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Destinations > Top 5 escapes out of Sydney
Top 5 escapes out of Sydney
Issue: October 2001
Words by Philip Lord
Sydney is Australia's most populous city, but 4WDing opportunities are surprisingly abundant, despite its ever-increasing size. We find five of the best destinations around the Olympic city.
An outstanding view across a valley suspended in an eucalypt haze is just one of many attractions of the Blue Mountains. This trip is an easy hour's drive from Sydney and a weekend in the area can take a flavour varying from an indulgent resort opulence to basic bush camping.
The Blue Mountains region lies on a plateau between the coastal lowlands and the Great Dividing Range and sits between Wollemi National Park to the north and Kanangra-Boyd National Park to the south-west. The foothills of the Blue Mountains begin 60 kilometres west of Sydney's CBD and extends to Lithgow in the west.
If you want easy-to-access time fillers, the popular lookouts such as Echo Point at Katoomba and Govatts Leap at Blackheath are worth seeing and include picnic facilities and bushwalks ranging in difficulty from ambling to arduous. At Katoomba, the Skyway and Scenic Railway and The Edge MaxiVision Cinema are also worth seeing and Leura and Glenbrook Villages are charming little locales to visit. Wentworth Falls Lake is a pleasant picnic stop, and benefits from being away from the main tourist spots.
If you prefer a more active weekend, there are many options. You can abseil, go canyoning and rock climbing, plus there are many bushwalking and mountain bike trails. Be warned that many of the walking trails are not for novices so make sure you're prepared with enough food, water and warm clothes for your walk. Serious off-roading is limited to The Lost City in the Newnes State Forest north of Lithgow, though there a few short, scenic fire trails dotted up the Highway.
There are many less known spots worth seeing, including Lennox Bridge at Mitchells Pass. This bridge was built by convicts in 1833 with a solidly constructed viaduct underneath. From here you can either head down the one-way road to view the historic Knapsack Bridge (built in the 1800s to carry railway traffic up the Mountain and then road traffic, and was in use up until 1995) or simply double back to get to Elizabeth Lookout, off Barnet Street in Glenbrook.
The Lookout, down a short fire trail, has only basic picnic facilities though is worth a visit for the excellent views east over the Sydney basin. From here it's a half-hour drive up the highway to Wentworth Falls where you turn left onto Kings Tableland Road. Here you can drive straight on past the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital and onto a fire trial which leads you (via a short walk) to the outstanding McMahons Lookout, or turn left onto Queen Elizabeth Drive, which leads onto a firetrail taking you to Ingar Falls, a basic but beautiful camping/picnic area. A good start for more information is the Glenbrook Information Centre on The Great Western Highway (Ph: (02) 4739 6266 or (02) 4782 4111) and if you drop in you can pick-up the useful CMA Blue Mountains Tourist Map.
Though a day trip is quite feasible, if you choose to stay the choice is broad, allowing you to live like a lord or slum it and just about everything in between. Food can be anything from BYO and BBQ to eat-in at five star restaurants, while accommodation choice includes bed and breakfasts, hotels and caravan parks to bush camping. Camping is limited if you want a true bush atmosphere and your vehicle nearby. In the lower Mountains, Glenbrook National Park has camping sites in Euroka Clearing (bookings are required and camping fees apply), while further up the highway car-based camping is available at Murphys Glen (near Woodford); Ingar picnic area (near Wentworth Falls); and Perrys Lookdown (near Blackheath) and in the Megalong Valley. Backpack camping is permitted in most areas. The best time in the Mountains is any time, though winter can be foggy and in the Upper Mountains bitterly cold.
Barrington Tops
The Barrington Tops located in the Hunter region bordered by the town of Gloucester to the east and Scone to the west, is an area known for its mountainous, rugged and dense bushland. It was for a long time an area known for its logging and mining, although now the National Park is World Heritage listed.
The Tops north of Sydney is a fantastic area for getting away from it all - with bushwalking in sub-tropical rainforest, mountain bike riding, fishing, rafting, canoeing and off-roading just some of the activities you can enjoy in this 40,000ha area just over 300km and three and a half hours drive from Sydney.
Though it's too far to travel to and from in a day, if you want to base yourself at either Gloucester or Dungog, you can go into the forest areas for the day and relax in luxury in the evening, or you can simply camp out in the State Forest or National Park.
