After doing a fair few beaches to the north and east, and with the rain lashing down on Sydney, it’s time to change tactics.

The mountain treks will be too slippery to safely climb and the waterfalls won’t have had long enough after such a baron dry spell to be totally awesome yet. So looking at the map as one does under such circumstances, and listening to the local experts, Benny and Steph, we will head to the only beach where the train goes directly to, Cronulla.

A quick check on the shark watch page,  hey wait a minute…

Just our luck, a bull shark has been tagged at the beach at 02:00, no bull! Well, we are going anyway.  One tiny little fish isn’t spoiling our day.

Lovely ride out on the train and as promised the beach is right next to the station.  A quick look around the local shops to get some supplies for our outback camping expedition later in the month, and then off to the surfer packed beach. The waves are big,  the waters are safe 🙏 but we’ll have our picnic first. It would be rude to be shark bait on an empty stomach.

PHEW! There are two rock pools to keep our  funny finned friends from a frenzied feed on our freshly food filled figures.

Surprisingly, the 50m rock pool was empty.  Had a shark got in during high tide,  not too uncommon in these parts,  or had a little bit of rain and a dip in temperature (now only 23⁰C) put off the locals.  Well we’re not locals and 23⁰C is the perfect temperature for a dip.

Time to take the plunge,  as expected the water is cold for the  first 5 seconds, then splash and after fully submerging the body is regulated. Still a quick check to see that we are not alone and all appears good with the exception of the odd baby crab – we’ll all fit in with a pinch. 

After a leisurely swim we headed for the ocean wall as the waves were starting to crash over the side of the pool.  An exhilarating experience as the power of nature crashed over our bodies,  with the occasional wave engulfing us like a giant sea monster coming from the deep and devouring is unexpecting prey. Still in the back of our mind were the stories we read,  or the films we watched where The One breaches the walls and causes carnage to anyone and anything in is path.  Or not in this case, but a vigilant eye or 4 surely won’t do any harm.

The ocean then swallowed us up like a black hole digesting another unsuspecting planet.  But wait, we obviously don’t taste too good as it spat us straight back out. For now we had the last laugh,  but we are all too aware on this trip how thin fine lines can be. 

The locals have come to join us and now there is a flurry of activity both on the promenade and in the pool.  Time for us to go get an ice-cream and spot some more wildlife.

Time to discover and (Cpt James) Cook

After some great meals from Steph and Benny (supervising) and eating out it was our time to take command of the kitchen.  Over the past few days we had been on a voyage of discovery, finding out food everyone loved and loathed.  By the process of elimination it was agreed that oysters, sheep’s eyes, vindaloo curry and salads were a no-go.

We took the train back from Cronulla beach to Bondi Junction and straight into Coles supermarket

After checking all the market-fresh produce on offer, we slowly and meticulously picked out the ingredients and placed them in the trolley. We paid and were on our way via the train to Central. 

People stopped us in the street to ask about the culinary aromas coming from our bags. They were less than impressed when we advised them the smells were from our trek based cheesy feet and our  sun soaked sweat stained undergarments.

We arrived back, scrubbed up and proceeded to cook a culinary delight of Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers with a hoisin and honey cheese glaze served with Internationally Seasoned Sweet Potatoes. Due to centuries of family kept secrets no pictures of recipes can be given.