I’ve been trying to convince someone to come on a hike with me to The Castle in the Budawangs every time i have visited the south coast for years now and it finally happened!!

Blake, Nari and I took off from Wollongong and headed straight down to Milton to raid their bakery for hiking treats before driving into the National Park and the trail head.

3hrs and 8km up to the top was not bad timing. Blake was dying so i took both backpacks until we got to the scramble and climb right near the summit. Half an hour for lunch, eating our bakery treats with a view before we left to head back down.

I lost the trail across the plateau and so we had to do a bit of bush bashing before returning back down the climbing and scrambling parts. Nari conquered her fear with only mild complaining and we started off on the 3hr return. We trudged back to the car, some needing a little encouragement after a long and tiring day but finally we made it back just on sunset, great timing!

A couple of other short hikes around the area, Sublime Point, Mt Kembla and another out at Yerrirong, overlooking St Georges Basin. Good weather and great people.