The area encompasses National Park surrounded by State Forest, and there is plenty of scope for activities. While the National Park has fewer vehicle trails there are enough to get you to scenic outlooks and there are plenty of bushwalks. For off-roading, the terrain is for the most part easy fire trails. In winter months trails are often closed due to wet conditions. The Polblue Camping Area is an easy to get to camping spot though, just off Barrington Tops Forest Road with good walking trails and fishing nearby.
The Gloucester-to-Scone road (Barrington Tops Forest Road) was originally built by the NSW State Forests for hardwood logging. For 145km, the mostly wide gravel road provides a scenic access from the Upper Hunter Valley to Gloucester. This is probably the best road to travel on to get an overview of the area.
You can camp almost anywhere in the area except the restricted Gloucester Tops section, and in the colder months you may prefer the scenic Barrington Country Retreat (ph 02 4995 9269). For more information, call the Dungog Visitors Centre (ph: 02 4992 2212) or Gloucester Visitors Centre (02 6558 1408) and for track closures and Parks info call National Parks on 02 4987 3108. The Barrington Tops State Forests map published by The Forestry Commission of NSW is useful with main roads and tracks marked.
Any time is a good time to visit the area, though winter can be bitterly cold with track closures due to wet weather and snow.
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Stockton Beach
This 32 kilometre stretch of beach is one of the best places to drive a 4WD on sand in NSW. Stockton beach, just over 100km north of Sydney, has fishing, swimming, surfing and camping to offer plus plenty of 4WDing.
The sand dunes of Stockton are the largest mobile sand mass in NSW, and dunes are up to 30 metres high and run for about one kilometre into the forested area at the back of the beach. Spinifex serves to stabiles the dunes, but they still move about four metres a year. On the beach not far south from where the Lavis Lane entrance brings you out is the wreck of the ship Sygna. The Uralla and Oimara were ships that also founded on the coast here.
There are several remnants of Aboriginal shell middens on the back dunes, which were also once a bombing and target practice range for the nearby RAAF base, and during WWII the beach was fenced with barbed wire along its length and tank traps were installed. You can see the remnants of barbed wire and some of the concrete tank traps on the northern section of the beach, at Birubi Point.
There are two main access points to the beach; either via Lavis Lane to the south or Anna Bay to the North. The Anna Bay access point is closest to civilisation (the town of Anna Bay) and by far the easiest access onto the beach. The Lavis Lane entrance brings you out to the heart of the beach but the sand here is much softer and care must be taken. You will need a permit to drive on the beach, and the closest place to purchase a permit to the Lavis Lane access point is Tomteland, 173 Nelson Bay Road, Williamtown, phone (02) 4965 1500. You can camp on the beach (but be careful where you pitch camp - remember there will be 4WDs and motorcycles driving about), there is plenty of accommodation in the surrounding areas.
Though the beach is usually pleasant any time of year, in summer be prepared for high temperatures during the day in the dunes and cutting , ice-cold winds off the sea in winter. For further information call the Port Stephens Visitor Information Centre on 02 4981 1579.
Wreck Bay, South Coast
This quiet part of the Shoalhaven, on the South Coast, is about 200km and two-and-a-half hours drive south from Sydney. Wreck Bay is the area just south of Jervis Bay, and includes some of the best fishing, swimming and bushwalking on the south coast. The area is not too far to drive to from Sydney for a two or three day visit and is well worth it. It's ideal if you want to get away from it all and enjoy the charm of how many will remember the south coast used to be.
Though you can enjoy the popular Jervis Bay to the north, the villages of Cudmirrah and Berrara just south of Sussex Inlet are secluded towns bordered by sea, lake and National Park.
At Berrara Beach you can explore the creek near the village and the rock pools at either end of the beach. Only a little more than a kilometre long, the beach is clean and in off-season it's a peaceful, quiet place to be. The water is pretty cold except from January to April for swimming. Beach fishing is easy here with Taylor, Flathead and Leatherjacket among the catches you'll lure. There is good creek fishing also at the Fishermans waterhole on Berrara Creek, accessed via a trail at the end of Lakeland Avenue, or you can drive there via a trail leading of Berrara Road at the edge of the village.
The picnic area on Lakeland Avenue gives a great perspective of the creek and the beach in the distance. It's shaded and has several picnic tables in the grassed area.
There are quite a number of good fire trails worth exploring around this region, but be prepared for track closures at different times of the year. Also, keep an eye out for trail bikes.
