Introduction to Bushwalking Around Sydney
Sydney is a cosmopolitan metropolis of almost 5 million people, the largest in Australia, yet is surrounded by national parks, wilderness areas and sandy beaches on all sides. It’s convenient to split the walks into three regions: south, west and north, and these regions are described below. Most of the walking is through eucalyptus forest, but there’s also heath and rainforest vegetation. There’s plenty of water in the north and south (to look at, not to drink), and deep sheer-sided valleys and cliffs in the Blue Mountains to the west. Read on for more info, or go straight to a list of the walks.
South of Sydney, including the Royal National Park
South of Sydney offers excellent coastal scenery, and a number of walks further inland. One of the world’s oldest national parks-the Royal National Park-sits conveniently on Sydney’s southern border, and is a highlight of the region. Environments in the RNP are varied, ranging from rainforest to coastal heath. The classic long walk in the park is the 27-30 km one way Coast Track; considered a two day walk, it actually makes an excellent long day walk for the moderately fit.
Other areas for walking include nearby Heathcote National Park, which is west of the RNP and sits within Sydney’s southern boundary; the Illawarra Escarpment, which starts at the southern border of the RNP and stretches south past the coastal city of Wollongong (where I went to high school); and the more distant NSW Southern Highlands region, south-west of Sydney.
West of Sydney, including the Blue Mountains
The Blue Mountains is an extensive area bordering the western edge of Sydney, where the land gradually rises to over a thousand meters above sea level. There’s walks galore, many of them easily accessible off the Great Western Highway, and quite a few of these are also accessible from train stations (usually with extra walking required to pass through the suburbs). There’s also walks in the southern and northern sections of the park that are further away from Sydney, and generally a bit more remote.
The central section of the park is divided into the Lower and Upper Blue Mountains. Walks in the Upper Blue Mountains often start on high ground and may drop up to 600 m into deep valleys lined with shear sandstone cliffs, or else they’ll keep to the edge of these cliffs. Either way these walks represent Greater Sydney’s most spectacular hiking, and areas around the major town of Katoomba (1017 m elevation) are major tourist attractions (for example Echo Point and the Three Sisters).
The Lower Blue Mounains are less spectacular, but the walks are nevertheless atmospheric, and have the advantage of being around 20-40 minutes closer to Sydney. Most walking in the Blue Mountains is through eucalypt forest, with some areas of rainforest and heathland.
North of Sydney
Much of the walking north of Sydney is amongst the various tributaries and side arms of the Hawkesbury River, where it runs east towards the sea. There are also coastal walks to be had. Consequently there are lots of water views, and I would describe the scenery as pretty without being spectacular. Most of the walks pass through eucalypt forest.
Finding Track Notes
We’ve used the guide book A Day in the Bush (by Les Higgins and Tony Rodd) for most of our Sydney walks, but there are many other options as it is a well documented area. Amongst various internet guides is the national site Trail Hiking Australia, but Wildwalks is pretty comprehensive in the area. The Royal National Park has good maps at places like Audley at the northern end, and at intervals along the Coast Track. (There’s a cafe, gift shop and BBQ facilities at Audley, and you can hire peddle boats and row boats to frolic on the weir).
Sydney’s Weather
Sydney’s weather is pretty good, ranging from average daytime maximums of 28 degrees C in summer, to 18 degrees C in winter. The coastal regions escape the worst of the summer heat, but you may well be exposed to the sun for long periods, so a hat and sunscreen is highly recommended. There’s about a 2 degree C drop in average temperature with every 300 m change in elevation, so the Upper Blue Mountains have milder summers and colder winters than Sydney. It occasionally snows in the Upper Mountains, but it’s not that common and I’ve never experienced it. So the winters are chilly but definitely not alpine. Sydney’s weather gets more extreme (hot days and cold nights) the further west you go, and the Lower Mountains are subject to some of this weather; certainly warmer than the upper sections. The Southern Highlands are at about 600-700m elevation, so they can be pretty cool in winter.
Bush fires are a risk throughout the region during the warmer months, and on rare occasions homes are destroyed and people die. Just check the conditions before you go: they’re not that common. On a hot summer’s day you will get pretty sweaty regardless of where you walk around Sydney, so we don’t walk a great deal from December to February. Take lots of water if you do venture out. Or you might get into the surf instead.
And finally, it actually rains quite a lot in Sydney, but most of it comes in heavy downpours, so we have plenty of dry sunny days as well. Australia’s eastern seaboard is subject to the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) weather patterns, and so in an El Niño episode you can expect it to be dry and hot, and in a La Niña episode it will be cool and wet: watch out for leeches!
The Walks Around Sydney
You can browse through a list of the walks around Sydney that I’ve posted on so far, limited to those roughly within a 2 hour drive from the city (give or take) :
Blue Mountains
Two reasonably easy going walks here on Narrow Neck Plateau in the Blue Mountains at Katoomba. They both offer sweeping views over the famous landmarks of the Jamison Valley from a different angle than the more famous vantage points, and there’s also views of the Megalong Valley. (more…)
This was another new walk for me in the Upper Blue Mountains that exceeded expectations. It starts on the edge of town, and passes steeply through a narrow and deep canyon (actually a gap in the cliffs) called the Devils Hole. As you drop down you can take a short side trip to the left for views of the cliffs lining Narrow Neck Plateau. At the bottom of Devils Hole you turn left to view a scenic waterfall, and can then continue on along the bottom of cliffs used by rock climbers. (more…)
The eastern side of Blackheath is pretty spectacular, and the walk described here takes in the best of the cliff top views in the area. It includes the viewpoints of Evans Lookout and Govetts Leap that you can drive to, and also Pulpit Rock which is a short walk from Pulpit Rock Road. However there are ever changing views for as long as you are on the cliffs’ edge, and turning it into a partial circuit via Popes Glen and the Braeside Walk adds some atmospheric variety.
