Steventure: Cape Solander to Potter Point

This walk takes place on Eora Country

While catching up with my mate Tristan to partake in eating a large spicy gummy worm, when we had been reorganising to attempt to walk Pigeon House Mountain again, after our last failed attempt.

After completing our spicy gummy worm, we got to chatting about the walk, where I suggested with the fluctuating weather (swapping between extensive rain, and intensive heat), that we wait until mid-autumn or winter. I suggested that I wanted to do a walk that was extensive, not something small and passive.

"Here." He said, handing me two books on hiking he had received as gifts from people. I flipped through the books looking at the walk, while he told me about all the different types of Mead he was brewing, getting me to sample some of his delicious Maple Syrup ones.

I found two walks, suggesting one we do if we have good weather, and suggesting the alternate as the one we do if we had extensive rain beforehand, or even if we had rain on the day, this back-up walk, was Cape Solander to Cronulla.

Between that moment and the day, we planned for our walk, my Nan passed away. So, I travelled up to Gosford for her funeral.

which with a week of on and off rain, and a forecast for a downpour on the day, is the walk we decided to do.

Getting up in the morning, I rushed around the house, ready for Tristan to pick me up at 8am. Just after 8 he messaged me, double checking that I want to go with the forecast. I reassured him I was still very eager.

He picked me up, just after 8.30, explaining that he was late as he had to take 'a work call'.
"Happy birthday for yesterday!" I told him, knowing he had no interest in his own birthday.
He then headed to McDonald's drive-thru for a coffee and some breakfast.
"I haven't had a McDonald's cheeseburger in years." I told him, thinking about how on family road trips it was the go-to, to stop in and get some food (where, as a kid you'd always be bought a Happy Meal, and I never particular enjoyed the McDonald's cheeseburgers, moving on to eat at Hungry Jacks, the superior of shit fast food, in the early 200's instead).
"This isn't a cheeseburger." Tristan replied, eating the McMuffin.
"I know." I replied. "I just thought I hadn't had one at years so I got nostalgic, and wondered how it would taste to me now."

As we headed up the highway, I informed Tristan that I had been rushing around, thinking I was not going to be ready for 8, as my Wife had one of the jars of our homemade mustard pickle (view our home gardening Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/hudsons_harvest), and I had run around cleaning that up and little pieces of glass all over the place.

The conversation soon turned political and about vaccines, mandates, and trust and distrust of the medical industry.
"If the government told me that car in front of us was white, I wouldn't just believe them." Tristan said, pointing to the white car in front.
I got a bit defensive, pointing out that it wasn't a political agenda, it was a medical one and experts in the field of medicine who spent their lives studying and researching this were telling you that this was the best medical advice.
It turned into a debate of political freewill, versus, herd immunity and the history of effectiveness of vaccines. As soon as we had moved away from that topic, the next topic seemed to fall into that of political debate as well, now on the topic of which political parties were doing the best for the environment.

This format, of debate to debate continued, from topic to topic, with Tristan saying he wasn't arguing, he would say "Devil's advocate" and say what he believed the other side's arguments were, though it felt like a debate, which I found a bit draining.

I felt the need to go to the toilet, and Tristan felt like another coffee, and so we pulled in at Kirrawee McDonald's. I thought that while we were there, I would try out the McDonald's cheeseburger that I had not had in years. I looked at the price.
'4.90 for a cheeseburger?' I thought, remembering how small their burgers were. I found cash in my wallet for it and decided to just try one for nostalgia's sake.
When it was finally ready, taking a solid 10 minutes of waiting, I was blown away by how tiny it was, especially given the price. I vocalised this to Tristan who said nothing in reply. I ate it, finding it having very little flavour, though did feel the disappointing nostalgia of a family road trip, but made a note in my head to stick with Hungry Jacks, or literally any other fast-food option.

Soon we were driving through Cronulla, and finally the topic got away from political discussion, which I was glad for the reprieve and Tristan began to tell me about his heart, saying the rate was ultra-low (like it should be for athlete's, which was not the case with him), and that no doctors had been able to find anything wrong with it, and that he was pretty concerned with it.

As we approached the entry to Kurnell and the Kamay Botany Bay National Park, where we had to pass a worker for NSW National Parks getting money to enter. However, for his work Tristan had a sticker and no payment was necessary.

As we pulled in at a toilet block as the coffee had made its way through Tristan, I informed him I did a walk around Botany Bay up here with my dad one day, stopping in on the way home, from receiving my 'Rituximab' treatment to remove Lymphoma that I had developed as a side effect of my Stem Cell Transplant.

