal areas are stands of blackbutt and Sydney blue gum surrounded by hopbush, blady grass and a twining creeper with dark red flowers called dusky coral-pea. Further from the coast is an area of grassy eucalypt woodland which characterises the slopes of the National Park. This area is notable for its red bloodwood (a gum with a very distinctive urn-shaped gumnut), gnarled and twisted scribbly gums, and the distinctive grass trees with their spear-like flower spikes and their leaves that splay out at the base of the plant like a grass dress.

Other unusual plants in the grassy eucalypt areas include false sarsaparilla (its deep purple flowers add to the colour of the park between August and December), hairy spider flowers and the eggs and bacon shrubs (characterised by yellow flowers with red centres).

At the edges of the plateau there is a feast of wildflowers. The black ash is the dominant tree in this area but bushwalkers marvel at the range of banksias (both the 'Old Man Banksia' and the glorious red 'Heath Banksia') and the paperbark, dwarf apple, shrub oak and Port Jackson mallee.

On the plateau, walkers brush past the mountain devil shrub with its red tubular flowers, cone sticks, drumsticks, the finger hakea with its dense clusters of white flowers and its egg-shaped fruit that splits to release winged seeds, and stands of black she oak.

Walkers who pass the freshwater swamps in the park will see Christmas Bells with their red and yellow flowers (they appear between December-February), needle bush, bottlebrush, pink swamp-heath, coral-heath and paperbark shrub.

Fauna

Just as the park offers walkers a rich diversity of flora, so it also offers birdwatchers and animal lovers an unusual combination of native and introduced species of fauna. On the coast the ubiquitous silver gull (an aggressive scavenger who will always hang around when you are having a picnic) is everywhere. More rare, but much more interesting, are the white-breasted sea-eagle, the crested tern, the black cormorant and the white-faced heron.

In the forests and woodlands the alert birdwatcher can see wedge-tailed eagles, black-shouldered kites, white-naped honeyeaters, crimson rosellas, pee-wees, red wattle-birds, sulphur-crested cockatoos, and bronzewings. People who are very lucky, or very patient, can see satin bower-birds and lyrebirds in the rainforests. Around the swamps and lagoons the azure kingfisher, welcome swallow, New Holland honeyeater and black duck can be observed.

Climate

Anytime is a good time to walk ‘The Coast Track’. Sunny winter and autumn days are perfect for the 2 day Coast Track walk. The Royal National Park shines in all seasons, though if you're planning on watching whales from the park's sandstone cliffs, try walking along the coast between May and August. You can head to this same spot in August or September for spectacular wildflowers. In summer, the rainforest is a cool haven and the many beaches we find along the way feature lagoons and pools that will allow us to cool off.