Stanwell Park to Cronulla

Stanwell Park is a beautiful wee place caught in a valley bowl between two green headlands holding a yellow charm of a beach.

Kieran Tapsell has made Stanwell Park his home for the last fifty years. And what a home it is. A retired lawyer he lives near the beach, surrounded by parkland rainforest, in a beautiful home with a large balcony deck, indoor fire pit, and a telescope to spy the whales out at sea in the third floor eagle’s nest. Invited to stay as Warmshower guests we got to share in this little parcel of wonder for a night.

Kieran is an impossible 80yr old, actively making ceramics, sea kayaking, gardening, regenerating bush, and translating from Spanish to English. He holds seemingly endless interests. He also told us “I have many pets, but they are all wild, nocturnal and feed themselves: ringtail and brush tail possums and sugar gliders, that reside in the mansions I built for them and are stuck up in the trees.”

Whilst we were there Kieran’s Russian friend Karina and her daughter Keira were also staying, having taken a few days to drive over from Melbourne. It was great having new conversations with interesting people, around a hearty stew.

In the morning Kieran took us for a walk through the littoral rainforest he had grown by hand over the years he’s lived there. He told us of his battles with non-native Rusa deer, invasive weeds such as Lantana, Senna and Ochna which were choking the regenerating bush. Creatively he has made giant nests made from the weed stalks, in collaboration with local children. These nests have three purposes, serving as compost heaps to provide nutrients for the plants downhill, shelter for insects, and as the MATE exhibition - Modern Art Tributes on Eggs! Inside each nest is a single ceramic egg with a miniature art painting by Kieran in homage to modern artists.

Back at the house, just as we were about to leave, two scarlet King Parrots flew down to the balcony. Kieran gave us some bird food and they fed from our hands, delighting both me and Keira.

Averse to leaving such a paradise we puffed up the steep side of the headland to emerge on top of Bald Hill. A stunning view stretched back down the long coastline. One of the world's best hang gliding and paragliding locations (Kieran flew a hang glider here for 20 years) there stands on the hill a monument to Lawrence Hargrave. Hargrave’s 1890s pioneering research and designs in aeronautics at Stanwell Park played a vital role in aeroplane development.

We were cycling high surrounded by open sea-sky blues, before slipping down the hill to be enveloped by the endless tree canopy of Royal National Park. We whizzed happily through woodland, reaching Lady Carrington Drive - a historic carriage route named after the wife of former Governor of New South Wales - by late morning. The wide off-road route follows the Hacking River through blue gums, turpentines and patches of rainforest.
We heard a loud scuffling on the trail - a female lyrebird, and at the end - the behind of an echidna as it hid itself in the scrub. On the track we met Eddy, our second encounter with a fellow cycle tourer! Eddy had cycled from Cooktown at the top of eastern Australia and was heading to Melbourne in time to go to watch Oasis play.

The hilly National Park roads - wonderful when there were no cars - gave us glimpses across a continuous expanse of bush all the way to the cliffs and the sea, and as we neared Maianbar our first sight of Sydney skyscrapers, small on the horizon. We arrived at Bundeena, after a hike-a-bike section at Maianbar and having cycled through the jam-packed Bonnyvale campsite. The combination of school holidays and a public holiday weekend meant we’d missed out on a camping spot here, the place was totally booked up. We caught the 5pm Cronulla ferry, only a short cycle from our motel. Tomorrow will be our last day cycling in Australia as we’ll reach Sydney!Read more