Bundeena - Royal National Park

The story of our trip to Bundeena is short, but nonetheless interesting.

The day after Sally’s arrival in Sydney, Murray, Cat, Sally and I ventured to Bundeena, an area outside of Sydney and home to the Royal National Park, with the intention of hiking along the coast to a remote pair of beaches known as Big and Little Marley. The skies were clear and the views infinite. We walked nearly 2 hours along the escarpment, over rocks which, although we weren't aware of it at the time, teetering precariously over the sea, See the picture of Sally below.



On occasion we were required to walk a series of narrow trails, single file only, Murray and I took turns monitoring the trail ahead for snakes. We decided that this approach to hiking would be best as none of us were carrying cell phones. Our general concern over the presence of snakes was reinforced by the amount of evidence in the surrounding brush: holes and flattened areas beneath bushes. Big Marley was now within sight.



As we made our way along the trail, Sally took over the lead but due to the beautiful scenery neglected her role as “snake observer”, narrowly stepping on a few lizards. Without any means of contacting help, aside from running to town, I was a little paranoid and overtook Sally as we rounded a slight bend. Before the path straightened out something caught my eye at the last second. "EVERYONE STOP", I exclaimed, as everyone bumped into the person ahead of them. "Move away slowly", I said in a quiet voice. No less than 7 feet ahead was a large snake, presumably a 'brown'. Many people called me paranoid and teased me about the extensive research I had done regarding Australia’s dangerous creatures, to them I say: “BOYAH”.




It was exhilarating to see the snake, but it occupied the only route to the beach. I remembered reading that snakes can be startled away by loud vibrations in the ground. So we once again set off down the trail, this time marching like heavy-footed soldiers, sticks in hand. As we approached the area of the snake, my heartbeat increased, as I am sure did everyone else’s. The snake was gone. The remainder of the day was spent at Little Marley, basking in the sun.

Later that evening we were successfully able to identify the snake as an Eastern Brown. The Eastern Brown is second most venomous land snake in the world after the Inland Taipan. According to the information regarding its behaviour, the Eastern Brown reacts only to movement, standing still will likely result in it ignoring you. Had we not spotted the snake, I believe that there was a great possibility of one of us being bitten.

In an odd coincidence, it was not until after discovering the snakes identity did we realize the caption beneath one of the pictures on Wikipedia, it read “Eastern Brown Snake, Bundeena, Australia”. Take a look at the pictures on Wikipedia. Below are some pictures of our day at the Royal National Park.

I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy holidays.