Tarbourie Village to Termeil Lake

 This walk takes place on Yuin Country

Having done the Saddleback Mountain walk, the weekend before I had already planned to head down and camp and walk-up Pigeon House with my friend Tristan. However the Tuesday after doing Saddleback we had a really cold snap where I could barely find the energy to get dressed and ready for work that morning, due to the cold and the idea of waking up, having to pack down a tent that was covered with frost, after spending a night freezing, walking up it, then traveling home, and to have to unpack my tent to let it dry so it didn't get moldy didn't sound like much fun. So I messaged Tristan and told him this, telling him I just couldn't really hand the cold since my cancer treatment.

He agreed, but I said I would just spend the night at his Sunday night anyway, we could relax and have a few beers and get up super early Monday morning to drive down.

However, Thursday at work I began getting fevers and chills and came down with a severe cold. I did a Rapid Antigen Test for Covid (tested negative) before having Friday off sick and spending all day, blowing my nose into tissues and playing the new Zelda game (Tears of the Kingdom).

I waited to hopefully recover by Sunday, where I was still sick with the cold, but informed Tristan I was still keen to do the walk every with my cold (though I would have definitely preferred to have not been sick).

I headed to his place, and we chatted about a bunch of things, while I continued to blow my nose. He looked on at me in disbelief that I still wanted to go, saying that we could just go another time. I told him I really wanted to do something steep to test my lung capacity before my next lung test (as I had lung damage from the chemo). We chatted into the night, having a barbecue and some beers (Tristan much more than me and my one long neck stout). I informed Tristan that I had also been constipated all day and had really been hoping to poo during the day before I had come to his. It became time to go to bed and luckily, I was able to make myself go to the toilet right as Tristan set me up a blow-up mattress on his floor, and I laid down to try and sleep. Of course, that night there were extreme winds and the howling gale did nothing to help me sleep. I cuddled under my blanket with my jumper and beanie still on, shivering and blowing my nose, trying to daydream off to the land of sleep with no avail. As I tossed and turned, I realised the mattress was slowly deflating and I was no pressed against the tiles below and even colder. I checked my phone seeing it was 2am and the alarm was set for 5:30am. I grabbed the blanket and pillow and moved over onto Tristan's couch, where either because it was leather, or because I was unwell, I began to overheat and sweat through the rest of the night with some broken sleep.

That morning having heard about my night's sleep and with the gusty winds blowing, Tristan seemed like he really wasn't in the mood to head down. I told him I was still fine to, ever ready for the adventure as he told me that I had 'nothing to prove'. I told him if he didn't want to go we could bail, but I was still fine to go. He seemed to reluctantly agree to go, telling me that he would be pissed if we drove all that way and I got down there and was like "I can't do it". I reassured him that wouldn't be the case, or I would bail beforehand and that I would suffer through it. He also said if there were any fallen trees, he would turn us back because he wasn't going to be, in his words "One of those fuckwits who doesn't listen to the warning signs". 

As I hopped into Tristan's car and felt his seat warmers on my back, I told him how good it felt after a crappy night sleep and that my back was pretty sore. He looked at me with completely disdain before once more asking if I was sure I wanted to go. I assured him I did, and we finally set off south towards Pigeon House Mountain.

As we began our drive down towards Milton I started off chatty but, found Tristan not overly responsive I eventually dialed it back assuming he wasn't in the mood or was still just tired. I removed my beanie allowing my head some fresh air after having slept in it all night my scalp felt a little tender. I began to have microsleeps drifting in and out of consciousness. As we approached Nowra I told Tristan about a chicken shop on the Northbound Lane that I had always seen for years but had never stopped at, soon we passed 'Chooksy's' and Tristan said it was quite good there and I should one day stop in. I told him there was also a hotdog place somewhere further South that I always saw and needed to one day stop in at too. We approached the new building of Nowra bridge, our first time seeing it since it's construction and we openly questioned what they planned to do with the old bridge that was now closed for access.

I sort of dozed out again until we were approaching Milton and Tristan made a comment about not being able to see Pigeon House yet. I let him know that Didthul was the Indigenous name for Pigeon House, and that it meant 'Woman's Breast', which I said it looked more like than a Pigeon House, telling him that it was named that by Captain Cook. We turned towards Pigeon House, at 'The Heritage Bakery' in Milton, telling Tristan that the pies there were pretty average.

As we drove the roads out to Pigeon House, Tristan again made a comment about the extreme winds while he pointed out the roads covered with leaves and debris. I told him it would be fine and I started to get excited by the walk, blowing my nose and beginning to get prepped. 

We rounded a corner as I took some photos in preparation for my blog post, but while I was looking out the window when Tristan said "Here's something you can get a photo of."

