by skibug » Fri 01 Dec, 2017 11:51 am
A couple of points:
Walked part of the track last weekend, got talking to a local (owner of a shack at Little Garie) who was actually doing his own maintenance on the Garie to Little Garie section - apparently he does lots of work with the Park's "blind" approval. He told me the Thelma Head section (Little Garie to North Era) will be done next year, and we discussed the waste of money, seeing as that section was "done" less than ten years ago. It is basically unusable for weeks after rain because of deep pools of water and slick, slippery mud in the "chambers" formed within the wooden steps. Everyone just by-passes the steps, so another informal track has formed in parallel.
When coming into South Era, you can come through the valley, or down the ridgeline, both end up at the beach. The track to North Era starts at the northern end of the beach. The ridgeline track is better as the valley can often be very boggy (due to deer's hooves creating "pot holes" which trap water). I would not recommend going around any of the headlands, there are risks from large waves, rocks are very slippery creating danger of falling, and all those cliffs have frequent rock falls, which you would not want to be under.
Ironically, both Wedding Cake Rock and the Figure Eight Pools have received front page media publicity from people's accidents, causing their growth in popularity over the past few years. If people are dumb enough to climb over or around a fence covered in "Danger!" signs to have the dubious pleasure of sitting on a rock which is really not that much different from many other rocks along that cliff-line, I leave them to their own poor choices.
Toilets. Don't bother asking for toilets here, as Royal National Park has proven (by its North Era toilets) to be incapable of building and maintaining toilets in isolated spots. These three toilets are an absolute disgrace, literally overflowing with human waste, doors that can't be closed, and being used for garbage disposal as well. Obviously, the vandalism and garbage problems are caused by thoughtless campers and walkers, but the Park has conducted no maintenance or other mitigating work in years. They have basically abandoned the problem, and most toileting is now done anywhere but the toilets, as they are so appalling. The fact that the Park charges people to camp here, despite their being no shelter, seats or tables, potable water, garbage removal, nor usable toilets (worse than anything I ever saw during three weeks of trekking 20 years ago in northern Nepal) reflects their disdain for their customers, as well as the complete lack of vision for this potentially world class trek.
Skibug
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