Accommodation choices include The Berrara Beach Holiday Chalets (Ph: 4441 2176) right on the beach, to caravan and camping areas. There are also a few holiday houses in the villages available for holiday rental. For more information call Shoalhaven Visitors Centre on 1800 024 261.
Caves Country
The country just west of the Great Dividing Range on the Central/Southern Tablelands is Australian bush at its best, and only a couple of hours drive from Sydney. There is so much to do in this area, from exploring the natural caves, at Abercrombie, Jenolan and Wombeyan, to the beauty of the Kanangra Boyd National Park and the isolated historic mining town Yerranderie.
There are plenty of other activities here, too: camping, fishing, bushwalking and 4WDing. You can get to the area by either heading south west out of Sydney or west over the Blue Mountains. The best access point is via the west with a loop heading south and then head back to Sydney on the Hume Highway from the south-west. You can stop overnight at one of the caves, Kanangra Boyd National Park or at the Abercrombie River.
Jenolan Caves, with three distinct caves to explore, has become a popular destination from the late 1800s. Oberon is 196km from Sydney, is a small town on the western fail of the Great Dividing Range. With a population of 2600, Oberon is the hub of a region that does its best at producing lamb, beef and timber.
The Abercrombie Caves are spectacular limestone caves discovered in 1854 during the goldrush. From here south towards the village of Abercrombie is the road built by convicts to forge a link between Bathurst and Crookwell. It's a slippery, winding track across the Abercrombie to Tuena. It's hard to believe that this little village was the home of 10,000 people in the goldrush of the 1850s. There's still some evidence of earlier prosperous times, like the Goldfields Inn, restored to its former glory. From here, it's a few hour's drive to Wombeyan (which can be reached from Oberon or Jenolan via a more direct route).
Accommodation at the Abercrombie Caves is either camping, cabin or caravan hire (Abercrombie Caves Camp & Cabin Area, telephone 02 6368 8603) and likewise at Wombeyan (The Wombeyan Caves Visitors Centre Ph 02 48435976), while Jenolan (tour bookings phone 02 6359 3311) has camping, cabins, cottages and the historic Caves House to choose from (see the website www.jenolancaves.org.au). Though sunny winter days can be pleasant, it can also become bitterly cold out on the Tablelands.
Words by Philip Lord
Sydney is Australia's most populous city, but 4WDing opportunities are surprisingly abundant, despite its ever-increasing size. We find five of the best destinations around the Olympic city.
An outstanding view across a valley suspended in an eucalypt haze is just one of many attractions of the Blue Mountains. This trip is an easy hour's drive from Sydney and a weekend in the area can take a flavour varying from an indulgent resort opulence to basic bush camping.
The Blue Mountains region lies on a plateau between the coastal lowlands and the Great Dividing Range and sits between Wollemi National Park to the north and Kanangra-Boyd National Park to the south-west. The foothills of the Blue Mountains begin 60 kilometres west of Sydney's CBD and extends to Lithgow in the west.
If you want easy-to-access time fillers, the popular lookouts such as Echo Point at Katoomba and Govatts Leap at Blackheath are worth seeing and include picnic facilities and bushwalks ranging in difficulty from ambling to arduous. At Katoomba, the Skyway and Scenic Railway and The Edge MaxiVision Cinema are also worth seeing and Leura and Glenbrook Villages are charming little locales to visit. Wentworth Falls Lake is a pleasant picnic stop, and benefits from being away from the main tourist spots.
If you prefer a more active weekend, there are many options. You can abseil, go canyoning and rock climbing, plus there are many bushwalking and mountain bike trails. Be warned that many of the walking trails are not for novices so make sure you're prepared with enough food, water and warm clothes for your walk. Serious off-roading is limited to The Lost City in the Newnes State Forest north of Lithgow, though there a few short, scenic fire trails dotted up the Highway.
There are many less known spots worth seeing, including Lennox Bridge at Mitchells Pass. This bridge was built by convicts in 1833 with a solidly constructed viaduct underneath. From here you can either head down the one-way road to view the historic Knapsack Bridge (built in the 1800s to carry railway traffic up the Mountain and then road traffic, and was in use up until 1995) or simply double back to get to Elizabeth Lookout, off Barnet Street in Glenbrook.