Tristan pulled over and death stared me. "You didn't check?" He asked.
"Why would I check? I never check I just assume walks are open."

We hopped out of the car for some fresh air, and I told him we could just find another local hike to do seeing as we had come all this way. I still had the 'All Trails' app installed on my phone since downloading it during my Saddleback Mountain walk. Walks started popping up all over the place and I named one and Tristan quickly put in the address to that and said that was the one we were going to do while I continued to read him more options. "No, we're already going there." He said and we began to drive to Tarbourie Village.

I commented that everything was trying to stop us doing Pigeon House and that we should have listened to the signs, from the cold to me getting sick, to feeling constipated, to the extreme winds, to not getting any sleep and freezing all night, and finally actually having the walk closed.

We followed a dirt road I had never been down before in my life and soon ended up at Tarbourie Village pulling up in a suburban street, with a sand road that the app said not to go down, instead telling us to begin our walk by heading right past a gate and behind the houses.

While doing a little research (mostly into Indigenous History in Meroo) I learned that Meroo National Park was relatively new, as it had previously been State Forest, but after the severe damage from the bushfires it was made a national park in an attempt to help regenerate the land.

I noticed a house on our right had placed up a constructed artwork (I suppose?), of Abalone Shells. I mentioned something about how I thought harvesting too much abalone was illegal and that I wouldn't be showcasing it off on my property. I then asked Tristan if he had ever tried an abalone. He hadn't and I replied that we might try it one day.

Tristan turned around as I was way behind him, he gave me a 'why are you being so slow' speech and I told him it was a 5km walk I was just taking my time and enjoying the scenery.

There seemed to be a lot of trails branching from the path, and I just kept pointing and being like 'let's go down that way' like it didn't matter. Tristan got anal and grumpy with me, once more bringing up the constant bushwhacking and inability to find the right trail of when we walked Mount Jellore.

Tristan made us stop and took out his phone looking at the All Trails app, making sure we took the right ways.

We came to a first proper fork in the path and the app seemed to tell us we weren't on the right path anyway, so we followed the left path heading more towards the beach, which seemed to be the right way to go.

The app continued to tell us both we were way off the path, and I wondered if it was simply our GPS. "Why would both of ours tell us we are off the path in the same place?" Tristan questioned. We shrugged and continued.

I commented that this was less of a hiking trail and more of like a local beach track, similar to the local ones I would take Orla on a walk through over at Windang Beach near the area I live. Which I stated I would never blog about.

The track soon veered left and opened us up on the beach with a view of Crampton Island on our left.

Tristan facing south towards Stokes Island

I wondered where we were on a map (checking Google Maps on my phone) which is how I learned the name of these Islands. I thought it would be cool to walk out to Crampton Island and explore it, but commented that Stokes Island didn't really seem like an Island, more just some rocks sticking out from the beach.

I questioned to Tristan if we should go back and try and find the path, but he was already walking down the beach. I said we would walk down and see what was around the bend and if there was no sign of the walk we could head back to the track and take another way.

As we continued down, we noticed the built wooden staircase leading back up, and assumed we were on the right track, and if not, we would follow it regardless.

Smile!

We walked up the stairs as Tristan received a work phone call. I continued ahead as I reached the grass picnic area on top, I headed towards the table before noticing a big Kangaroo eyeing me off from across the field.

"I'll fight ya!"

I continued to the picnic bench, keeping an eye on him as he soon hopped away into the bush, I sat down and waited for Tristan to finish his work phone call.

There seemed to be a path to our right (facing away from the beach), I sat enjoying the view over the water, as Tristan finished his work phone call and approached me. "Sorry about the work call dude." He said. 
"Nah, you're alright." I replied, thinking to myself that the way I actually speak was so much more 'Aussie' in vernacular than the way I processed thoughts in my mind or how I write.

I told him that I thought there was a path along the right side of the bushes, but that I was not sure it was the track. He shrugged, saying that we would follow it anyway, and suddenly our roles had flipped and he was the one who didn't care if we were going the right way.

Just as we reached the shade of the trees in the image above the track split left and right. I looked down the track on the left and could see a sign pointing the way to Sunburnt Beach Camping Area.

I didn't even notice the Kangaroo, blending into the scenery until he started hopping down the track and out of sight. I mentioned to Tristan that when we had looked at the All Trails app, the track seemed to skirt around, and never go to the campground, so we continued on along the left trail.

Tristan began to perk up and get a bit more talkative, and we began chatting before the trail came out onto a road right in front of a toilet block. Tristan was psyched to get to do a poo as I wandered around in circles with a walking stick, that I had picked up prior to first reaching the beach.