Soon we pulled up at Cape Solander, with the sky filled with clouds teasing rain.

"I'm just telling you now, cause I know what you're like, if it starts raining, I'm turning back. I'm not going to be miserable on the walk" Tristan said aggressively at me.
"Why, we've walked in the rain before at Jingga trail." I responded.
"I have no interest in being miserable on the walk." He answered.
"How can you be miserable, we've got raincoats, we just out in nature, enjoying the scenery, enjoying the natural beautify of the world, a little bit of rain won't hurt." I said, and could tell by his physical response there would be no debate.

I walked to the edge of the footpath and looked south at Cape Solander.

Just north of this breathtaking view was a whale-watching platform, containing plaques with information on whales and other local marine life, as well as the origins of the name: Cape Solander.

"Daniel Solander
Cape Solander is named after Swedish botanist Daniel Solander (1733-1782), who accompanied naturalist and botanist Joseph Banks on HMB Endeavour from 1768-1771.

A Gifted Student
Solander studied under famous botanist, Carl Linnaeus, at Sweden's Uppsala University. Before Solander completed his studies, Linnaeus sent him to London as his representative to work at the British Museum cataloguing the natural history collections, and to promote the Linnaean classification system. This system became the internation standard for the classification of all species and is still used today.

Unfinished Business
In 1768, Joseph Banks invited Solander to join in the scientific staff on HMB Endeavour on its voyage to the South Pacific. Together, Banks and Solander collected approximately 30,000 specimens including around 1,300 species new to Western science. The number of species they collected demonstrated the need for a classification system that could cope with Earth's biodiversity.
On his return to England, Solander became Joseph Bank's secretary and librarian and went on numerous collecting expeditions including to the Isle of Wight, the western highlands of Scotland, Iceland and Wales. He was also appointed keeper of natural history at the British Museum.
Solander died of a stroke in 1782 aged only 49, leaving much of his work incomplete, unpublished or waiting on contributions from others.

A Significant Legacy
Solander made important contributions to botany through his discoveries and his meticulous categorising of the specimens he and Banks collected around the world.
As early proponents of Linnaeus's systematic biology, Bank's and Solander's work here led to Kamay Botany Bay National Park being nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Area. The national park is important both culturally and scientifically in 'The Rise of Systematic Biology' - the study of biological diversity and its origin.
This includes a taxonomic classification system for categorising organisms into related groups."

After reading I looked up at Tristan who was puffing on his vape and doing something on his phone.
"It would be a cool spot to see Whales." I said.
"We won't see any, it's not the season." He said, elaborating on the migration periods that whales head south and north.

I moved over to the section about marine animals, which had information about Long-nosed Fur Seals, Southern Right Whales, Blue Whales and Indo-pacific Bottlenose Dolphins, with a particular said bit of information about how the fur seals were nearly hunted to extinction, with their population crashing by 95% in just 1 years between 1830 and 1840. The good news at least was that seal populations are now slowly recovering.
However, this sort of manmade destruction, both of animals and animal habitats only fueled by environmental passion (as I was already scheduled to attend the March for Forests Protest in Sydney, organised by the Bob Brown Foundation).

I looked up at the clouds above, which although covering the sky didn't seem super dark, and I made a motion at Tristan that we should start heading off as it very lightly sprinkled with rain.

The walk was along the Cape Baily track, and after just having the origins of Cape Solander explained I wondered about the origins of Cape Baily, assuming it would be explained by the time we reached the lighthouse, assuming the weather held, and Tristan didn't wish to turn back.

'Old mate' Tristan setting off

I made a comment about how the rain wasn't even bad enough for me to require my raincoat which I had shoved into my backpack, mentioning that we could at least walk the 4km to Potter Point.

"Honestly I'm happy to just walk to there." Tristan said, saying that the rest of the walk was behind a desalination plant that never opened and then into Cronulla, which is just a town.
"Yeah, we'll just see how we go." I responded, looking out over the heath as a plane descended in the distance.

We talked about the landscape, with myself telling Tristan is wish I had more knowledge on types of biomes, such as words like 'Heath'. I mentioned to him about swamps and different types and the names (for example marsh, bog, peatland, mangroves, etc.) and that I really wish I knew all these different terms and how they differed, even with things like a cliff vs calling it a bluff., and that I struggle sometimes with writing because I feel like I lack the vocabulary or scientific literacy to properly explain the locations I am at.

Coming to where the coastline cut in a little, I noticed a cave at the bottom, as waves splashed over its entry and I had played enough video games, read enough books and seen enough movies that I instantly wish I had a little boat to sail up inside, 'the perfect spot for treasure', I thought.

