The Lifestyler: Two under-rated Sydney day walks

With social distancing continuing, it encourages the LifeStyler to look for new weekend activities.  The LifeStyler is doing more walks around Sydney that help with the exercise but also provide stunning scenery.

This week I want to share two walks that don’t make it into the top Sydney walks but are hidden secrets.

The first is a 14 km return walk from Wattamolla Beach car park in the Royal National Park to Wedding cake Rock.  The more famous walk is Bundeena to Wedding Cake, but having done both the Wattamolla start is much better.  This walk has recently been upgraded and is done almost entirely on boardwalks which means the lifeStyler did not really need his walking boots.  Runners would have been fine as the boardwalk is flat, wider than a footpath and elevated about 20cm above the ground.

This walk should have taken around 3 hours but took as 5 as the views were so spectacular we kept stopping. The walk does include two beach stretches, and there are some mild inclines. Except for the start of the walk, most of the walk has uninterrupted ocean views with spectacular cliff views and stunning coastline.  In the warmer months take your swimmers to cool off at one of the two beaches and ensure you take enough water, some food and don’t forget to slip slop slap.

The second walk is an alpine walk in the blue mountains.  Alpine walks mean you are above the tree line, and you usually would only find such a hike in the snowy mountains.  The walk is on the northern side of the great western highway at Blackheath. It is a shorter walk at 7km return and will take you about 1 hour in each direction.

Unlike other walks in the blue mountains, this walk is along exposed ridgeline which is devoid of trees allowing spectacular views along the way.  Our walk also benefited from the recent bushfires, which also permitted views in the wooded areas.  The destination of the walk is a Hill known as Lockleys Pylon which offers even more stunning views of the Gross valley is literally a 360-degree panorama.

My suggestion is to take some lunch to enjoy on the Pylon and take in the spectacular sandstone cliffs and canyon views. More info on this walk can be found here