Nothing more exciting than a photo of a road

When Tristan finished his business, I said that I thought we had to walk the way away from the camp ground once more, before Tristan got out the app and started saying that we needed to follow the road down to the campground. I didn't particularly care and didn't need to argue so I just started walking down the road with him.

The camping spots we walked past looked like ok spots, besides the lack of grass, as I'm not a fan of pitching a tent on rocky, hard soil. Tristan began another work call as I followed a path along wandering by all the different camp sites. As we approached the beach once more the path curved around to continue South, and I noticed a little path down to the beach that I decided to quickly walk down for a look while Tristan was on the phone (assuming the path to the beach was not the right way).

As I was halfway down the path I stopped in my tracks, noticing a Swamp Wallaby in front of me.

It saw me and quickly hopped away into the scrub. I looked out over the beach for a while before turning to head back to Tristan and noticing he was right behind me.

"Did you see that Swamp Wallaby?" He asked.

I told him I did and that I thought this track wasn't the right way, but he said we should walk down it anyway, again swapping who cares about which is the right way and who doesn't.

We walked along the sand as Tristan asked me how my mental health was going, aware of my recent issues with anxiety (which he witnessed first-hand at his, the night before, when his neighbour started chopping wood and the sound triggered an anxious response from me) and depression.

We continued discussing it while he gave me advice about what he thought while asking me questions as we crossed the sand and followed the rocks around the headland, admiring all the rockpools, bubble weed and rock formations.

"What's this gross orange stuff?" I asked.

Tristan shared his opinion that some of my depression may be stemming from career dissatisfaction and asked if I would ever get back into doing Bush Regeneration again. I told him I would never get a job doing it, because I would be unwilling to use most chemicals (such as Glyphosate), since my cancer. He told me that if I told him that, there would be no way he would hire me to do bush regen work. I said I believed you could do regen without spraying, as I found it to not be that effective. I referred to my own time working and talking about spraying things and having the glyphosate just fasten the lifecycle to go to seed faster and how we would spray massive areas and it wouldn't help at all. I said it felt like just spraying toxins around with no purpose compared to when I had worked with Green Army at Killalea State Park, drilling and filling African Olive which was an actually effective treatment. I said I wasn't against the use of chemicals that could be necessary, in that fashion.

Tristan began defending the use and saying that it just needed to be done right and the right chemicals needed to be used. We rounded the bend, and as I was watching my footing Tristan pointed out some Dolphins swimming off-shore.

He commented that it was a nice day and that seeing Dolphins was a positive. I agreed saying it had worked out well, exploring a place we never would have come to otherwise and that it was probably for the best to not be walking up Pigeon House while sick.

As we reached the sand I noticed a little lagoon in the distance, but also saw a staircase off the beach out the corner of my eye.

As we followed the path up, we assumed that the track we were following would now head back, as we passed a sign facing away from us I turned around to see we were at Termeil Beach.

As we followed on I noticed a tree with orange berries and tried to remember some of my plant knowledge, asking Tristan if it was Wombat Berry? He said it was a 'pittosporum undulatum'. He began saying they were a weed, well, not truly a weed, that some people liked them because they were returning places where they were back to rainforest, but he then began to start going on about how they create a monoculture and how it can be bad because nothing else grows and you will just get areas of them and nothing else growing. With my lack of sleep, I felt my eyes begin to glaze over and told him he would have to fill me in on it later because I wasn't in the right place to absorb any knowledge.

We came upon a information sign about Meroo National Park and camping at Termeil Point that we stopped to read. I commented that it would be cool to see some Middens which brought on the topic about me adding about the land on which the walk I blog about takes place. I said about all the different tribes and that there were Wodi Wodi in Dharawal and how I sometimes found it hard to be sure so I just acknowledged the main 'country' that the walk took place on, lest I stuff up and do the wrong thing.

We continued past some more campsites on our right, with some people camping, as I mentioned something about my blog.

"You're blogging about this?" Tristan asked, assuming that I wouldn't be.

"Yeah." I simply responded.

"Won't be a very long blog." He said.

"Good." I replied. "They don't all need to be, sometimes it's nice not to have to write so much."

As we continued, I could see bright blue from the left corner of my eyes and noticed a beautiful lake to my left and realised that must have led in to what I had thought was the lagoon.

As we continued on the trees cleared and I could see a path down to the lake. I asked Tristan if he wanted to walk down and he agreed, as we approached, we noticed a big rock, but from the distance we couldn't quite tell what it was and I asked if it was a Ram's head, before reaching closer and seeing that it was just a rock.

We stopped and admired the view of the lake that was quiet, serene and just peaceful. The wind was gentle here after a short while I told Tristan we would get a photo of the two of us, placing my phone down against the base of a tree and putting on a timer for 10 seconds.