"Selfie time." I said to Tristan, who didn't seem too enthusiastic about.

We continued along and I mentioned that I didn't like walking on these sorts of constructed pathways.
"Why?" Tristan asked.
I told him that I understood they were designed to protect some of the biodiversity of the areas, and erosion among other things, but I felt distanced, manufactured, like walking on a road. I said I liked the feeling of the earth beneath my feet, the dirt, sand, rocks, to walk upon the land, something about those walks improved how I mentally felt during the walk, that connection. Tristan shrugged that he didn't care, as I noticed some tiny mushrooms popping out of the sand off the side of the path, which excited me as I had never seen mushroom grow in sand, and because they were so tiny and adorable. I instantly jumped down into the sand, kneeling down to take a photo.

The path led to a large section of stone that we crossed before getting to the constructed path once more, while I played 'identify' the plant with Tristan, letting him know that the only ones I was able to identify where the banksias, which are super distinctive.

The path continued for a short while, with a turn off to the right that followed a sandy path continuing off into the distance, with a sign mentioning it was the Tabbigai Gap Trail. However, we continued along our current trail towards Cape Baily Lighthouse.

Just as we rounded the bend there was the remnants of some form of ramp down to the water, and I wondered what it would have been used for.

We continued along the trail, heading slightly uphill and around a bend turning right, reaching another section of uneven stone surface..

You could walk up closer to the cliff edge along the stone just up further, and we looked back at the majestic jagged cliffs back the way we came.

"That sort of looks like Eagle Rock." I said, referring to the famous cliff along the Sydney Royal National Park Coast walk.

The very light misty rain had stopped now, leaving us dealing with the hot and humid weather. I grabbed the front of my shirt pulling it out and back in swiftly to generate some sort of airflow.

"Fuck it's muggy."

We continued along the wet trail, and I was hoping for some rain to help remove the humidity from the air. Around the bend we could walk right up to the cliff edge, and I looked back up along the cliff line at the azure ocean, watching the waves crash upon the shore.

From the distance, I glimpsed my first sight of the Cape Baily lighthouse on the horizon. I walked over to the cliff edge, that only place that seemed to offer any reprieve from the smoldering humidity with the wind coming straight off of the ocean waves, carrying a little ocean spray with it.

Continuing walking we reached a section called the Blue Hole Gap (though on the sign at the start of the walk read the misprint: Blue Hole Hap).

This was a giant cut in the cliff face, with a trail leading further inland, up and around to reach the otherside.

Walking up this trail to reach the other side of Blue Hole Gap, I pointed to a unique plant that I mention looked like it had frost on it, so it strongly contrasted with the surrounding flora.

Actinotus helianthi aka Flannel Flower

I stopped once more to photograph the trail, with our path half covered in sand. I heard Tristan audible sigh and come to a halt. After I took the photo, I caught up and asked if he was annoyed with me.

"No?" He said, confused that I was asking.
"Just because you sighed pretty loudly, I didn't know if it was bothering you that I was stopping to take photos so often." I responded.
He said that it didn't bother him.

We followed the path down the opposite side of the Blue Hole Gap, continuing along the cliff edge, though slightly further in with a section of heath blocking you reaching the edge,

Passing through this section, you came to and open section of flat stone that had little pools with collections of rainwater, probably mixed with some ocean water reaching over the tops of the cliff during extreme weather.

As we came to the end of this, where there was the built path again up on our right leading towards the now close approaching lighthouse, there was a crow sitting calmly on just watching us walk by.

Just after I took this picture, it took off flying over nearby Tristan, who had started up towards the ongoing trail. I went to take a picture of it with him as it was so close and it ran and took off into the air, going after a flying cricket.
Tristan passionately cheered him on, very loudly cheering when we witnessed the crow catch the cricket, it was the most enthusiastic Tristan had seemed the entire walk.

I followed along behind Tristan, once more trying to get some airflow under my shirt and complaining about the humidity, while I could see the top of the lighthouse sticking out, not too far away now.

I looked back at the cliff edge behind me, noticing another cave on the underside, I also pointed to Tristan that our friend the crow was now perched on a cliff edge overlooking the ocean.

As the constructed path once more dropped off, I saw a small little plant growing out of the sand, which sort of looked like a bonsai.
"If you took a photo of that up close it would just look like a full-size tree." I said, instantly doing just that.

Stopping to take a photo, of the view ahead, a large freighter sailed past, and just seeing how big it was from here put into perspective how big they were. While looking back I could see two women approaching, gaining on us, so we kept moving along the track towards the lighthouse, it's head poking up in the distance, with all the banskia growing to the side of the trail.

