Holiday

Bundeena – A Retreat – Part 4

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Many people choose to stay in Bundeena due to its proximity to the Royal National Park. It is Australia’s oldest national park and the 2nd oldest national park in the world after Yellowstone National Park in USA. It has many, many walks, but I was interested in the easier, shorter walks that are accessible from Bundeena. So I tried the Jibbon Head Loop track.

After walking out of the southern reaches of the village, the walk started on a track across the sandy heath. Here, only hardy sand-loving plants such as banksias and tea-tree shrubs seem to grow. There were also signs of the many bushfires that have run through this part of the national park.

It wasn’t long before I sighted the water, with distant views of the Sydney city skyline.

Holiday

Bundeena – A Retreat – Part 1

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In May 2024, I spent a lovely week retreating in the village of Bundeena. Bundeena is a village that’s uniquely placed – it is surrounded by the Royal National Park, and yet it’s just across the Hacking River from the suburban expanse of Cronulla and the Sutherland Shire.

The week was spent having dips at its beaches, and walking the National Park and around the village. I was almost completely on my own, and yet since I was in the village, I wasn’t alone really. I had nice little chats with locals every day.

I think I’ll start the series with beach views. Bundeena is blessed with quite a few. They’re not ocean beaches, hence not spectacular or expansive. I like them because they have a cosy feeling about them and are rarely crowded. And staying in the village meant that they were always just a short walk away.

central nsw, Holiday

On My Way Home – Canola Trail

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Our last stretch towards home on our Winter 2023 adventure involved driving down the stretch from Narrandera to the Hume Highway. This involved driving on the many quiet country roads that made up the Canola Trail. This is a triangle between the towns of Temora, Coolamon and Junee where the crop canola is grown (to be made into oil).

Canola Way

The crop blooms at the end of winter, and fields suddenly go from lush green to fluoro yellow! Who knew that your humble deep fry oil had such picturesque beginnings?

At the end of the trail was the cute little town of Junee. It had an assortment of well-kept historical buildings from various eras. It is also just off the Hume Highway, meaning, the next stop was definitely home.

And that’s the end of our Winter 2023 journey out west. If you’re new to the blog, check out my previous posts about this journey out west. I have more adventures to post about, so stay tuned. Hint, we’re not heading west this time!

Holiday, Outback NSW

On My Way Home – Narrandera

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The last pit stop we made on our way back to Sydney on our Winter 2023 trip was at the small, Riverina town of Narrandera. It’s 550km from Sydney and 440km from Mungo (i.e. Almost right in the middle). It’s got a population of some 4,000 people, and seems to like its sport a lot, having numerous and well-kept facilities for a town its size.

Narrandera

But the life-blood of the town and the region is the mighty Murrumbidgee River that runs through the town and irrigates the fields for miles around.

Narrandera

Being that we visited in ‘Sprinter’, we saw some wonderful flowering gums in bloom.

Narrandera
Outback NSW

On My Way Home – The Plains

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My goodness, 2025 has just flown by. So, it’s all good time to try and finish posting about the winter 2023 journey, documenting our way home to Sydney from Mungo, in the south-western corner of NSW.

First, we had to escape the ‘Plains’. It took us much of the morning to get to nearest town, of Balranald, through mostly unsealed roads. But, on the other hand, there’s something mesmerising in seeing such flatness, laid out until infinity.

Holiday, Outback NSW

Mungo National Park – Part 5

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It’s been awhile between posts (life got in the way) but I do have a few more things to say about Mungo National Park. Today, we’ll take a walk among the dunes that is the ‘Wall of China’. This was part of a guided tour – you are not allowed to walk among the dunes on your own as the environment is very fragile.

We first walk along the flat lake bed before ascending into the dunes. Surprisingly, we see some very hardy flowers growing there. The dunes comprise of different layers – the top is a very soft white sand, the layers underneath are ochre in colour. The elements have also create lots of interesting formations.

Interestingly, the top sand layer is constantly being eroded by the wind, hence ‘tidbits’ of the long buried past are constantly being revealed. We saw little fragments of bone and other things peeping up as we walked along. This was how Mungo Man and Woman were discovered. It was an interesting walk and I found it interesting as history, geology and palaeontology all came together here.

Holiday, Outback NSW

Mungo National Park – Part 4

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Next to the visitor’s centre at Lake Mungo National Park is the old wool shed. It was built in 1869 from local wood and was part of Gol Gol sheep station. The station had indigenous as well as Chinese labourers, many who came to Australia during the gold rush that had taken place across NSW and Victoria. By 1869, the gold fever had abated, so these former miners sought other work, frequently on pastoral properties across the country.

When these Chinese workers looked across the dry lake bed at the sand dunes on the other side, many were reminded of their homeland, and the wall that ran across it. Hence, the dune formations were called the ‘Wall of China’.

Next, we’ll take a walk amongst those dunes.

Holiday, Outback NSW

Mungo National Park – Part 3

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The highlight of our stay was our tour of Mungo National Park, a short drive away from Mungo Lodge. The Mungo National Park lands sits on the junction of three nations – the Ngiyampaa, the Paakantji, and the Mutthi Mutthi.

It is the home of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady, human remains found in the area from the 1960’s and dated to be 42,000 years old. Footprints on the old muddy lakebed were also found, and dated to a similar period. Replicas of these footprints can be found outside of the visitor’s centre.

Back then, the area was a series of lakes fed by the Lachlan River. The climate was colder and snowfalls were more extensive on the Alps leading to more water flowing downstream. After the last ice-age, the climate became drier and warmer, and with a change in the course of the Lachlan River, the lakes were no longer fed. With erosion, the lake bed is now a flat sandy surface.

The area has a fascinating ancient history that really belies its seemingly unremarkable appearance.

More on the tour in the following post.

Adventures on life's merry-go-round