I commented that it reminded me of some of the locations they would be placed at, in the survival TV series 'Alone'. Tristan mentioned he had been meaning to watch it. I began talking about how the show works and told him that if he was going to watch the recently aired Australian version, to at least wait until after watching the currently released US versions (general consensus among fans if that the Australian one was disappointing in comparison, and I didn't want him to be turned off). We made our way back uphill to the road and continued our way back, passing the last of the campgrounds.

Walking along I pointed out at least 3 Glossy Black-Cockatoo's sitting in the casuarina trees. Tristan got instantly excited saying that they were rare to see. I commented that the information sign we had based not too long ago had said they were in the area. He replied that just because they were in the area didn't mean we would necessarily see them, which to be fair is sound logic as you don't often see all the local animals on a walk.

I felt like Tristan's mood had greatly improved which made me feel a bit better about not being able to do the walk we planned, and feeling bad for having him drive so far.

We came upon a sign letting us know we were on the Tabourie Village Track, and we were glad that we were going the right way.

We continued the track along with Tristan at one point pointing out a Sundew.

"Drosera?" I asked, the name popping in my mind.
"I don't know the species name." Tristan said.

"Yeah, there's heaps of them at Barren Ground." I told him, before looking up and seeing that there were heaps here too.

"Looks like an infection." Tristan said.
"The Last of Us." I replied.

"Never played it."
"Neither, but I watched the TV Show. It was ok. Nothing special. If you've seen 'The Walking Dead' or any other Zombie type show or movie ever it was pretty much the same (yes I know they're not Zombies, but like, they totally are really).

We rounded the bend and the path began to get all muddy and sloppy. I looked up and saw the path ahead was covered with water.

"Damn." I said, as Tristan simply walked along a path that was to the left of it that I hadn't noticed.

Soon we appeared at the fork in the path before the beach were we had initially turned left and found ourselves coming out from the right side of that, knowing it was just the straight track back to the street where Tristan had parked.

As we got into the car for the long ride home, I commented that we could just do Pigeon House in July.

"I'm not doing it in the middle of Winter." Tristan responded.
"It's already the middle of Winter." I retorted.
"It's June." He said, "The start of Winter."
"What about August then?" I asked.
"I've got a lot on in August."
"Well, I'm overseas for the whole of September in Iceland." I said, with us agreeing Pigeon House would have to wait until October.

I was a little upset, wanting to do a pretty steep hike to test out my lung capacity before my next lung test (having lung damage from my chemotherapy), and I started to think of other steep challenging walks I could try to do before I had that test.

As we headed home we drove along the Princes Highway past Lake Tabourie where I commented that it looked like a beautiful spot. I told Tristan that travelling along the south coast reminded me of my childhood, reminiscing of the times we would travel down and stop in at those old fish and chip shops with the plastic strip curtains and how Dad would either buy us a Paddlepop or a Bubble O Bill ice cream. (I have a particular fond memory of the now discontinued Paddlepop Mud Puddle while spending time at Sussex Inlet).

He said it sounded like a good childhood. To which I simply replied, "Some of it."

We continued North past Dolphin Point and Burill Lake, both beautiful, and I questioned how we got so far South, saying the drive from Milton towards Pigeon House and then to Tarbourie Village had not felt like so long a drive. We finally came to Ulladulla as I looked out for 'Funland Ulladulla' having more good memories of going there as a kid. As we approached Milton I mentioned that there was always a big statue of a Dinosaur that always excited me as a kid (as a massive Dinosaur nerd). I wondered if it was still there, and it was, and as we drove past it I found that the memory of it was more impressive than the actual thing.

"Is that it?" Tristan questioned, "Doesn't look very good."
I agreed, but still have fond memories of just being excited by it as a kid.

I didn't take a photo and was unable to find a photo anywhere online of it. I convinced Tristan to stop in and get a pie at Milton's heritage bakery. "They're pretty average but it's one of those places you just have to get a pie from, like Robinson Pie Shop." I told him.

We went in and I had a look at their pie options, hoping for a chilli pie. None of the options stood out to be and with a price tag of $7 I decided against buying one while Tristan bought one with a coffee. As he sat to eat it I asked how it was. "Pretty average."

The more he ate the more he seemed to like it though, saying it was probably worth that price tag.

We continued home as I felt how sick and tired I was, as I had not been paying attention to my body on the walk. As Tristan dropped me on the street before pulling into his driveway, so I could jump in my car and go home to nap, he thanked me for the walk and said we would catch up soon, I agreed and said we would go see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny that was due to come out at the movies that week, before getting in my car and driving home with very tired eyes. 

I went in to work the next day and had to go home before lunch because I was just too sick and rundown. I managed to go in for the rest of the week but my cold continues even as I finish typing the end of this blog post on the next Sunday, but I can feel myself coming through the other side of it, and I look forward to a steep harder walk to test my lungs before my test.