As we passed through this section I was startled, with a Red Belly Black Snake just to the right of the track.
"Scared the shit out of me." I told Tristan, not expecting to see a snake here, not use to seeing them near the coast, and told him about how many I had seen this year, encountering heaps when I did the walk at Thirlmere Lakes.

I took the photo, but thought I could get a better one, and as I began to lower myself to do this he began slithering under the footpath, so I switched and filmed it instead.

Shortly after this we reached a turn oFf on our right to Cape Baily Lighthouse, with a little thin sandy track, making its way up through the bush.
I made a comment about having to walk through here after just seeing the snake. Jokingly telling Tristan he could 'go first in case of snakes.'

He grumpily told me he was reading the information plaque that was here, providing information on Cape Baily Lighthouse.

"Cape Baily Lighthouse
DID YOU KNOW...
Cape Baily is one of ten historic 'coastal highway lights' managed by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service. The lighthouse is operated by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority as a navigational aid. The lighthouse is unusual as it is comprised of a 1950's concrete tower, with a 19th century Chance Brothers lantern. It is the only mid 20th century lighthouse structure withing the National Parks and Wildlife Service collection.

The lighthouse was established in 1950 allowing north-bound ships to travel closer to the coastline and avoid the strong southerly currents further out to sea. Cape Baily Lighthouse has a range of 10 nautical miles (18.5 kilometres) and is powered by solar panels. Extensive views can be seen from the site, looking west across Botany Bay to Hurstville, south to Cronulla and northwest to Sydney airport and CBD."

While I waited for Tristan to finish reading (he had snapped that he couldn't read because I was standing in the way of it taking a photo), the two ladies who were gaining on us had now reached us.

I made reference to them that they had just missed seeing the Red Belly Black Snake, and when they responded I realised they were both Irish.

They asked some questions about Red Belly Black Snakes, their danger level and we told them that although they were venomous, they weren't very aggressive and there were no recorded deaths.
One of them made a joke if that's why we weren't walking up to the lighthouse.
"Oh no, he's still reading." I said, pointing at Tristan.
He joked that they were welcome to go first and scare away the snakes for us, and they immediately started up the trail, jokingly asking us to 'wish them luck'.
I started just behind them, and Tristan continued after me.

As we reached the top, I was surprised by how small the lighthouse was, realising I hadn't been seeing the top of it sticking out, I had been seeing the entire thing.

The two ladies asked if I would mind taking a photo of them, and so I took a few photos though the ladies camera light was very dull so I did inform her that I couldn't see how they looked.

The other lady handed me her phone and I got a photo of them on that one, before the lady had brightened her phone screen and I took some final pictures for them. While this was occurring, I noticed Tristan had wandered off behind the lighthouse, staying away from the interaction.
The ladies said goodbye, and I took a photo of the lighthouse, then told Tristan we'd take a photo of us at it.

"It's not very magnificent though, is it?" He commented, disparaging the lighthouse.
"No not really."

I sat down on the edge of the concrete surrounding it to eat my chocolate slice I had packed in my bad, as it melted onto my fingers. I finished, rinsing my hands with water from my bottle. and as we made our way back down to the trail, I began to probe Tristan if he was 'ok'. Saying he had seemed out of sorts, and avoidant of the two women (unusual for him, who is usually the more social of us two).
I told him I was only checking as a friend and just wanted to make sure he was actually ok.

He answered that he was, telling me in his new role at work he has to deal with enough people, and in response to that it was making him anti-social, and he didn't necessarily want to talk to or see people.

I apologised for having him come on the walk with me, and he told me not to be silly, that he wouldn't be here if he didn't want to and that he no longer does anything 'he doesn't want to do', and that it was a liberating feeling.

The trail opened up to a large open area of rock surface, and you could see clearly all the way down to where the land met the sea, where a bunch of tall poles stood.

"That's probably Potter Point." I said, with Tristan agreeing, both content to reach it and turn around for the return walk.

Making our way down to reach Potter Point I noticed the two Irish ladies had been over by the cliff edge, and as we passed, they had gotten up and had begun heading back from here.

We reached the end of the cliff, following a rocky trail through the shrub, edging towards the finish.

Reaching the end of this trail, once more opening up to a rocky surface was a sign letting us know that these poles ahead of us were Potter Point, while a Magpie sat on top, cleaning under its wings, and eventually flying away as we got closer.

I wandered to the left, looking down towards the ocean.

We continued past a group of 5 poles which Tristan said he assumed were to release gases from the sewer, a septic vent. Though we didn't know for sure.

