Only 20 minutes drive from our front door in south-west Sydney, Georges River National Park is home to a couple of great children’s walk, including the Yeramba Lagoon circuit.

Georges River Park is better known, funnily enough, as a river destination: on any given weekend speed boats, water skiers, picnickers and people fishing populate the waterway and its banks. This walk actually sits inland from the river, meaning that we had the place almost to ourselves.

Future rock climber? Marilla tries out a few moves above Yeramba Lagoon, Georges River NP

Verdict

Sure, there are more spectacular walks if you head a bit further out of Sydney. But if you want to do a family morning walk through some lovely bush and be back by lunch, this is a winner. Anyone living in the inner-west or south-west Sydney should be able to drive here within 30 minutes.

Starting on the side of Henry Lawson drive, the walk quickly leaves the passing traffic behind and follows the lagoon’s contour then heads up onto a small sandstone ridge. On our way, we walked through wetlands, dry sclerophyll forest domianted by smooth barked apple (angophora costata) and red bloodwoods (corymbia gummifera) and into ridge-top heath where banksias, flannel flowers and grevilleas were in bloom. Alluvial woodlands followed the creek gullys that fed the wetlands.

Sadly, the promised abundant bird life didn’t eventuate, but that was probably because we started too late in the day. Next time…

Wet sclerophyll forest with rough-barked apple (angophora costata), Georges River NP

The Walk at a Glance

• Park on the side of the road (the car park was closed, I think) near a gate – it’s easy to miss when you’re driving
• We walked clockwise around the track but I suggest you go counter clockwise – the signage seems to be better set up in the other direction (see Caution below)
• Track is a bit rough in parts and there are a couple of short ascents (37m in total according to Wild Walks): it’s pretty good for any children who are confident on their feet (our daughter had just turned 5).
• The sandstone formations up top are a great spot to stop for a rest and also to do a bit of clambering. We had a picnic there (in fact I pitched this walk to Marilla as a picnic: ‘Would you like to go for a bushwalk?’ I asked first. ‘No,’ was her reply. ‘What about a picnic that we have to walk to?’. This time she said yes.)

Marilla finds out how flannel flowers (Actinotus helianthi) got their name, Georges River NP

 Access and duration

• Access: sadly, there is no public transport nearby so you will need a car
• Duration: Including a long picnic stop up on the ridge, it took us about 2 or 2.5 hours to complete the walk (keeping in mind we did a slightly different route to the one we meant to do). The suggested time is 45 minutes.
• Length: 1.8 km. Our ‘variant’ was probably a bit longer.

Wildlife

• We only saw some kookaburras and a couple of purple swamp hens in the distance. If you get here early, it might be another story. I was excited about seeing some royal spoonbills but it wasn’t to be.

Conditions

• We went in early November, on a clear day: it was quite hot by the time we finished though the walk is shaded for the most part

Caution

• There is a whole network of tracks on the eastern side of the lagoon – we took a wrong turn and finished up another hill, 500m from the car
• This could be avoided by either going counter-clockwise around the lagoon or following the path down to the lagoon when it forks (there is a sign to a viewing platform).

Resources

• Full track notes at Wild Walks
• National Parks NSW website

A reminder that suburbia is only just over the hill, Yeramba Lagoon, Georges River NP

King and queen of the castle, Yeramba Lagoon, Georges River NP (Photo: Jane Gibian)