I’ve been wanting to do this walk for quite some time, ever since I first saw it on the WildWalks website. The Flint and Steel Beach Track is in Kuringai Chase National Park which borders my town but it still took an hour to drive to the track head as it was at the other side of the park. I was attracted by the idea of visiting a hidden secluded beach and exploring to find some old homestead ruins.

I had the kids along for the ride and they were excited about the beach. When we arrived at the track head we saw around ten cars parked so any hopes of having the beach to ourselves were dashed.

It was quite a steep track with lots of steps. I often wonder if steps are the right approach when a simple sloping path would do – easier on the knees. As we descended, the children noticed that the vegetation was changing and started to call each section by a new name! I thought that to be quite observant. They reach a section of palms and called it a rainforest. They reached a lookout and saw an island in the distance and shouted “Aloha Hawaii!”

Cute. I hoped no one else was out for a quiet walk! The kids said that the walk was easy so I then pointed out that what goes down must come up! I’m a rotter! They groaned but carried on. They sped up when they saw the beach from above.

We explored the rock shelves, mindful that the tide was turning in. We stumbled on a couple sheltered under a rock ledge having some private time together (wine glasses and cuddles) so I steered the kids away from them to ensure their privacy. There were some men fishing further along and I saw fishing wire in the rocks and began to worry the kids would step on a hidden fish hook. Fortunately the kids moved on to the beach and began collecting shells and exploring all the flotsam that had drifted ashore. Someone before us had set up some wooden bush shelters so we all pretended we were Bear Grylls. I found fresh water dripping from the rocks, my son made a spear and guarded one of the shelters and the girls stored their shell collections in another.

We realised we had been there a long time and would need to start climbing out while we had daylight. I had wanted to go out via the homestead ruins but the path was well overgrown and one of the kids just wasn’t up for a bushbash so we abandoned the idea and headed back to the car.

Oh my goodness I’ve never heard so much moaning in my life! The climb up was a bit of work but the kids acted as though Santa had cancelled Christmas and forced them to make their own toys! We stopped quite a lot but got to the top pretty quickly in my opinion. It was just a very loud ascent!

I high fived the kids and congratulated them on an awesome bit of bushwalking. I then walked to the car, patted my pockets frantically and exclaimed to them that I’d left the car keys down at the beach!

Heh. Dad jokes are the best.

We sat in the car and I said I’d text home that we were about to leave. Pat, Pat, pat…. oh no! I’d left my phone on the beach!

They didn’t fall for it this time!

It was such a fun afternoon out that I’m sure we will go again. I’m determined to visit the old homestead ruins so definitely will do that next time.

Thanks for reading!