Cronulla

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Route: Kingsway, Wilbar Avenue, Tonkin Park, Gunnamatta Foreshore, Gunnamatta Bay, Darook Park Road, Darook Park, Bass and Flinders Point, Oak Park, Windy Point, Shelly Park, Blackwoods Beach, Cronulla Point, South Cronulla Beach

Date: 06/11/2021
From: North Cronulla

Parking: North Cronulla Beach
Start Point: North Cronulla Beach
Finish Point: North Cronulla Beach
Region: Sydney

Route length: 7.3km
Time taken: 02:26
Average speed: 4.5km/h
Ascent: 177m
Descent: 176m

Points of Interest: North Cronulla, Gunnamatta Bay, Bass and Flinders Point

Cronulla is one of Sydney's southern-most suburbs, 20km south of the CBD. It is located on a peninsula framed by Botany Bay to the north, Bate Bay to the east, Port Hacking to the south, and Gunnamatta Bay to the west. The beautiful coastline on either side, combined with ample paths and tracks, make it the perfect spot to while away a few sunny hours.

North Cronulla Beach

We parked along North Cronulla Beach, which has ample free parking due to the popularity with locals and tourists alike, before cutting across the top of the peninsula to Tonkin Park and Gunnamatta Bay before following the shoreline round to Gunnamatta Park. Gunnamatta Park holds a valuable remnant of bushland canopy including an unusual but natural occurrence of Rough-Barked Apple-Gums. These trees grow in the park and are usually typical of the nearby Wianamatta Shale soil as opposed to the Hawkesbury Sandstone on the site

Gunnamatta Bay

Gunnamatta Bay

The wide beach here is exposed at low tide so, if you're planning a visit, check the tide times as you may be able to hike right along the shallows, instead of ducking onto the suburban streets.

Gunnamatta Bay

Gunnamatta Bay

Gunnamatta Bay

Gunnamatta Bay

Gunnamatta Bay

It wasn't long before we had negotiated a route along the sands to Darook Park on the west side of the peninsula. Darook Park overlooks the sandy entrance to Gunnamatta Bay and features a few small areas of remnant bush.

The beach at Darook Park

Looking across the entrance to Gunnamatta Bay

We joined a track in Darook Park that climbs towards the southern point of the headland and the NSW Marine Rescue base at Hungry Point. The volunteer service is the equivalent of the RNLI and comprises some 3000 volunteers. The base itself blocks access to the tip of the peninsula so the path heads to Salmon Haul Bay and the beginning of The Esplanade.

The view across to Bundeena

Port Hacking

The beautiful Salmon Haul Bay

The Esplanade is a wide, tarmac path that runs a number of kilometres along the eastern side of the Cronulla peninsula, between Salmon Haul Bay in the south and Cronulla Beach in the north. Close to its starting point near the Marine Rescue base is Bass and Flinders Point.

Bass and Flinders Point

The point is named after Matthew Flinders and George Bass, crewmen who departed from Captain Cook's ship to explore and map the coastline and Port Hacking estuary in 1796. The point overlooks the entrance to Port Hacking with Royal National Park on the opposite shore.

Port Hacking

The paved Esplanade heads northwards from Bass and Flinders Point where it is squeezed between the sea and fronts of the residential properties that line the coast. Before long we reached Oak Park which is home to one of NSW's many tidal pools. Given the weather, we had planned for a quick, refreshing dip in one of the pools and this one took our fancy.

The view across Port Hacking to Port Hacking Point and the Royal National Park

Oak Park Rock Pool

Rockpools and ocean pools are quintessentially New South Wales, with just a handful found outside the State’s borders. There are about 100 along the NSW coast, from Yamba in the north to Bermagui in the south, with 35 in Sydney alone. Each pool is a product of its location, built out into the ocean or carved directly into the coastal rock.

Ocean pools took off in the late 19th century as competitive swimming was becoming popular and people wanted a place where they would be protected from the pounding surf and unpredictable currents.

Cronulla

From Oak Park, The Esplanade continues northwards along the peninsula, passing further rock pools at Shelley Beach. Further still is Blackwoods Beach where the Shark Island reef can clearly be seen. The reef break is a well know surfing location where tall waves can develop quickly. Things were looking calm today but, when there are large swells, the reef produces some magnificent waves.

Looking north towards Cronulla

Shelly Beach Rock Pool

Shark Island reef

It wasn't long before we reached modest South Cronulla Beach, on the fringe of the centre of the town. The beaches in the area were named by Surveyor Robert Dixon who surveyed here in 1827-28 and, by 1840, the main beach was still known as Karranulla. Kurranulla means ‘‘place of the small pink seashell’’ in the dialect of the area's Aboriginal inhabitants, and forms the basis of the modern name Cronulla.

South Cronulla

South Cronulla Beach