The Lookout, down a short fire trail, has only basic picnic facilities though is worth a visit for the excellent views east over the Sydney basin. From here it's a half-hour drive up the highway to Wentworth Falls where you turn left onto Kings Tableland Road. Here you can drive straight on past the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital and onto a fire trial which leads you (via a short walk) to the outstanding McMahons Lookout, or turn left onto Queen Elizabeth Drive, which leads onto a firetrail taking you to Ingar Falls, a basic but beautiful camping/picnic area. A good start for more information is the Glenbrook Information Centre on The Great Western Highway (Ph: (02) 4739 6266 or (02) 4782 4111) and if you drop in you can pick-up the useful CMA Blue Mountains Tourist Map.
Though a day trip is quite feasible, if you choose to stay the choice is broad, allowing you to live like a lord or slum it and just about everything in between. Food can be anything from BYO and BBQ to eat-in at five star restaurants, while accommodation choice includes bed and breakfasts, hotels and caravan parks to bush camping. Camping is limited if you want a true bush atmosphere and your vehicle nearby. In the lower Mountains, Glenbrook National Park has camping sites in Euroka Clearing (bookings are required and camping fees apply), while further up the highway car-based camping is available at Murphys Glen (near Woodford); Ingar picnic area (near Wentworth Falls); and Perrys Lookdown (near Blackheath) and in the Megalong Valley. Backpack camping is permitted in most areas. The best time in the Mountains is any time, though winter can be foggy and in the Upper Mountains bitterly cold.
Barrington Tops
The Barrington Tops located in the Hunter region bordered by the town of Gloucester to the east and Scone to the west, is an area known for its mountainous, rugged and dense bushland. It was for a long time an area known for its logging and mining, although now the National Park is World Heritage listed.
The Tops north of Sydney is a fantastic area for getting away from it all - with bushwalking in sub-tropical rainforest, mountain bike riding, fishing, rafting, canoeing and off-roading just some of the activities you can enjoy in this 40,000ha area just over 300km and three and a half hours drive from Sydney.
Though it's too far to travel to and from in a day, if you want to base yourself at either Gloucester or Dungog, you can go into the forest areas for the day and relax in luxury in the evening, or you can simply camp out in the State Forest or National Park.
The area encompasses National Park surrounded by State Forest, and there is plenty of scope for activities. While the National Park has fewer vehicle trails there are enough to get you to scenic outlooks and there are plenty of bushwalks. For off-roading, the terrain is for the most part easy fire trails. In winter months trails are often closed due to wet conditions. The Polblue Camping Area is an easy to get to camping spot though, just off Barrington Tops Forest Road with good walking trails and fishing nearby.
The Gloucester-to-Scone road (Barrington Tops Forest Road) was originally built by the NSW State Forests for hardwood logging. For 145km, the mostly wide gravel road provides a scenic access from the Upper Hunter Valley to Gloucester. This is probably the best road to travel on to get an overview of the area.
You can camp almost anywhere in the area except the restricted Gloucester Tops section, and in the colder months you may prefer the scenic Barrington Country Retreat (ph 02 4995 9269). For more information, call the Dungog Visitors Centre (ph: 02 4992 2212) or Gloucester Visitors Centre (02 6558 1408) and for track closures and Parks info call National Parks on 02 4987 3108. The Barrington Tops State Forests map published by The Forestry Commission of NSW is useful with main roads and tracks marked.
Any time is a good time to visit the area, though winter can be bitterly cold with track closures due to wet weather and snow.
read on below advertisement
Stockton Beach
This 32 kilometre stretch of beach is one of the best places to drive a 4WD on sand in NSW. Stockton beach, just over 100km north of Sydney, has fishing, swimming, surfing and camping to offer plus plenty of 4WDing.
The sand dunes of Stockton are the largest mobile sand mass in NSW, and dunes are up to 30 metres high and run for about one kilometre into the forested area at the back of the beach. Spinifex serves to stabiles the dunes, but they still move about four metres a year. On the beach not far south from where the Lavis Lane entrance brings you out is the wreck of the ship Sygna. The Uralla and Oimara were ships that also founded on the coast here.
There are several remnants of Aboriginal shell middens on the back dunes, which were also once a bombing and target practice range for the nearby RAAF base, and during WWII the beach was fenced with barbed wire along its length and tank traps were installed. You can see the remnants of barbed wire and some of the concrete tank traps on the northern section of the beach, at Birubi Point.
