The Walks/Blog

Booroomba Rocks Peak from Honeysuckle Campground, Namadgi National Park ACT

Booroomba Rocks Peak in Namadgi National Park is a short extension of the already excellent Booroomba Rocks walk, with some of the finest views in the ACT.

After visiting Booroomba Rocks last year I really wanted to visit nearby Booroomba Rocks Peak. You could easily do both together, but we had arrived at the rocks so late that we couldn’t visit the peak. Now we’ve done both it has confirmed this mountain as one of my favourite places in the ACT. There’s excellent views in all directions from the summit plateau, which is itself an attractive patchwork of open rocky sections, heath vegetation and forest.

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Legoland Rocks, ACT

More than one selection of huge rocks at Legoland, a short walk along Orroral Ridge in Namadgi National Park near Canberra.

Legoland, in Namadji National Park, is the unofficial name given to a jumble of huge rocks that have formed an impressive cavern, with rocks suspended in the ceiling. There’s also a nearby lookout an easy walk to the top of some of the rocks. It’s an easy walk to the rocks and that makes it a popular destination. For some peace and quiet you can walk on a similar, short distance to more rocks and more views, and probably have the place to yourself. 

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Molonglo Gorge Nature Reserve to Blue Tiles, ACT

Molonglo Gorge is a very attractive section of the Molonglo River, with an orange tinged rocky riverbed and arid, steep-sided river banks.

There’s very attractive scenery along Molonglo Gorge, with an orange tinged rocky riverbed and steep, often arid banks on the south side. It’s an easy and relatively short walk, although getting down to the Molonglo River in places is steep on informal tracks. An excellent half day option on the outskirts of Canberra that I really enjoyed. 

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Yellow Track, Bungonia National Park NSW

Good views and nice creek scenery on the shortish Yellow Track in Bungonia National Park. To extend your day consider the Green Track also.

The relatively short Yellow Track in Bungonia National Park was unfinished business for me, having done the Green Track and part of the White Track some years ago, and the challenging and spectacular Red Track more recently. It offers pleasant and rocky creek scenery at Bungonia Creek, then keeps high above the creek, ending with good views of the surrounding topography from Jerrara Canyon Lookout.

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Bonnum Pic Route, Nattai National Park NSW

The walk to Bonnum Pic in Nattai National Park is a real classic, with attractive rocky terrain and valley and cliff views in all directions.

The high quality walk to Bonnum Pic in Nattai National Park is relatively unknown, and I hadn’t heard of it until just a week before I did it. The valley and cliff views are excellent, and once you get to the cliff line the walking experience is very enjoyable, walking over rocky outcrops and eventually navigating a rocky ridge.

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Pierces Pass to Blue Gum Forest (+ Rigby Hill), Blue Mountains NSW

A classic Blue Mountains walk taking Pierces Pass down to Blue Gum Forest in the Grose Valley, with a side trip to Rigby Hill at the start.

This was my first time down Pierces Pass, and my first time in a long while into the Grose Valley. You can do a quick side trip to Rigby Hill at the start for already excellent views. Return to the start and descend on the Pierces Pass Walking Track through patches of attractive rainforest to the Grose River. Cross the river and walk downstream as far as Blue Gum Forest for perhaps the most attractive vegetation of the day—tall, straight trunked blue gums and various understory plants including tree ferns.

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Upper Kangaroo Creek Circuit, Royal National Park NSW

Having done an excellent circuit along the lower sections of Kangaroo Creek last year in the Royal National Park, I looked forward to visiting Upper Kangaroo Creek above Karloo Pool. The creek is very scenic, especially Kangaroo Pool, but also other pools and quiet stretches of creek lined by ferns and bush. You get a similar experience of relative remoteness despite being in one of Sydney’s busiest national parks. I didn’t meet a single person until Karloo Pool.

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Russells Needle Route, Nattai National Park NSW

An adventurous walk along the Nattai River in Nattai National Park to the exposed summit of Russells Needle.

The walk to Russells Needle was one of the more challenging walks I’ve done in Australia. The views and sense of achievement from reaching the summit are worth the effort, however I found the Nattai River and Rocky Waterholes Creek to be the highlight of the walk.  There are also excellent views at Needle lookout on the route down to the river, which you could visit for a much shorter day out. Definitely recommended for experienced walkers.

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Bundanoon Short Walks, Morton National Park NSW

Two very short walks and nearby lookouts in Morton National Park near the quaint village of Bundanoon in NSW’s Southern Highlands.

Bundanoon is a quaint village in the Southern Highlands near to a number of good walks in Morton National Park. One day we stopped on our way back to Sydney from Canberra and did a couple of very short walks. These included the Fern Glen walk, and then the Amphitheatre Track plus a five minute section of Nicholas Pass to an area of clefts and waterfalls. We also took in a few lookouts, including Grand Canyon Lookout (at the start of the Fern Glen walk), and possibly Sunshine Lookout and Tooths Lookout (although I forget). 

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Shepherd’s Lookout & Tong’s Hole / Molonglo River, ACT

Two attractive short walks: to Shepherd’s Lookout for views of the Murrumbidgee River, & to Tong’s Hole, a nice stretch of the Molonglo River.

Two short walks here to the north of Canberra. The first, to Shepherd’s Lookout, offers excellent views of the Murrumbidgee River. The second, ‘Tong’s Hole’, drops down to an attractive stretch of the Molonglo River. Nice scenery for very little effort on these walks, and if you do them at sunset you might be joined by the local kangaroos. 

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