I'm assuming you've read Andrew Taylor's introduction to this walk.
Historical context: Staff and Research Students working in the Samuels Building did a walk like this (but near Glenbrook, Blue Mountains) in September 1993. It seemed to work well, but somehow we never got around to doing this again, till now.
Date: 22 September 2001 weather permitting.
Time: 11am and probably a second group at 11.30am.
Revised to 10.30am and a second group at 11am.
Start: The planned start of the walk is where the Marley
Track leaves Bundeena Drive (see
map
- near the middle of the left hand side of the map, at the first "N" of
Bundeena Drive).
For those who understand map grids, note that the bottom horizontal gridline
is numbered 23, and the ones above it are 24, 25, etc., and then
the grid reference for the start is about 261246 - i.e. (26.1 East,
24.6 North). The gridlines on the map are 1 kilometre apart.
Public Transport Issues:
The start point specified above is only practically accessible by car.
If you don't have a car and can't get a ride with someone
who does, the public transport option would be to catch a
train to Cronulla,
then catch the ferry to Bundeena (leaves every hour on the half hour
from Cronulla at the weekend - e.g. one leaves at 10.30am. Return trips
every hour on the hour - last trip at 5pm (?)) Ferry timetables number
is 9523 2990. Then you could walk in
via an alternative route to Marley Beach as follows:
walk South on Brighton Street, entering the park at grid reference
293264, walking South the join the Marley Head trail at 290253 and
so South to descent steeply to the East end of Marley Beach (286232).
Unless lots of people want to do it this way, and we can find a leader,
you might have to do this on your own.
Bike Access:
Cycling options also exist (needs an off-road bike).
Cycles may only be ridden on vehicular tracks in Royal
National Park. The two closest vehicular tracks are the Mowlee Ridge
Trail (downhill all the way there => uphill all the way back :-( )
and the Marley Head Trail (easy access from Bundeena - grid reference
for start is 278260 - very steep descent to Marley Beach).
According to NPWS, it is legitimate to wheel or carry your bike
from the end of the vehicular track to a nearby destination like
Marley Beach. Note that all vehicular tracks in this area have
locked gates, so are accessible to bikes but not cars.
Access Route by Car:
What the walk is like: the track is a clear non-vehicular track
through heath and low scrub. While the track is clear (i.e. easy to
follow), there are a couple of places where bush is growing across
the track, and you have to push it aside. The track is eroded in places.
At present there are lots of wildflowers out.
According to National Parks and Wildlife Service, it is 3.6km from
the car park to Big Marley Beach.
The area is one of the main haunts of the Tawny-crowned Honeyeater,
so bring binoculars if you'd like to check them out. It will take
1-1.5 hours walking time to get to Marley Beach. Roughly half-way, we
descend into the wooded valley of Marley Creek, crossing the creek
after 1.8 km, according to NPWS, at
Deer Pool. Deer Pool could be an alternative end-point for e.g. a young
family unused to walking - it has sand and shallow water, so kids can
have fun there. After Deer Pool
the track climbs (but not terribly steeply) to Mowlee Ridge, and
we turn left onto the Mowlee Ridge Trail (a vehicular track).
This peters out at the bottom of the ridge, and a non-vehicular
track continues (not shown on map) across to the coast. One
can then turn left for Big Marley Beach or right for Little Marley
Beach. (If we have lots of people coming, we can split into two
groups, one at Big and one at Little, to reduce pressure on the area.)
This description assumes that persons undertaking
the walk do so with someone familiar with the walk and with
bushwalking generally.
What Big Marley is like: You can get some idea from these
snapshots:
The ocean beach is unpatrolled, so swimming is not a good idea.
However, the lagoon among the sandhills is suitable for children
(and adults!) to swim/wade/play in. The body of water marked on
the map as Marley Lagoon is a second lagoon, not really suitable
for swimming (murky bottom). You can get an idea of the extent of
the sandhills from the map. There are rock platforms at both
ends of the beach.
On a fine weekend, lots of people pass through Big and Little
Marley, most of them walking the Coast Walk, typically between
Bundeena and Garie Beach, so they don't stay long.
What Little Marley is like: Well, it's smaller. The beach
is unpatrolled, though I have seen people swimming there.
There is a (smaller) lagoon behind the sand.
There are grassy areas behind the beach. There is a composting
toilet (installed in the last couple of months). There are
rock platforms at both ends of the beach. Often there are
people fishing on these.
Fauna: lots of birds,
lizards. I saw a swamp wallaby at
Little Marley once, and there are plenty of signs of introduced
deer, including rustlings in the scrub, but I've never actually
seen one (at Marley). Whales are seen from the headlands in winter.
We saw an echidna at about grid reference 268235, once.
No doubt there are snakes, though I've not seen any at Marley yet.
Postscript June 2002: 1
metre snake at Little Marley.
What to Wear and Bring: Wear sensible shoes (joggers are
fine), comfortable clothes - shorts or jeans depending on
the weather, suncream, and a hat - sunburn is likely even on
an overcast day otherwise. Thongs are definitely not a good
idea.
Rainwear and warm tops are sensible, especially for kids -
remember that you'll be up to 1.5 hours from shelter (car)
and weather can change.
Bring a day pack with drinks, more suncream, lunch and snacks.
We generally take 1.2 litres per person to drink (two 600 ml
bottles). (Lagoon and creek water is likely to be impure.)
Bear in mind that there are no rubbish bins, and that heavy glass
containers may become burdensome on the walk out (but if you
can carry it in full, you can certainly carry it out empty).
You will be more comfortable if everything is packed in
a daypack (not too heavy) and you have hands free.
Children: If bringing children, they'll want swimming gear
(preferably
including sunsafe tops). [Adults may want swim gear too.] If you
are determined that your children will not swim, bring a change
of clothes for when they swim anyway. And a towel - a small one
is enough. Also bring a supply of bandaids, and maybe Stingose or
similar. My kids first did this walk (on their own legs) just
before they turned five. They were used to bushwalking at the
time. Small children can ride in a kiddicarrier if you have one.
In between these stages a combination of walking and carrying is
possible. Resign yourself to a lot of the latter on the way back.
Young kids enjoy sand toys - an icecream bucket will do.
Rules: National Parks and Wildlife Service has rules, of
which the following come to mind:
More information on
Royal National Park.
Bill Wilson
Who went
Andrew Taylor, with Monica, Tom, and Zoe
(The reconnaissance walk was done by:
Special Thanks
To Andrew Taylor for debugging the road instructions and much else!
Pictures
Who can come: CSE staff and former staff, their partners and
children, at this stage.
25/9/01
Tim Lambert, with Carmen, Justin, and Daniel
Bill Wilson
Ken Robinson and Rosalie
Chris Petrov and Geena Kordek
John Rice and his wife (?Gumzha) (spelling correction requested)
Dave Johnson, with Hong, Kevin, and Jeremy
Manuel Chakravarty and Gabi Keller
Kai Engelhardt and Claudia Bonifer
Zain Rahmat, with Keeva and Brodie (spelling correction essential)
Shahnaz Shahtahmasebi
Bill Wilson, Debbie Street, Thomas Wilson, Amelia Street,
Andrew and Tom Taylor.
Thomas and Amelia were unwell on the day of the main walk.)
To everybody who came, for their participation and their company.
Gabi, Manuel, Kai, Klaudia Andrew, Zoe's foot, Tim I can identify Ken, John, Dave, Hong, Shahnaz,
Zain, Monica, and Zoe, and probably Manuel and Gabi 
29 August 2001