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Thanks for reading! - Steven

Gosangs Tunnel and Mermaid Inlet

 After my camping trip out to Young before returning to work after a year and a half off due to my cancer treatment, I soon returned to work 3 days a week. I found myself instantly exhausted and questioning my future, coming home completely exhausted and telling my Wife I needed 'a desk job'. The days off in between work days I spent recovering from the previous day at work, laying on the couch watching movies or making my way through Red Dead Redemption 2 and Far Cry Primal. I began to get an incredibly sore blistered mouth and it soon became unbearable for me to eat or even drink food. Seeing a Doctor I was told I had Graft vs Host in the mouth due to my Stem Cell Transplant.  I began a treatment of a steroid mouthwash and it soon improved. I was told it was a good sign however as late onset Graft vs Host was commonly linked to less chance of the cancer recurring. However I lost 7kg due to not being able to eat or drink properly. 

After returning to a normal diet and my Graft vs Host clearing up, my energy and stamina levels began to improve, and I moved back to 4 days a week at work. After many weeks I began to even feel my energy levels continue to improve. I began to start wanting to get back out on walks or even return to rock climbing. I made plans to go for a bushwalk at Brokers Nose with my Wife and friends Stuart and Megan on the Easter long weekend. However before that I had a lung test booked in at Wollongong Hospital to see if the chemotherapy had done any damage to my lungs (prior to this I had a Bone Density Scan that came back all good). 

2 of my 3 results were fine. However my third result came back poor. I was told that the gases between my lungs and blood were not passing through to each other correctly. Basically my lungs were not able to receive the amount of oxygen I needed, which was probably why while doing the Weddin Mountains out at Young I struggled so much. I was told it was possible the damage could be permanent but to retest in 3 months so see if there was any improvement.

While this upset me I was determined to improve my fitness making me more adamant to go out on the walk to Brokers Nose with my friends.

At Brokers Nose Lookout

I took my friends on the same trail that I had followed with my Dad and I didn't find myself struggling at all (until near the end when I did a run down an extra trail on my own just to inspect what was down there). Arriving back at the car Megan had received her first ever leech, truly an unforgettable experience.

I soon had my one year appointment with my specialist after my Bone Marrow Biopsy and was ecstatic to hear there was still no trace of the cancer.

Elated by having such a great time with my friends and my good medical news, I continued to try to organise a day of adventure with my Dad to visit Gosangs Tunnel and Mermaid Inlet (which we had tried to do numerous times only for various factors such as weather, and illness to get in the way).

Finally we set the date (2/5/22), the second last week of my being 4 days a week before returning to full time.

That morning I got up early, ready to leave. While waking myself up with a cup of coffee in the morning on the couch my Wife returned from her morning walk with our Dog, Orla.
I rubbed her cute little face to say good morning to her and she yelped. I looked at her ear tip (which had been attacked by insects as a puppy and so the tips of her ears have not had fur, but instead been furless, an ongoing issue of us having to treat with bug repellant before putting her outside on days we went to work), and the tip was half hanging off. Alarmed I called in my Wife who had went of to start getting ready for work.
Shocked we agreed I would have to take her to the vet which didn't open until 8 (I was supposed to already be heading down to Currawong with my Dad by that time).

My Wife left for work and I waited around until 8 to call the vet. After a call they said the vet was in an operation, but asked if we could drop her to be left there for the day. I agreed, with my Wife agreeing to leave work early to pick her up from the vet if I was not back from my walk in time. I drove my poor little baby to the vet (she was excited the whole time thinking I was taking her to the beach which is usually why I put her in the car).

After dropping her off, which was heartbreaking as she was so confused as to why I was leaving her and kept trying to come to me as I was leaving I had to go to my Dad's to pick him up and try to set my mind frame into one in which I could still enjoy my day.

I arrived at my Dad's and changed the music on my blue-tooth speakers to the Hamilton soundtrack, to try to help lift my mood. I began informing my Dad about the situation as we made our way south. He began talking about all sorts of things, I nodded along half not paying attention, distracted both by the thoughts about my poor girly, and of the banger Hamilton tunes. My Dad began going on about how good Phantom of the Opera was when he went to see it and I slowly adjusted the volume to be louder, before he soon asked if I could turn it down. Towards Berry I began feeling the urge to wee, proabbly brought on by anxiety about my Dog, and turned off to use the public toilets at the playground just south of Berry.

