Category: North of Sydney

Patonga to Warrah Trig, Central Coast NSW

A short walk from Patonga on the NSW Central Coast up to view points over the scenic Hawkesbury River just north of Sydney.

I’d never been to Patonga before, a sleepy village at the southern border of the Central Coast, just over the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney. It’s a very pretty and chilled out area, with one restaurant/bar on the waterfront. There’s also a bushwalking track that ascends about 160m over 2 to 3 kilometres from the beach to a trig point. The forest is nice, and there’s a couple of spots along the way with good views, including an official lookout, Warrah Lookout.

Continue reading “Patonga to Warrah Trig, Central Coast NSW”

Mt Kuringai to Berowra via Benowie Track, Berowra Valley NP Sydney

A very picturesque and varied walk in Sydney’s north. There’s a variety of attractive forest, water views, and other environments like salt marsh.

Our first time doing this walk from Mt Kuringai to Berowra via the Benowie Track in Berowra Valley National Park. I tend to think I’ve already done the good walks around Sydney so I didn’t expect all that much, but it exceeded expectations. There’s very picturesque scenery along Calna Creek and Berowra Creek, a variety of forest types, water views including dark reflective pools, and other environments like salt marsh and mangroves. There are also steep sided hills along the creeks, which I like. Continue reading “Mt Kuringai to Berowra via Benowie Track, Berowra Valley NP Sydney”

Cowan to Brooklyn on the Great North Walk, Ku-ring-gai Chase NP, North of Sydney

This walk in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park takes in a section of the Great North Walk. The views of Jerusalem Bay are very pretty, and later on in the walk there are really great views over the Hawkesbury River.

This walk starts at Cowan Station north of Sydney, and at first follows a track to the very pretty Jerusalem Bay, passing mostly through typical Hawkesbury Sandstone country. The track then climbs quite steeply, and after a bit more up and down it joins a fire trail for the second half of the walk. This might be a bit of a let down, only there are really excellent views across the Hawkesbury River at a point when the fire trail turns 90 degrees right and starts the long descent to Brooklyn. You need to walk about 20m to the left across rocks. Brooklyn is a nice village in a great spot on the water (but no photos because I was pushed for time).  Continue reading “Cowan to Brooklyn on the Great North Walk, Ku-ring-gai Chase NP, North of Sydney”

Gibberagong-Sphinx-Warrimoo Circuit, Bobbin Head, Ku-rin-gai Chase NP, Sydney

A very picturesque circuit walk starting at Bobbin Head in Sydney’s north. Much of the walk is along two salt water creeks with high forested banks, which makes for a calming experience. There are two cafes at Bobbin Head for afterwards.

My wife Sophia did the first section of this walk, the Gibberagong Track, at the start of a 50km charity walk. She thought it was really pretty and so when her legs recovered she suggested we go back to do it as a circuit combined with two tracks we’ve done in the past, the Sphinx and Warrimoo Tracks. It’s a very picturesque walk predominantly along two salt water creeks with steep sided banks. We’ve done it twice to date: in spring there were many wildflowers out, and in late autumn conditions were so calm that Cowan Creek at the end of the walk was like a mirror, making for some nice photos. There’s a couple of cafes at Bobbin Head so you can have food and tea/coffee at the end of the walk in pleasant surrounds. Continue reading “Gibberagong-Sphinx-Warrimoo Circuit, Bobbin Head, Ku-rin-gai Chase NP, Sydney”

11km Walking Track, Dharug National Park near Wisemans Ferry, NSW

Attractive forest scenery on this walk in Dharug National Park near Wisemans Ferry.

Not really a views walk, the descriptively named 11km Walking Track in Dharug National Park near Wisemans Ferry offers a variety of attractive forest scenery instead. There’s tall trees, big grass trees, nice banksia flowers, and lush forest at the end of the walk. The picture below is quite a nice view but is in fact from the drive in. You cross over the Hawkesbury River (from Sydney) on the vehicle ferry to get to the start this circuit walk.  Continue reading “11km Walking Track, Dharug National Park near Wisemans Ferry, NSW”