Week 12 & 13

Austinmeer

I spent a few nights at Helensburgh and Stanwell Park, while I made my way through the Royal National Park which is absolutely stunning!! I do not have enough fabulous things to say about it to possibly do it justice!! The lush and beautiful bushland and palm forest is about a 60km stretch that includes the incredible winding coastal Sea Cliff Bridge that hugs the cliff faces north of Wollongong.

The views are magnificent encompassing the spectacular colourations of water, vegetation, gorgeous wildlife, and striking cliff formations (not for the faint-hearted if you are afraid of heights though).

They have done a lot of work on a graded walking path that is raised off the ground a little and is quite “walker friendly” with minimal places where you need to do climbing or tough walking.

There are sea-cliff waterfalls along the way that are beyond magnificent. One of the best vantage points to see them and one in particular is a spot called “Eagle Head Rock” which is a formation that looks like an eagle head. It sticks out over the cliff faces. You can detour off the path, get on top of Eagle Head Rock and look south, and there you are rewarded by a ridiculously large majestic waterfall cascading into stunning aqua/turquoise water.

I finally made it to Cronulla. From there, I have to be honest with everyone, Sydney was not the highlight of my trip so far. I was heading into a depressive low anyway but this deterioration in my headspace was exacerbated by Sydney being an anxiety-inducing city in itself. It’s actually rated the third loneliest city in the world and I really struggled there. Walking through Sydney and walking faster than the traffic, that was stagnant, was unnerving. I was probably getting the worst of the pollution (visual, air, and noise) because of the sections of road I had to walk along which were in stark contrast to the previous coastal treasure spots I had experienced with the most recent being the Royal National Park. I started playing a game which was the “eye contact game”. I would try and count the people that not only wouldn’t smile at me but would actually even meet my gaze. Tragically at the end of each walking day where I literally passed thousands of people, I could pretty much count the eye contact I got from people on one hand. It was just an absolute polar opposite of what I had experienced connecting with people through country towns along the east coast of Victoria and the southeast coast of NSW. The adjustment from the warmth, hospitality, and friendliness I had received from locals in local country towns and the most gorgeous bushlands and lushest natural settings that Australia has to offer, to an urban jungle, with people that wouldn’t even look you in the eye or treat you like you were human was exceptionally difficult and quite brutal. I really struggled with the homelessness I observed throughout Sydney. I know it’s ironic that I struggled with it compared to trying to imagine what it would actually be like to be homeless in Sydney, but I would just stand back and watch the thousands of people that would just continually walk past them as if they didn’t exist. I rationalise this behaviour, that people had become so desensitised, as an adaptation over time, but I watched one individual that was literally begging at a busy intersection, on his knees, with his head on the ground, his hands above his head holding a cup in the most vulnerable position you could possibly put yourself in, right on the edge of the road with bustling traffic. People were all but stepping over him and it was gut-wrenching to watch! I actually took a video of it. This human behaviour astounded me. The incredibly confronting and difficult reality of the situation though was, that I wasn’t in a position to help him either, other than to buy him a feed from the nearest shop, which I did as I passed by.

The next photo is of course under the iconic Harbour Bridge and I am feeling momuntarily elated in this picture, overwhelmed actually by the feeling of self-pride from making it to Sydney. It epitomises insta versus reality when only 48hours later I was literally crouched and huddled up against a parked car in the same city having a horrendous panic attack.

My beautiful mother and father came down to meet me in Sydney which was a highlight for me. Taronga Zoo (Sydney) donated two nights of accommodation in the Wilderness Retreat and that was amazingly cool. It was something truly special that I had been looking forward to since the surprise was let slip when I was back in Ulladulla.

The trees outside our rooms had koalas in them that were active at night and we were able to watch them before we went to bed. There were echidnas and wallabies moving around the central enclosure sanctuary where we were staying. Such a precious and cherished experience.

We had zoo access and at the start of the middle day that we were there, we were given a VIP tour of the incredible education and research centre by the Director of Education, Mr. Paul McGuire. The idea of a zoo for some may be hard to palette, however, greater understanding and appreciation are attained through the education and conservation achievements continuously occurring through the zoo’s research and breeding programs (e.g., the Sumatran tigers. Taronga has three of the remaining 350 tigers in the wild). You can see the importance the education centre plays in educating and inspiring the next generation, caring for animals, raising awareness and environmental consciousness, and committing to preserving flora and fauna and preventing extinction.

For the remainder of the day, I was transported back to my childhood when I was a kid walking around the zoo with mum and dad drinking coffee and eating ice cream. The animals are so loved and cared for there, and the conservation efforts that the zoo is responsible for are truly incredible. It has always been one of my favourite places to spend a day with my parents since I was a baby.

As I previously mentioned, I did have quite poor mental health while walking through the city. I was experiencing extreme fatigue, panic attacks, and the token symptoms of a mental health low which was looming down on me with a vengence, and was becoming increasingly challenging. As much as the Taronga stay had given me a couple of days intended to try to refill my cup, I still had many urban suburbs to tackle to get me through the city. My mother Fiona helped my sanity and my now heightened anxiety levels on one of my walking days.

We smashed out kilometres making our way pounding the pavement from Miranda, Rockdale, Tempe, Newtown, Alexandria. A relentless day of walking along busy roads on unforgiving concrete. Another game we played as a distraction with weary legs as we neared the Sydney CBD was to count the number of designer “Oodle” dogs around the Alexandria area. In about half a dozen blocks (approximately a kilometre) we counted a dozen! Obviously a popular choice for people living in apartments and town houses.

We finally ended our grueling day at the Obelisk at Circular Quay which also marked the start of the Great Northern Walk. This spot was going to lead me out of Sydney toward a much needed and pending respite on the horizon in Newcastle.

But before I left Sydney, mum, dad and I had an extremely important appointment that I had made, to visit THE BLACK DOG INSTITUTE. We had the privilege of engaging in an insightful conversation over a morning coffee with some of the incredible Black Dog Institute Team members and learned about some of the promising research projects, treatment studies, educational programs, and support resources that are currently either in operation or being developed.

The rest of that week was reallly quite difficult as I found the noise, air and visual pollution to be exceptionally overwhelming. I decided to finally make my way out of Sydney on the Great Northern Walk (GNW) starting from the obelisk at Circular Quay instead of following the coastline.