As we pulled up my Dad began to tell me about how he bike rides up to Blackbutt Reserve in Shellharbour all the time, before I cut him off asking if he could tell me when I got back in the car as I was busting. I quickly jumped out and went to the toilet. As I returned to the car he continued his story about how all the public picnic tables in blackbutt were covered in white stones, so he investigated them and they were all advertisements for a Jehovah's Witness website, he pointed out to me that at this same rest area all the picnic tables were covered in white stones. I noticed he was right. He hopped out of the car and brought me back one, sure enough he was right, they were all down here too.

I told him about the NSW Rocks fad that people do artwork on and that you collect and re-hide. I opened my car door and tossed the rock out, not wanting to keep it, saying I wasn't a fan of the Judeo-Christian Religions.

We continued our way south chatting with my Dad informing me that my step sister had caught Covid.

We made our way out past Numbaa and my Dad began asking me if I remembered staying at Myola where we had stayed a few times at a Caravan Park when I was younger. I told him I did remember as we had eaten burgers and I was just beginning to get into my love of spicy foods, and I had poured and excessive amount of chilli powder on my mince before eating my burgers and then got fevers during the night after watching the anime TV series Fullemetal Alchemist and had fever dreams about alchemy and all the symbols from the show and me trying to transmute objects. My Dad had blamed it on the chilli, but I never believed it to be at fault.

I told him of my camping down at Currawong during my primary school years, I had went for school camp in year 5 and 6 (2002, and 2003), and we actually passed the camp ground on the way in to the walk.

Finally we arrived at the carpark at Bosom Beach.

I had looked on Google Map, and saw the road leading in to Abraham's Bosom Reserve, where the walk was meant to start. I said it wasn't that far and as we had already pulled up we could just walk from where we were. I was also unsure of the carpark at Abraham's Bosom, and didn't want to park tucked away as cars in spots like that are more likely to be broken into.

As we made our way along the road in to Abraham's Bosom Reserve I was glad to have parked where I did.

I don't believe it would have been good for my car to drive through

Walking through we passed a beautiful green swamp that we wouldn't have seen had we driven through to the carpark.

As we entered Abraham's Bosom Reserve carpark there were far more cars than I had expected given the state of the road in, and it was a lovely reserve. We continued walking up to a bridge that told us we were heading the right way towards Gosangs Tunnel and Mermaid Inlet.

As we crossed the bridge we admired the beautiful tea coloured water below (due to bacteria feeding on iron from clay run-off apparently).

Is it as good as Bushells?

After crossing the bridge a dirt path immediately headed through the bush. Within a few metres upon starting I noticed someone had written on a wooden post for people to not poo in the bush.

We continued walking along the path before coming to an information post, again scribbled on regarding pooing in the bush.

The path he was completely sloppy with mud. To our right was apparently an aboriginal rock shelter Dad and I were both curious to see, why heading down the left most path led to the beach and to an old shipwreck of the S.S. Merimbula which I remembered visiting on my school camp 19 years ago.

As we were about to walk down the middle path that led to Mermaid's Inlet some fishermen came up from the beach and my Dad enquired about how far it was to the Aboriginal rock shelter. The man informed us he had never visited it, as he was not a local, so he didn't know, he then asked if we were going to Gosangs Tunnel. We told him we were and he said it was 'awesome'. We thanked him and continued on down the track.

While walking along Dad and I both commented about how the track reminded us of the walks up at Barren Grounds (near Jamberoo).

We soon came to yet another turn off, leading to Wilson's Beach and Honeysuckle Point, but continued along straight to Mermaid's Inlet.

Not even a few minutes later we again came to another turn off, this time heading down to Lobster Bay.

Continuing on the path didn't improve, but seemed to get wetter and more flooded, which really wasn't surprising considering the tremendous amount of wet weather we had had over the recent weeks.

Dad was almost preparing to take off his shoes to walk across when I noticed that people had stomped down a path through the scrub on the left side.

We made our way slowly through and again continued on the walk, trying to step in the driest spots we could, passing our first turn off to the right to 'Coomies Walk'.

The landscape began to change a little past this point. There were taller trees on the sides, offering a little shade, the ground was littered with leaves and small tree roots grew in various spots along the walking track.

We came to an intersection left to Gosangs Tunnel, and right to Mermaid's Inlet and we thought it best to get to Gosangs first before more people arrived. We could see the ocean just through the trees ahead of us. At this intersection there was a bucket in a tree and my Dad made a comment about it being a donation collection bucket (in jest).

Shortly after turning towards Gosangs we came to another fork in the path with no signage, and I instantly started walking up the left path, assuming Gosangs would be towards the ocean side rather than near the cove we had seen ahead.

This path began leading us uphill through the trees and we saw numerous trails coming off along the way that we were unsure if they were just random fishermen trails or animal trails or the actual path. We followed the most well worn looking one and soon reached the top over looking the ocean.

