00:00Here, at this beautiful South Coast beach, is a mystery path.
00:07Do you know its origins?
00:09Many people don't.
00:10Some even refer to it as the mystery Roman Road.
00:14However, unlike real Roman roads, where the biggest hazard these days is the traffic,
00:20the trickiest part of exploring this handcrafted path near Barlings Beach on the New South Wales South Coast
00:27is following it through a series of rock pools and the rising tide.
00:37In some places, it even disappears under the sand, and in other places, it's fallen victim to the big swells.
00:46In fact, about halfway along, many beachcombers think the path stops.
00:58So they turn around and start walking back towards the main beach.
01:04However, if you push on, eventually you reach two clues that give a hint as to its real purpose.
01:11And no, it's not an ancient road, nor is it, as some speculate, a path built many years ago
01:20to help a wheelchair-bound resident to access this part of the ocean.
01:26Okay, so the first clue is this golden hatch, and the second is this air vent.
01:35Have you worked it out now?
01:43Yes, this isn't a walking path at all,
01:47rather an innovative attempt to cover up a sewer pipe,
01:51which was laid in a trench beneath here back in the mid-1980s.
01:56The pipe still carries treated effluent from the nearby Tomicum Water Treatment Plant
02:02to an ocean outfall just off the headland.
02:06I don't know about you, but I kind of wish now it was a Roman road after all.
