Good kids walks in Kangaroo Valley

[wildwalks]

Hi All
I am heading down to Kangaroo Valley for the weekend with a few families. We will have kids ranging from 3-12 but all fairly capable.
Any suggestions for some good short walks (and hour or two at the tops). River and swim would be a good bonus.
Thanks

Matt

[mountnman]

Hi Matt,

There aren't many good short walks in the valley itself, but many around the escarpment area. Fitzroy falls comes to mind immediately comes to mind, as well as Carrington Falls. Also many longer walks such as Griffins Farm, 3 lookouts trail or my favourite, Pipeline Lookout and old farm.

Your best bet for your timeframe in the valley would be at the Pioneer Farm Museum. After paying a small entry fee to the museum, you can get a map that details the walk, which crosses Nelsons Creek (via swing bridge which was broken last time I was there, but I believe is fixed now), upstream to Toms Pool, around the Moss Gardens, and generally around in the bush.

Cheers,

Andrew.

[Greenie]

Mountnman is there some walks around that historical bridge that I can't think of the name of. It might be only a small walk? I am sure there is a place to swim there.

Also over the hill at Nowra there would be some good walking?

I know this web site....

[mountnman]

The nearest walk to the bridge would be the Pioneer Museum. You can walk down to the river from the bridge and go for a swim. At Nowra there is Bomaderry Creek, and Bens Walk. Let me know if you want more specific info.

[wildwalks]

Thanks guys for your ideas (sorry for the very slow response)
We did the short walk at Pioneer Museum, a great short walk, the swing bridge was a highlight for the kids
We then spent many hours swimming just below the Historic Bridge - a great waterhole.
On the way home we spent about 30mins wandering along a few lookouts around Fitzroy falls.
Great walks for kids and Adults

I know this web site....

Thanks Greenie - Gee that Wildwalks website is hopeless, nothing in the area. Maybe one day

Thanks again

Matt

[mountnman]

Let me know if you want any local knowledge

[pesas]

G'day Andrew,

I'd like to take you up on your offer of 'let me know if you want any local knowledge'.

I'm a keen cross country mountain biker (so, reasonably fit) but am relatively new to the whole world of multi-day hiking. I'm planning to take my kids on some hiking adventures in the new year (ages 13 and 11). We live just north of you (on the foothills of Mt Keira in Wollongong) so Kangaroo Valley is a very accessible hiking destination for us. I'm interested in sussing out some good 1 to 2-day hikes that aren't too difficult and offer good camping and swimming opportunities... my priority is to make it as much fun for the kids as possible, while still providing a bit of a challenge (and gradually increasing the difficulty as they gain strength and confidence).

I'd really appreciate any suggestions that you can make.

Cheers,

Gary.

[mountnman]

For an easy 2 day walk, the best one would be to the farm ruins on Griffins Fire Trail. North of Hampden Bridge on the main road, there is a turnoff for Bendeela Road, which changes into Jacks Corner Road after the Bendeela Camping Ground turnoff. At the end, where it turns left to go to Beehive point, there is a decent sized parking area for a few cars. Park here and go past the gate and you'll be on Griffins Fire Trail. Follow this and after about 5km you'll come to Yarrunga Creek, which is the one that flows over Fitzroy Falls. A nice place to get wet as you cross the river.

Then follow the Fire Trail for about another kilometre, and keep your eyes out for a small cairn on your left. Turn here and you'll find some ruins from the old farm. Next to the ruins is a nice big flat grassy area for you to put your tent up. If you're quiet enough around dusk, you may even see the resident wombat wandering around. From the grassy area it's only a 50m walk directly to the creek to get water (treat it) or have a swim.

This link might help:

http://bushwalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=47&t=4950

That's really about the only 2 day (2 half day) walk in the valley. Or from the top of Barrengarry Mountain you can follow Pipeline Fire Trail right to the end where there some old farm ruins (notice a theme ) where you could dry camp, with arguably the best views of Kangaroo Valley.

Or 1 day walks you could do either of the above in a day, or also the 3 views walk near Tallowa Dam.

[pesas]

That sounds like a perfect 'starting off' expedition. Thanks very much for the intel, Andrew.

Cheers,

Gary.