We continued along the cliff face back towards the direction of Abraham's Bosom, trying to find tracks either heading down the cliff, or the opposite side to lead us to the tunnel, coming out over the opposite side off the cliff face on the picture above.

We soon reached the far end of the cliffs and could see fishermen down below as well as the beach we had left from in the distance.

We had checked a bunch of trails by this point and probably spent at least 20 minutes exploring before I told Dad I think Gosangs must have been right at that first fork we had turned left at.

A cool plant I noticed while walking through

We began making our way back through the scrub trying to recall the path we had taken.

We ended up taking ones we hadn't even taken initially and finally found our way to the first cliff-top we had reached but couldn't find the path we had taken to get up there. We ended up following many that came to dead ends looking down into thick scrub beneath us, and eventually we conceded we would simply have to climb down through the scrub and make our way through it until we found the path.

We both went separate ways (mine involved climbing down while Dad's was a more slopped path). Within a few minutes I heard my Dad call out that he had found the path and I proceeded through towards him, reaching the path and following it back to the original fork. In less then a minute we encountered the sign towards Gosangs Tunnel, lamenting the fact we had spent over 40 minutes looking atop cliffs and lost in the bush.

Walking in a short way, we saw our first glimpse looking down at the hole in the cliff face that was before us.

 

We squatted down, trying not to scrap our knees on the rough surface and awkwardly waddled through the cave carrying our backpacks.

There was a constant flow of wind howling through, and I had to use a hand to stop my hat from blowing off my head. My phone began to creep out of my side pocket from the awkward squatting position and my Dad told me I wouldn't want to lose it down the small crack that ran along the tunnel floor.

As the light grew brighter and we were again able to stand and walk out the cave, we got our first view of the open ocean and the side of the beautiful cliff faces on our left.

We inspected around a bit, pointing to a bit of the cliff face to the right of the tunnel (if you were facing the ocean), that looked like a good spot to climb up, but telling my Dad I didn't trust his ability to climb it.

We sat down in the shade overlooking the ocean for a drink and asked Dad if he wanted to have some lunch. He commented that it was too early so we shared some lolly snakes instead.

I noticed that the side of his arm was covered in blood and asked if that had happened in the tunnel or walking through all the scrub. He assumed it was from traversing through all the trees, but couldn't say for sure when it occurred.

After a while of sitting and enjoying the sights, more people began to arrive and we figured we should make our way to Mermaid Inlet. As we went to leave my Dad asked if I would climb up the top of the section I had pointed out before. With the wind how it was I told him I would feel alright getting up there, but that there was no way I'd feel confident enough to climb down it, and that I wasn't sure if there would be a way down on the opposite side.

Looking at the tunnel from the ocean side

Taking in one last look

As we began to make our way past back through the tunnel a young girl came through on her own and my Dad asked if she had made it without bumping her head. She commented that she didn't before my Dad volunteered me to take some photos of her on her phone if she wanted them (which I really wasn't comfortable doing), she turned it down, probably finding the idea of posing for photos while some random took her picture insanely creepy, and I awkwardly told her to have a good day, wishing my Dad had not offered for me to do it. (Offer yourself, sheesh).

As we made it through the tunnel and came out the other side we explored to our left overlooking a little cove.

We looked behind us and saw there was a way up to the top of the cliff and made our way up, stopping for some silly photos at a cool rock hole.

We found the spot at the top of the bit I believed would be good to climb up. We looked down on the area we had sat at to eat our lolly snakes. We made our way back down past the perfect rock hole and back to the 'donation bucket' to head to Mermaid Inlet.

When we got to it there looked to be a path down past the caution sign, but we followed the sign pointing away from Gosangs to Mermaid Inlet. We followed the trail down until it became a little overgrown, not well worn at all. It took us up on top of a rocky ledge with a cove on either side.

The little cove on the right

We continued in making our way through (as the path had disappeared), we bushed through the scratchy coastal plants, making our way towards the sea, all the while looking for the direction to Mermaid Inlet (or any way down to either cove).

As we proceeded through a drone began flying overhead and I could see a couple on the ledge opposite us (across the cove on the left, near my rock hole) and the man was wearing some sort of goggles. I explained to my Dad that it was probably a camera allowing him to see from the drone, which fascinated my Dad so much as he sat watching the guy I had to remind him to keep moving.

I eventually reached the tip and could find no way up or down the sides so suggested we go back as we might have missed the trail.

We again lost the path, (as there really wasn't a clear one in to where we were), but eventually found it again, making our way back to the area with the bucket. While walking through I noticed a poo with toilet paper covering it barely off the path, pointing it to Dad, reminding him of all the 'no poop' writing we had encountered at the start of the walk. I commented to him that I was reading on a hiking group about how the poop etiquette was changing, no longer were you to dig a hole and bury it, but take something akin to a Dog poo bag and take it out with you, as I explained this too him I had vivid flashbacks of my diarrhea episode at Kosciusko). My Dad began on a rant about humans walking the earth for thousands of years, "shitting everywhere", to quote him. I instantly regretting even mentioning it. 