There are two main access points to the beach; either via Lavis Lane to the south or Anna Bay to the North. The Anna Bay access point is closest to civilisation (the town of Anna Bay) and by far the easiest access onto the beach. The Lavis Lane entrance brings you out to the heart of the beach but the sand here is much softer and care must be taken. You will need a permit to drive on the beach, and the closest place to purchase a permit to the Lavis Lane access point is Tomteland, 173 Nelson Bay Road, Williamtown, phone (02) 4965 1500. You can camp on the beach (but be careful where you pitch camp - remember there will be 4WDs and motorcycles driving about), there is plenty of accommodation in the surrounding areas.
Though the beach is usually pleasant any time of year, in summer be prepared for high temperatures during the day in the dunes and cutting , ice-cold winds off the sea in winter. For further information call the Port Stephens Visitor Information Centre on 02 4981 1579.
Wreck Bay, South Coast
This quiet part of the Shoalhaven, on the South Coast, is about 200km and two-and-a-half hours drive south from Sydney. Wreck Bay is the area just south of Jervis Bay, and includes some of the best fishing, swimming and bushwalking on the south coast. The area is not too far to drive to from Sydney for a two or three day visit and is well worth it. It's ideal if you want to get away from it all and enjoy the charm of how many will remember the south coast used to be.
Though you can enjoy the popular Jervis Bay to the north, the villages of Cudmirrah and Berrara just south of Sussex Inlet are secluded towns bordered by sea, lake and National Park.
At Berrara Beach you can explore the creek near the village and the rock pools at either end of the beach. Only a little more than a kilometre long, the beach is clean and in off-season it's a peaceful, quiet place to be. The water is pretty cold except from January to April for swimming. Beach fishing is easy here with Taylor, Flathead and Leatherjacket among the catches you'll lure. There is good creek fishing also at the Fishermans waterhole on Berrara Creek, accessed via a trail at the end of Lakeland Avenue, or you can drive there via a trail leading of Berrara Road at the edge of the village.
The picnic area on Lakeland Avenue gives a great perspective of the creek and the beach in the distance. It's shaded and has several picnic tables in the grassed area.
There are quite a number of good fire trails worth exploring around this region, but be prepared for track closures at different times of the year. Also, keep an eye out for trail bikes.
Accommodation choices include The Berrara Beach Holiday Chalets (Ph: 4441 2176) right on the beach, to caravan and camping areas. There are also a few holiday houses in the villages available for holiday rental. For more information call Shoalhaven Visitors Centre on 1800 024 261.
Caves Country
The country just west of the Great Dividing Range on the Central/Southern Tablelands is Australian bush at its best, and only a couple of hours drive from Sydney. There is so much to do in this area, from exploring the natural caves, at Abercrombie, Jenolan and Wombeyan, to the beauty of the Kanangra Boyd National Park and the isolated historic mining town Yerranderie.
There are plenty of other activities here, too: camping, fishing, bushwalking and 4WDing. You can get to the area by either heading south west out of Sydney or west over the Blue Mountains. The best access point is via the west with a loop heading south and then head back to Sydney on the Hume Highway from the south-west. You can stop overnight at one of the caves, Kanangra Boyd National Park or at the Abercrombie River.
Jenolan Caves, with three distinct caves to explore, has become a popular destination from the late 1800s. Oberon is 196km from Sydney, is a small town on the western fail of the Great Dividing Range. With a population of 2600, Oberon is the hub of a region that does its best at producing lamb, beef and timber.
The Abercrombie Caves are spectacular limestone caves discovered in 1854 during the goldrush. From here south towards the village of Abercrombie is the road built by convicts to forge a link between Bathurst and Crookwell. It's a slippery, winding track across the Abercrombie to Tuena. It's hard to believe that this little village was the home of 10,000 people in the goldrush of the 1850s. There's still some evidence of earlier prosperous times, like the Goldfields Inn, restored to its former glory. From here, it's a few hour's drive to Wombeyan (which can be reached from Oberon or Jenolan via a more direct route).
Accommodation at the Abercrombie Caves is either camping, cabin or caravan hire (Abercrombie Caves Camp & Cabin Area, telephone 02 6368 8603) and likewise at Wombeyan (The Wombeyan Caves Visitors Centre Ph 02 48435976), while Jenolan (tour bookings phone 02 6359 3311) has camping, cabins, cottages and the historic Caves House to choose from (see the website www.jenolancaves.org.au). Though sunny winter days can be pleasant, it can also become bitterly cold out on the Tablelands.
