Where

Wallarah National Park in North Coast

Distance

5km return

Time suggested

1hr 30min - 2hrs 30min

Grade

Grade 4

Trip Intention Form

It's a good idea to let someone know where you're going. Fill in a trip intention form to send important details about your trip to your emergency contact.

What to
bring

Drinking water, hat, sunscreen

Please note

• The section of walk between Cave Beach/Spoon Rocks Road and Pinny Beach of not part of the NSW National Parks estate. It is private land and the track is not maintained. The track is currently in poor condition so please walk carefully.

If you only have the time or energy to walk one track in Wallarah, then take the Coastal walking track for the best of everything this park offers. This walk has gorgeous coastal and ocean views.

Look out for passing humpback and southern right whales during winter. You could birdwatch along the way. Enjoy the wildflowers in spring, and experience the various types of vegetation and habitats the track takes you through at their peak. You can easily pick out the cabbage-tree palm; it grows up to 25 metres.

Did you bring your surfboard or fishing rod? The Coastal track also leads to Pinny Beach, which has coarse dark sand and is great for surfing and fishing. Further south is another fishing spot called Shark Hole. Remember to wear a lifejacket when fishing off any rock platform.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Visitor info

Getting there and parking

Maps and downloads

Learn more

Don't just stand there

Do you like to surf, or are you more into fishing? Are you the type who loves to hike, or do you prefer cycling? Are you an ocean-gazer or a forest-walker? Wallarah allows you to do any or all of these activities, so bring your gear and enjoy this natural playground.

Happy wandering

There are various vegetation communities in Wallarah, including heathland, spotted gum and ironbark forest, open smooth-barked apple forest and palm gully rainforest with a canopy dominated by cabbage-tree palm. Follow the various walking tracks through the park to experience these. Keep an eye out for blooming wattle and the intriguing scribbly gum, whose attractive artwork is, in fact, the tunnelling journey of scribbly gum moth's larvae. By the way, the purple-flowered vine you'll see growing throughout the park is known commonly as happy wanderer.

Living Aboriginal culture

Bahtabah Local Aboriginal Land Council represents the Aboriginal community in the area that is now covered by Wallarah National Park. Physical evidence of Aboriginal people's lives in the area has remained in the form of middens found just south of Swansea. Only a few middens have been recorded, though it is probable that sand mining along this coast over the years has destroyed a large portion of middens that were there prior to European settlement.

Wild and free

Wallarah has an awesome collection of birds and animals due to the diversity of vegetation and habitats in the park. During the day, look out for sea eagles soaring along the coast, honeyeaters in the springtime flowering heath, lizards lolling on warm boulders, pods of dolphins in the ocean and passing whales during the winter months. At night, you may see the predatory powerful owl, a microbat, or the threatened squirrel glider that glides for up to 50m between trees. Bring along your binoculars to get a closer look at these natural beauties.