This walk takes in some of the best bits of the Blue Mountains near Katoomba, and is highly recommended. You’ll enjoy views of cliffs, waterfalls and lush forest along much of the route, and definitely visit Bridal Veil Falls and Leura Cascades on your way down to or up from the Federal Pass. (more…)
Royal National Park
There are a number of walking options in the Royal National Park that take in a section of the classic 30km Coast Track. One good option is to start at the Garrawarra Farm car park on top of the escarpment, walk east down Burgh Ridge towards the sea, then walk north as far as Garie North Head for excellent views back down the coast. And in the summer holidays Garie Beach is patrolled so you can safely have a swim before heading back. (more…)
Two walks and two national parks for the price of one here, easily accessible in southern Sydney. Not really a views walk, there are instead a number of picturesque pools on this long circuit walk, most of them swimmable in warm weather, and on the day I took these pictures there were some very healthy Gymea Lilies in flower. You can walk between Heathcote and Waterfall train stations as one way walks with a return trip by train. (more…)
The Jibbon Head Circuit is the shorter section of a longer walk we’ve done from Bundeena to Marley Head in the Royal National Park. It’s a mostly flat walk at the northern most end of the park, and offers very attractive coastal scenery for relatively little effort, including secluded looking beaches and rocky sections. When combined with the section of the classic Coast Track between Bundeena and Marley Head it makes for an excellent coastal walk of moderate difficulty, and all within easy reach of Sydney. (more…)
I didn’t expect to find a secluded walk in the Royal National Park, one of Australia’s busiest. But Kangaroo Creek, at least for part of its length, offers just that. A couple of rope swings were evidence that people do visit sometimes, but the navigation on this very picturesque walk is a bit tricky, which will keep away all but the knowledgeable or committed.
Further along the creek you get to larger swimming pools visited by people coming from the other direction, so your seclusion is over by then. But it is still very attractive for the whole length, and the return route I took, though less picturesque, was full of interesting plant and bird life.
A very pleasant Royal National Park walk from the NPWS visitor centre at Audley to Peach Trees Trig Station along a ridge. The highlight for me was the vegetation, including many colourful and gnarled trees, wildflowers, and a variety of unusual seed pods. There were also birds, lizards and insect life. Just one spot with decent views, but you won’t mind given the many interesting distractions along the way. We finished the walk on a different track that takes you down to the Hacking River, and added to the variety of vegetation.
Southern Highlands
The main highlights of this walk are the views over Bundanoon Gorge and adjacent valleys from three viewpoints, all accessed on the first half of the walk. The route is mostly flat along forestry management roads, and passes through eucalypt forest and pine plantations. This kind of walking isn’t the most interesting, but I think I was just happy to be outside after time off in part due to a leg injury, so I enjoyed it nevertheless. The views from the lookouts are good, and there were sections of many wattle trees, so early spring is a good time for this walk. (more…)
The ‘lost lookouts’ at Bundanoon in the NSW Southern Highlands are a series of old lookouts that used to be accessed on maintained tracks. My route took me firstly down to the atmospheric Dimmocks Creek, then later on an indistinct but marked track for a while to the first two lookouts with nice views of cliffs and Bundanoon Creek.
After that the route is no longer marked and the track almost entirely disappeared, so I spent 2-3 hours (return) bush bashing to visit two more official lookouts and one informal vantage point. I also enjoyed the mushrooms in autumn.
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).
I first visited Bungonia National Park a few years ago, walking two of the easy tracks on the plateau and visiting various impressive viewpoints. From one of them you get a clear view of Bungonia Gorge, but on that day I didn’t have time to visit. I’m kind of happy I waited to do the Bungonia Gorge Red Track together with my wife Sophia, because it ended up being one our more challenging walks. The scenery is uniquely spectacular, with scenic pools, towering cliffs, and giant boulders in the slot canyon, as well as grass trees, maidenhair ferns and a pleasant stretch of river. (more…)
Bungonia National Park was a new find for me, and its spectacular karst landforms make me wonder why it’s not more famous. Without a great deal of time I did a fairly easy circuit walk, the Green Track, taking in the main lookouts over spectacular canyon and gorge scenery. A short side trip along the White Track added one more excellent lookout over the Shoalhaven River Valley.
Illawarra
When Sophia and I first tried to do this walk many years ago it was overgrown, and on that day we discovered the nearby Forest Walk, which goes to Sublime Point. I saw on Facebook that a friend had done the Wodi Wodi Track recently though, so I thought we would give it a go. It’s a fairly short circuit walk through eucalypt forest and rainforest, with some steep climbing and walking on roads. If you take a side trip near Stanwell Park station there are viewpoints over the suburb of Stanwell Park and the coast. (more…)
North of Sydney
This walk follows a ridge down 500m (vertical) to the Colo River near Tootie Creek. There are great views from a couple of viewpoints, and it is very nice down by the river. I also enjoyed the grass trees, cycads, and wildflowers, including lots of wattles in August. Tootie Creek is also worth a look.