Tristan was content now, good to head back, but I wanted to see where the trail ahead led, just in case this section was not the actual Potter Point, so I suggested we follow the trail on for a little longer.

Coming through it we reached a sign, with a carpark just to the right of us, where I pointed out the artwork on the rear of the sign (as well as the huge amounts of Bitou Bush, complaining that for years I thought it was spelled with a D due to the Australian accent and how people pronounce it).

There was a sign down by the water, and I told Tristan I wanted to walk just far enough that I was able to read what it said.

"You can go." He told me, refusing to go any further. He sat down on his phone, and I continued down further so that I would read the sign.

When I reached the bottom, I could finally read the sign, letting me know it was a Boat Harbour Aquatic Reserve., with a clear view of Cronulla across the water.

I headed back, as the sleet began to fall again, taking a sneaky picture of Tristan.

"What are you playing?" I said loudly, while approaching him, noticing he was playing a mobile game.
"Clash of Clans." He told me, saying it was just a game that helped him relax.

We began the walk back, and the sleet got slightly heavier now, but never enough to be called serious rain.

I noticed a big ant as we were walking and as I tried to get a picture the ant noticed me, turning around and backing away from me every time I tried to get closer to get a good image.

The walk back become political once more, with the conversation becoming about Donald Trump vs Joe Biden in the upcoming US elections.

"I would vote for Trump over Biden." Tristan told me, blowing my mind, causing me to have a rant about what a psycho Donald Trump was.
He talked about how Biden couldn't even string together a sentence.
I mentioned about how Trump is not dissimilar in that fashion, often spouting gibberish, but that he just came across as less senile than Biden.
The conversation then became about Trumps' ridiculous notion of 'building a wall'.
I said I hated the idea of blaming immigrants who are just seeking a better life for themselves.
"Devil's advocate," Tristan said and then continued: "If you were working close to the border, and an immigrant came over and was doing the work for a quarter of your pay, so you lost your job you would hear what Trump saying and agree with it, he appeals to people like that who are thinking about where their next meal will be from."
"But that's not the issue," I rebuked. " The issue is the system that lets that happen, that's a government not making sure people are paid a proper wage, the issue isn't immigrants, I would be going after the company that was using that labour and had cost me my job, the actual villains."

He argued that people going through these situations are too concerned with just getting a meal, then to worry about whose fault it was. In the end I fundamentally disagreed, and the conversation moved onto another politically divisive debate.

In the end I tried to change the topic. Mentioning how I had signed up to TAFE to do my Certificate III in Business Admin, and that it was not for me. I said I had decided to sign up for my Certificate III in Horticulture, deciding I wanted to get back to working outdoors and with nature. I said that I could move into being a Gardener, a role that would pay more than my current role which had not allowed any movement or pay increases or progress since I had started in it.

Tristan began to tell me I should, get a role as a labourer first, work which would have me working with and underneath someone for lesser pay. I said I would not do that, that I would rather complete my course and jump straight into the higher paid role.
"I wouldn't hire you." He told me, saying he'd hire someone who had already been working as a labourer over me.
"I already worked in that for years." I said, once more arguing with him. Listing that I had worked in Parks, Bush regeneration, and as a Front-deck Mower Operator, and that I look after plants both indoor and outdoor still in my current role, as well as liaise with the gardeners to do certain jobs.
He still pushed for me to do that, and I got a bit angry saying: "I'm not fucking doing that."
Eventually the topic got political once more and I was pretty fatigued, by the time we were arriving back at the car.
I was feeling like the end of the walk was a bit of a bummer, so asked if he would be interested in going to a brewery if there was one nearby.
"Sure." He said, so I ended up searching Google Maps and finding the 'Hairyman Brewery' nearby. So, we headed there for a drink, getting a schooner of 'Cory's Claim' dark ale each, which Tristan ended up paying for as the guy messed up and charged them together rather than separate.

My interest was also piqued by the 'Pop Ale', a creaming soda. I bought us a can each to take home but ended up drinking mine in the car on the way home, getting a bit lightheaded and making me feel a bit better.

"Fuck, it does taste like creaming soda!" I said after my first sip.

He ended up dropping me off and we both agreed we'd catch up soon for another walk, or maybe just a catch up and not necessarily a walk.

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Thanks for reading! - Steven

Extra tidbits! - Politically fueled, I ended up going to the March for Forests protest (organised by the Bob Brown Foundation) in Sydney, my first ever protest, and it was a pretty powerful thing to march through the main streets of Sydney for a cause I believed in. If ending native forest logging, or protecting our native environment, or looking after our native fauna appeals to you. Click on those links for more information.