Early in 1879, the New South Wales Legislative Assembly passed a resolution stating that ‘the health of the people should be the primary consideration of all good Governments, and, to ensure the sound health and vigour of the community … all cities towns and villages should be possessed of parks and pleasure grounds as places of recreation.’ The resolution led directly to the establishment of Australia’s first, and the world’s second, national park. For  140 years the large tract of open land on the southern outskirts of Sydney originally known simply as ‘The National Park’ and later renamed ‘Royal National Park’ has been a place of retreat and recreation for the inhabitants of Australia’s biggest city.

Now, when ‘the sound health and vigour of the community’ needs to be supported as much as possible, how grateful we can be for our national parks! For reasons of mental as much as physical health, they’ve provided a lifeline for pent-up bodies and spirits itching to escape the confines of ‘lockdown’.

Yesterday five members of my extended family met up with Sara Freeland of The Freeland Hiking Company for a private day hike in the Royal National Park. What we were after: fresh air, exercise, far-reaching views and a chance to connect with an iconic Sydney landscape. What we got: all that plus great company, delicious food, wildlife encounters and some intriguing insights into the history and ecology of the Park.

Our walking route comprised the middle section of the 26km Coast Track, which runs down the eastern edge of the Park from Bundeena in the north to Otford in the south. We drove to Wattamolla Beach, left our cars in the car park there,  then walked the approximately 7km to Garie Beach and back again. At a leisurely pace, with plenty of time for photography and stops for morning tea and lunch, the entire walk lasted just under 8 hours.

The geology of this area is so rugged and the flora so distinctively Australian that it’s hard to believe that the original plans for the Park included English-style ‘ornamental plantations, lawns and gardens’, racecourses and a zoo! Our guide, Sara, explained how public and government thinking about what a National Park should be changed radically over the first hundred years, tending more and more towards conservation. By the 1970s Park philosophy had swung so far in this direction that there little place for human visitors at all; today there is more of a balance between recreational and environmental demands, while the human heritage of the Park is also acknowledged along with its natural features. 

With a keen birdwatcher in our group, we were on the lookout from the beginning for bird life along the walking route. The first we saw were large groups of noisy Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos feeding on the seeds of banksia and casuarina trees. Later in the day, as the terrain changed to coastal heathland, we saw dozens of New Holland Honeyeaters, tiny balls of concentrated energy flitting through and just above the low scrub. Pretty little Welcome Swallows appeared later along the route, and we were also lucky enough to see a White-bellied Sea Eagle soaring overhead.

We weren’t expecting to see native animals along this well used walking route, but one member of the group cannily followed (with her eyes) a rustling sound in the undergrowth beside the track and discovered an echidna hiding amongst the ferns. I know we are not meant to favour the ‘cute and cuddly’ kinds of wildlife, but my goodness this little fellow had an adorable face, peering up at us with an expression part inquisitive, part mystified. 

Finally, as the afternoon wore on we saw unmistakable signs of whale activity a short distance off-shore, which Sara identified as humpbacks migrating from Antartica to give birth in warmer waters. So all in all it was a good day on the wildlife front!

Something I appreciate about walking with a guide is the enlightenment they can provide about the plants you see along the way. We can all recognize an echidna, but who’s going to know the name of that nice purple flower, or what that weird-looking tree is? That’s when a knowledgeable guide becomes invaluable. Sara’s commentary made us realize that almost everything in the landscape has a story, from the bright orange fungus that helps carry information and nutrients through the ‘wood wide web’ to the burnt tree trunks bedecked with bright green foliage, examples of ‘epicormic growth’ in the wake of a bushfire. 

All this botanizing seems a long way from the early plans (never carried out) to build cricket pitches and rifle ranges on this land, but in fact the Trustees’ original vision for a People’s Park remains; it’s just expressed differently. We saw lots of other walkers and runners who had come out here alone, in pairs or in groups to enjoy the scenery, the sense of height and space (much of the track runs along a cliff top), and the ability to move freely on foot over long distances.

National Parks make access to the magnificence of nature a democratic right. Over lunch – a sumptuous array of platters with fruit and cheese and bread and meats, which Sara had somehow produced from her backpack – we rested our legs and took in the view over Garie Beach, feeling much like the royalty for whom the Park is named. ‘I wouldn’t want to be anyone but us right now,’ my niece declared, and I think we all felt exactly the same way. 

[We did the Freeland Hiking Company’s Sydney Coastal Trek, but it’s also worth checking out the much cheaper Royal Hiking Adventure, which is specifically geared towards Sydney locals.]