Honeymoon Track to Audley
Sounds romantic? Well a hundred years ago it was. The Allambie Guest House, at the bottom of the road from Loftus to Audley, was converted from accomodation for Trust Members visiting the Park, to a 16 room hideaway much appreciated by newly weds. During the depression years, a sandstone walking track was built so couples could walk up to catch the train, if they needed to escape the quiet life.
The track was extensively damaged by bushfires in the 1990′s and repaired to become the benchmarks for joggers and exercise fiends that it is today.
In some parts the track is gentle enough to not need steps. In the early years attitudes to National Parks was different and commercial use was allowed. There were mines, shops and even logging operations in the Park. Selfie taken walking past my camera on tripod, with timer in hand operating the shutter.
In other places, like here, the path is guaranteed to lift the heart rate.
In 1963, as a student I worked at the Guest House, the Dance Hall Cafe, and the Wattamolla shop that supported the hundreds of caravaners who were then encouraged to stay on the southern headland.
At the bottom of the track is the Hacking River, with great spots for a picnic, with the boathouse upstream from the weir. There on the second hairpin bend was the site of the Allambie guest house which was deliberately burned down to save the costs of demolition.
A bush path goes east from the weir towards the park boundary at Greys Point.
Water seeps down from the escarpment above to reach the river.
These drips will turn into a torrent after rain and large trees are anchored by tortured roots into the sandstone base.
The Hacking River near the eastern boundary of the RNP is an ideal place for those in canoes to see the Park from the water.
I wonder whether back in the 1920′s, those young married couples interrupted their holiday, to climb this Stairway to Loftus and stopped close to the top,
to leave the track and climbed these steps, now tumbling down, but then like now, leading to this cave with a view.
