Diary 2025 - Walks & other activities

Picture: Lilly Pilly Falls 

Thursday 7 August

From St Leonards Station, via Gore Creek to Lane Cove River & Greenwich Point, then to Wollstonecraft Station

Meet:   9.45am outside the ticket barrier at St Leonards Station

Description: From St Leonards Station we take the overhead pedestrian bridge to Gore Hill Park.   We will do the “introducing circle etc”   here.

From the Gore Hill Park we will walk through “The Carriageway” which is the formal pathway through the Gore Hill Cemetery. This is a historical site.    Many of the pioneers of Sydney's North Shore are buried in this cemetery and there is a monument to Mary McKillop who was buried there from 1909 to 1914. First opened in 1868, it was one of the first cemeteries on the North Shore of the harbour.   

From here we cross the Pacific Highway and walk about 300 along the footpath, then turn onto the Gore Creek Trail, which takes us, part on concrete path and part bush track to the shore of the Lane Cove River, on the way we will do a short side track to see the Lillypilly Falls.   We will stop for coffee/tea at the Lane Cove River, there is a picnic area.   During colonial times, convicts were sent to this creek to cut timber, which grew in this temperate rainforest valley.

After a coffee break we follow the shore line towards Greenwich Point, with a short detour around some properties with private foreshore frontages.  We should get to Greenwich Point by lunch time, there are picnic tables in the park near the ferry wharf.

Optional exit

From Greenwich Wharf there is a ferry service to the City, (hourly service). There is also a bus to Chatswood Station route 167, also hourly.

Walk to Wollstonecraft Station

For those who wish to continue, we will continue along the foreshore, past the Greenwich Baths (optional swim!!!) to Manns Point.  From here we walk through suburban Streets to get around the large fuel depot, then descend to the foreshore of Gore Cove and follow the trail along Berry’s Creek, another example temperate rainforest, to Wollstonecraft Station.

Transport:  From Wollstonecraft Station there are regular trains to the City or north towards Hornsby. 

Distance:   From St Leonards to Greenwich Point Ferry Wharf 5km, to continue on to Wollstonecraft a total of 7.5km

Grade:   Moderate. The Gore Creek Trail is generally downhill, along stone steps and a reasonable bush track.   Along the foreshore of Greenwich Point it is part bush track, reasonable to rough condition and part suburban footpath. The section along Berry’s Creek has a section of descending rough stone steeps then a formed bush track.  I will be using my trekking stick.

Bring:   Yourself, sturdy walking shoes, hat and suitable clothing for this time of the year.  Bring your own tea/coffee and stuff to eat, your own drink bottle.

Leader:   John - 0414 727 060

Date to be announced

BURLEY GRIFFIN'S CASTLECRAG

Apart from laying out our National Capital, American architect Walter Burley Griffin and his team, including wife Marion, designed the urban development of Sydney's rocky Middle Harbour peninsula which we now know as Castlecrag. About 14 of their 18 distinctive flat-roofed sandstone houses remain today, but so also do the pocket parks and public rights-of-way which they incorporated into the heavily timbered landscape.

So today's 5km walk will incorporate much of Burley Griffin's works with lots of rough stone-stepped bush tracks, falling from the 80m ridge down to water level. Your experience would be greatly enriched by perusing the mass of information on the internet.

Bring morning tea, lunch, weather-appropriate clothing including strong shoes, and perhaps a walking pole to assist on the bush stairs.

Grade - Medium, with some rough stairs on the bush tracks (some might rate this as hard given the several sections of steps, up and down)

Meet outside the Opal-card barriers of Chatswood Station promptly at 9.30am in order to catch the 267 bus from Stand B at 9.37. The walk will end around 3pm, where Sailors Bay Creek passes under Eastern Valley Way There are buses from there to Chatswood Station, Crows Nest or Victoria Cross Metro, and the City.

Enquiries – Kevin – 0418 169 095