Uncouched Potato

Bush and coastal walk on a warm last day of winter. With a sunny weather, top of around 20C, it feels like spring already. I never thought much about Newcastle. Just somewhere far north from Sydney, around 2 hours drive, with the beach and the sea, but not much highlights. Opportunity came up when I was invited to a friend's wedding in Newcastle, and coincidently, there was an organised exploratory coastal walk around Newcastle the next day. Had breakfast on Darby Street, in a café called "3 Monkeys Cafe". I ordered a stuffed mushroom and asparagus on bread. It was so delicious. After breakfast I walked around the Civic Park and along the wharfs to Newcastle station. I then caught a bus to Adamstown station, where the group walk started. The walk began with Fernleigh track, a very flat, shared path with bikes. Stick to your side otherwise you will get some very angry bike riders. The track goes along the old train track, passing a tunnel. T

The walk started on the east side of Loftus station, passing a tramyard and crossing a very busy Princess Highway. It connected to the service trail alongside the Royal National Park tramlines. We headed down this trail to the National Park Educational Centre for a toilet break. The walk then continued down the Honeymoon trail and descended towards Audley. Very tempted to stop there and do some kayaking instead. After Audley there was a steep and rocky ascend up Winifred falls trail. The trail narrowed at times with trees blocking the path. Even thought it was the middle of winter, some small flowers along the way were starting to blossom. We arrived at Winifred falls. It has been very dry lately so the waterfall looked more like drizzles from the rock shelf. There was a pool at the waterfall base but the water was too cold for a swim. The water was shallow so a few people decided to get their feet wet by walking across the pool. We took a lunch break in the sun, enjo