Kangaroo Creek – Royal National Park (I)

With 29 degree sunshine forecast for Day 1 and storms for Day 2, I decided we should shake it up and walk to Uloola via Kangaroo Creek track (I heard of many great swim spots along the way) and then back on Day 2 via the easier graded Uloola Track (the recommended route there). Not much went to plan from there! Day 1 (Xmas Day) started from Waterfall train station 2 hours later than planned (at 2pm!). Instead of Uloola Track, we walked on the far less trodden Kangaroo Creek Track. It starts easily enough and after an hour you get to the magnificent Kangaroo Pool – a beautiful swim spot with a waterfall and jump spot. The kids loved it. Between the hour spent here and 2pm start, we only had 3 hours of daylight left to walk 5km’s to Uloola camp site (via Karloo pools). But, we seriously underestimated how overgrown the bush was, often having to backtrack and course correct. By 7pm, it became clear we wouldn’t be reaching Uloola as we muddled and bush bashed through thick bush, finally to arrive to an empty Karloo pools at 7.30pm. We set up camp here instead. Day 2 (Boxing Day) we decided should be easier given the crazy rush in Day 1. So we hiked a kilometre or so to the massive (and empty) Olympic Pool, which is spectacular. From there we took the Bottle Forest Track up to Heathcote, which involved an hour or so of steep gradient ascent. All in all, an amazing hike and would definitely suggest all day is needed to fully enjoy and explore Kangaroo Creek allowing for enough time to work through the overgrown bush.