Easy overnight hike

[Juudbruinsma]

Hi all,

We (partner and myself) are new to multiple day hikes - but very keen to give it a go! Any suggestions for some easy overnight hikes in NSW / ACT for us to get started? We have experience in longer day hikes (up to 8 hours, moderate/hard).

All suggestions very welcome!

[WarrenH]

Juudbruinsma G'day.

For the ACT and the SE of NSW, Johnny Boy's Walkabout Blog, courtesy of Mr John Evans, is a truly amazing work in progress.

Track notes, times, distances, routes taken, maps, photographs, vids and with walk gradings and more ... you will be spoilt for choice with Johnny Boy's blog.

In the ACT, one of the nicest walks you can do is to Nursery Swamp. Nursery swamp is a fen and the largest fen on Mainland Australia. Find a good spot to camp on a headland, and watch the Roos and Swampies bound and splash their way across the swamp, in the late afternoon light. Magic.

Also, there is now the relatively new Canberra Centenary Trail. Excellent tracks, good facilities, great views. The Northern-most Section is very good. The CCT has a site with maps for the different sections with the campsites.

In the Southern ACT, it is beautiful. The Scabby Range has Australia's most pristine Sub-alpine environment. Walk in from Boboyan Road, past Westermans No3 Hut, turn around and head back when you've had enough. Not that you'll want to leave.

Good luck.

Warren.

[north-north-west]

Wot 'e sed ^.

Namadgi is very good. You can drive down to Tharwa, for instance, and walk into Bushfold Flat, which has heaps of places to camp. Short, easy start to overnighting, wildlife is terrific. Plus you can do a daywalk from there up to Borroomba Rocks. Or head into the Orroral Valley.

[GPSGuided]

It's worth knowing where you are located. NSW/ACT is a pretty big area to drive just for an overnighter. Start local is best.

[Juudbruinsma]

Thanks for the great suggestions! We live in Sydney, but happy to travel - although good point re exploring the area nearby first.

[WarrenH]

Well, living in the Big Smoke Juud ... Royal is at your front door. Too easy.

How about Bundeena to Otford, on the Coast Track? Take the ferry from Cronulla to Bundeena. Check out the pictographs at Jibbon Headl. Stay on the Coastal Track not the longer Forest Track. Then at Otford, Stanwell or Coalcliff ride the train back to the Big Smoke. If you reach Scarborough Station, you will have enjoyed the Lawrence Hargrave Sea Cliff Bridge.

Warren.

[GPSGuided]

Yep, the Coast Track, staying at North Era is easy. Not far at all from Garie Beach CP. Otherwise, there are various other camp sites in RNP or even along the Great North Rd, in Berowra Valley NP. We just explored it over the weekend and it's a fantastic area with a bit of everything along the track (we went down via Quarry Rd, Dural).

[Juudbruinsma]

The trip from Bundeena sounds like a pretty good option for our first overnighter. Why we hadn't thought of Royal NP is beyond me - for some reason we mainly go to the Blue Mountains.. We've done a couple of day walks at Royal, love it! Keen to explore more. Same with Ku-Ring-gai and Berowra valley.

We're thinking of heading down to ACT/NSW alpine area over Christmas so the tips mentioned for that area would come in handy then

[GPSGuided]

There's always Acacia Flats camp ground at Blackheath also. Go down via Perrys Lookdown or one of the other lookouts and then climb back the next day. 600m down and up adds to a pretty decent exercise. It's also pretty interesting to explore along Govetts Ck in b/n time. Another excellent one is Emmetts Flats on the Starlight Trail in Nattai NP. There's a thread on it from the recent past. Very quiet and lush and perfect one day in and one day out itinerary.

[Juudbruinsma]

Ok, so it's actually taken us a lot longer than planned to get organised (getting all equipment) and a lot longer still to get out there... BUT! We have finally done our first overnight hike!! Because we were a bit time poor, we did a very short walk (Lockley Pylon), but we get to test all gear and get a bit of a taste (and it tasted like more!).

Next week we're planning on doing Grose Valley (acacia flats) and all other hikes listed in this thread are still on the to do list. Hopefully building up enough experience to do the Overland track next year and maybe someday the larapinta track..