Royal National Park

Saturday’s trip to Royal National Park was filled with amazing views, stronger friendship bonds, and some self learning. Before going on the trip, I had set high expectations for myself and for what I was going to be able to see at the park. Some expectations were exceeded, others were met, but some weren’t.

Vegetation at Royal National Park

In terms of the vegetation filling the park, I was kind of upset to see that it was basically just the same thing over and over again. However, seeing as how Australia is really strict on what is brought into the country, I was happy to know that all the plants we were seeing were native to the country. Nevertheless, the park’s amazing and distinct change in sceneries made up for the lack of variety. At the beginning at the walk, I thought we were going to be seeing the same thing over the whole three hours, but this soon changed. I was impressed by how quickly the terrain changed from colorful rocks to sandy beaches.

Contrasting colors in the rocks

The turquoise water and white sand made me think back to national parks in the Dominican Republic. Just like in Royal National Park, you can find amazing beaches, lakes, and forests. However, unlike RNP, these landscapes can’t be found so close to each other. You have to go to designated parts of the island to find them. Thus, this was one of my favorite things about the park. Additionally, something I also noticed throughout the walk was that it is very tourist friendly. The trial is very well made and signaled to help guide tourists and travelers through. Sadly, in the Dominican Republic, there is great indifference towards the environment and its preservation. It was nice to see how great and well maintained national parks can look when the community actually cares about it.

Views and friends

Furthermore, the trip was also a great opportunity to meet new people and test myself. Being split into small groups allowed me to speak to everyone in my group and learn and bond with them over our experience. I feel that this type of trips are always a good way to bond with people due to the common challenges we face throughout the hike. Additionally, it was a self learning experience. I was excited in lecture, when I noticed that we could go swimming at the end of the hike. However, the weather wasn’t in our favor and it started to rain for the last half of the hike so I wasn’t sure if we would still swim. When we go to the lake, almost nobody decided to go swimming since it was really cold. However, I am happy that I did.  I was a little bit hesitant at first since I felt like everyone was going to be watching. I decided that it was an opportunity that may not come again and jumped in. And yes, people were watching how I froze in the water, but I decided I didn’t care.

For all these reasons, I believe the trip to Royal National Park was a success. Eventually, I want to go back, possibly when its warmer, and see parts of the park we didn’t get to see on the walk.