The Star: April 12, 2018
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Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi<br />
Thursday <strong>April</strong> <strong>12</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
Travel<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong><br />
Smashing ocean views on Grand<br />
• By Mike Yardley<br />
EXPUNGING MYSELF from<br />
the sprawling suburban straggle<br />
of south Sydney, Royal National<br />
Park’s verdant embrace of bushland<br />
soon beckoned.<br />
I was en-route to the South<br />
Coast on the Grand Pacific<br />
Drive, a 138km short-and-sweet<br />
touring route that winds you<br />
through the world’s second oldest<br />
national park, (established in<br />
1879) before skirting the booming<br />
coastline of the Pacific, bursting<br />
with smashing ocean views.<br />
On entering the park, I<br />
stopped at Audley, where the<br />
boat shed on the Hacking River<br />
was doing a brisk trade, while<br />
hordes of families enjoyed a<br />
weekend riverside picnic under<br />
the leafy shade of specimen trees.<br />
It’s a storybook setting.<br />
<strong>The</strong> road through the park<br />
is a scenic medley, switching<br />
from exposed coastal heathland<br />
to dense upland forests of red<br />
gums and eucalyptus. Walking<br />
trails abound, leading you out to<br />
sandstone cliffs, rocky ledges and<br />
striking formations like Eagle<br />
Rock.<br />
Listen carefully, and you’re<br />
bound to hear some laughing<br />
kookaburras in these parts.<br />
Emerging from the forest, an<br />
unmissable stop on the Grand<br />
Pacific Drive is Bald Hill Lookout.<br />
Globally acclaimed as a hang<br />
gliding mecca, my heart was in<br />
my mouth, watching in awe as<br />
gliders hurtled themselves off the<br />
cliffs. With my feet firmly staying<br />
on the ground, the sweeping<br />
views across the ocean and undulating<br />
South Coast terrain will<br />
soon fill your Instagram feed.<br />
Strictly speaking, this is Illawarra<br />
country, and I wended<br />
my way through a clutch of<br />
characterful coastal villages<br />
towards Wollongong, starting<br />
with Stanwell Park. Just out of<br />
Coalcliff, the great headliner of<br />
the drive shuffled into view – the<br />
Sea Cliff Bridge.<br />
Hugging the coastline between<br />
Coalcliff and Clifton, this cantilevered<br />
offshore bridge spans<br />
655m, mounted on pylons thrust<br />
deep into the seabed, away from<br />
the rockface.<br />
Opened in 2005, it’s a sterling<br />
ENGINEERING: <strong>The</strong> Sea Cliff Bridge<br />
hugs the coastline between Coalcliff<br />
and Clifton. <strong>The</strong> cantilever spans<br />
655m. Above – Land meets the sea in<br />
dramatic fashion at Kiama.<br />
piece of road engineering, best<br />
explored on foot. At the south<br />
end of the bridge, a roadside carpark<br />
enables you to park up and<br />
take a wander along the bridge’s<br />
pedestrian lane. It twists and<br />
turns, shadowing the contours of<br />
the towering rockface, while the<br />
ocean churns below.<br />
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