We arrived back at the bucket and I suggested to Dad that we follow the little trail in behind the caution sign. This trail was thin and incredibly muddy but eventually cleared and we found ourselves on a lower edge from the rock hole but still above the cove, but it seemed to be a way to somewhere as we encountered this sign:

We continued following the path alongside the cliff.

As we approached a bend there was an old steel object built into the rockface, right across from the tip of rockface I had walked to, in between the two coves.

Just before we rounded the bend there was a sign, inserted by Shoalhaven City Council warning about rock fishing deaths, but also informing us we were about to reach Mermaid Inlet.

We rounded the corner and encountered a giant cave in the cliffside.

As we went in to explore there were remains of several campfires, but an odorous stench. We soon began finding many pieces of poo and toilet paper, left by people camping or rock fishers who came and stayed out all day to fish. I decided to leave the cave, and go sit outside in the sun to try and eat my lunch. I looked at my phone with a worried sadness about my poor Dog, as I was yet to hear from the vet, and began to wonder if I was best to call them or not. I attempted to eat my sandwich, but found with the anxiety about my Dog I could not stomach it.

We made our way back once more to the bucket area (beginning to head back to the car), passing through the small muddy path we again crossed path with the girl my Dad had volunteered me to photograph. I awkwardly nodded a hello again, whilst my Dad informed her of the big cave on the other side.

Shortly as we began up the path my Dad was looking in the bush to our left, at what we thought was a trail, wondering if it might lead down to the cove we had seen from the centre cliff. I told him it didn't look very well worn and was probably just random animal tracks in the bush (having already followed so many misleading paths).

I could see he was really curious and said we could follow it, thinking it would lead a short way in and go nowhere.

We followed it in and soon the path began to lead down, and I was proven wrong, as it led us down into that cove (which while looking up, later I found was called 'Little Mermaid Inlet').

The whole biome seemed to shift and it became almost like a tropical jungle down there, filled with a whole variety of mushrooms.

We sat here for a bit, admiring the change in not only scenery but temperature too as we watched the water slowly crash and make it's way up between the chasm.

Off the cliffs surrounding us, water gently continued to drip create a beautiful ambience.

We made our way back towards the car after my Dad had finished his sandwich (I had still not eaten). Just before we reached the section with the turn off to the Aboriginal Rock Shelter I decided to call the vet. They told me my poor girlie had not been seen yet, but that someone would see her soon and asked if I could be there (as my Dog was displaying a lot of anxiety when they came near her). I told them that I was over and hour and a half away but said that I could let my Wife know and she could come.

I then proceeded to attempt to call my Wife, but could not longer get reception. I tried and tried and tried, and even had no internet reception when I attempted to get through on facebook messenger leading to me getting frustrated and angry. I even tried restarting my phone and it was just deciding to not be able to reach. I asked my Dad if I could borrow his phone, and was able to get through to her straight away so that she could leave work to get to the vets on time.

Knowing I now wouldn't need to pick up my Dog, I felt a little bummed that we had not done the Coomies loop walk or seen the rock shelter, but just agreed that it would be a walk for another time.

As we arrived back to Abraham Bosom Reserve we decided to walk back along the beach, and go and see a rockpool right near the car park we had parked in (some guy had told me Dad about it while I was busy applying sunscreen after first arriving).

I wondered if Orla (my Dog) would like swimming in a spot like this. Telling my Dad she didn't seem to like swimming pools, but enjoyed running into the water on the beach, and wondered if it was just the complete drop off into the water of a pool she didn't like, rather than the ability to gradually walk in.

We made our way back to the car, pulling up across from the bowling club and walking over the little wooden bridge to the caravan park/camping area that I had camped at in year 5 and 6. We went for a little walk through and although it looked incredibly different after 19 years I still had a lot of nostalgia flashback to my youth, remembering performing a little talent show with some friends while there, and remembering things I had forgotten about until setting foot there.

Returning to the car my Wife called to let me know our girl was ok. That although her ear tip had come off it hadn't bleed and they assume that tip must have been dead, so they didn't even stitch it and just said it would heal over. I swapped the music over to some White Buffalo to relax to on the way home, eager to give my pup a cuddle and a kiss knowing that she would have had an awful day, and felt the guilt of going out and enjoying my day out before resuming work full time.

Hopefully my cancer stays away, hopefully my lungs can improve, and hopefully I can look forward to more adventures in the future, and can continue to share them here.

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Thanks for reading! - Steven