Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains NSW

Five excellent lookouts over the Grose Valley on this shortish and lesser known walk over Wongarra Hill in the Blue Mountains.

Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains

I’m still discovering new and accessible lookouts in the Blue Mountains, especially on the edge of the Grose Valley. The five (!) vantage points on this  relatively easy walk are all excellent, offering unique views of some impressive cliff and valley scenery. I thought views of Mt Banks would be the highlight, but the views west were, not only because they were enhanced by excellent light by time we reached those spots, but because of up close views of three chunky protruding sections of cliffs. 

Walking is mostly on obvious tracks, although these are currently (Christmas 2025) not marked on the topo maps. There is one short section off-track to reach the closest views of Mt Banks, but navigation is easy in open country. The terrain is fairly flat for the most part, with one short section of ascent and descent. Vegetation is mostly grass and low shrubs, with some sections of woodland. Track notes at the end.

Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts: The Scenery

Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
Misty start to the walk, but it started to clear and the light ended up being very pleasing.
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
Interesting ripple effect in the rock here.
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
Mt Banks in still cloudy weather. This a fairly unique view of Mt Banks, which has some of Australia’s tallest cliffs.
Video from this location:
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
Sophia looking back at the cliffs on Mt Banks.
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
Looking towards Mt Banks from the first vantage point we visited, although this was on the way back from Mt Banks after the weather had begun to clear.
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
The light was starting to put on a show. It got better.
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
Phone shot of a Varied Sword-grass Brown butterfly (according to the internet). Unusual name.
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
The fourth vantage point we visited, on the way to Mirrorball Arch.
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
This is us at Mirrorball Arch Lookout :-)
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
I loved these big chunky, protruding cliffs.

Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains

Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
Mirrorball Arch. I read it is named after a nearby climbing route.
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
Sophia on Mirrorball Arch, waiting for me to finish my photography. (She gets a lot of practice waiting).
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
The light ramping up.
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
You can just see Sophia preparing to walk back up to the main track on the ridge. This was taken at Mirrorball Arch. To return to the start you can take a more direct track that goes up on the left.
Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
One of the benefits of walking in changeable weather is it sometimes creates quite a show!

Track Notes

Wongarra Hill & Mirrorball Arch Lookouts, Blue Mountains
There’s a large layby marked on the topo map. Park there and walk 100m east down the road and enter the unmarked track on your right (south). Dashed lines are the rough route of obvious tracks we took, and the dotted line an easily navigated off track walk. Purple crosses are the approximate location of the vantage points. (Note that I am now unsure of the turnoff for the track that takes you down to Mirrorball Arch from after Wongarra Hill – it may have been in the shallow saddle directly after the hill, rather than the next high point I have marked on this map). 

There’s a large layby marked on the topo map. Park there and walk 100m east down the road and enter the unmarked track on your right (south) that starts in woodland.

Dashed lines are the rough route of obvious tracks we took, and the dotted line an easily navigated off track walk. Purple crosses are the approximate location of the vantage points.

As you walk out to the first and closest vantage point, and after you have passed over Wongarra Hill (not marked I don’t think) you will pass a track on your right just as you emerge from woodland into grassland. This will take you down to Mirrorball Arch Lookout if you want to visit there first. Note that I may have marked this wrongly on the topo map above. It may have branched off from the shallow saddle. 

Regardless, we took this on the way back. On the way out we continued straight to the cliff edge for the first views, then walked east along the cliff’s edge to the second lookout, then off track around a forested gully to the closest lookout to Mt Banks. We returned and dropped down to another cliff edge spot on the way to the final lookout at Mirrorball Arch. (The arch does not look like an arch until you get up close). We returned by a more direct route to the main track closer to Wongarra Hill (at that junction I may have mis-marked on the map). 

The whole walk will take you under two hours probably, although we took our time and enjoyed the ever changing views in different light conditions. The distance is apparently about 6km all up, and is mostly flat with just one descent/ascent to Mirrorball Arch. 

I got the idea for this walk from Oliver at ‘Hiking the World’ – see his entry here. Aim for the layby marked in the Google Map below. 

Author: Edward Hathway

I'm a clinical psychologist and keen hiker.

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