Lady Carrington Drive & Gurrumboola Ridge - Royal National Park

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Route: Audley Weir, Lady Carrington Drive, Jersey Spring, Forest Path, Couranga Track, Uloola Fire Trail, Uloola Falls, Uloola Track, Gurrumboola Ridge, Robertson's Roundabout, Robertson's Knoll, Engadine Track, Hacking River

Date: 27/12/2021
From: Audley Weir

Parking: Audley Dancehall

Start Point: Audley Weir
Finish Point: Audley Weir
Region: Royal National Park

Route length: 26.9km
Time taken: 05:55
Average speed: 4.8km/h
Ascent: 929m
Descent: 931m

Points of Interest: Jersey Spring, Forest Path, Uloola Falls, Robertson's Knoll

Royal National Park (or 'Nasho' to some) is located just south of Sydney and is the oldest in Australia having been founded in 1879. In fact, internationally, only Yellowstone in the US is older, having been founded a few years earlier. Being close to the city means the national park can be easily accessed by public transport. While the coastal cliffs are spectacular and make for some fine hiking, most of Royal National Park consists of vast areas of Australian bush where several tracks forge a route. One of the longest of these is Lady Carrington Drive and the adjacent Gurrumboola Ridge.

Starting out from Audley Weir, the hike along Lady Carrington Drive is long but fairly easy, with a more interesting return along the Gurrumboola Ridge adding some wilderness to this outing - a total of over 25km. I parked and set off towards Lady Carrington Drive from the national park visitor centre, located next to the Hacking River.

THe National Park visitor centre occupies the Audley Dance Hall

The Engadine Track crosses the Hacking River

Hacking River

Hacking River

Opened in 1886 by Lady Cecilia Carrington (wife of a former Governor of New South Wales), the 10km trail was the first scenic route to be completed in the Royal National Park, seven years after the park was officially declared. It initially served as a carriageway, although this did not last long as traffic began to wane as a result of people heading for the more impressive coastal cliffs. Now the track is the refuge of runners, walkers and cyclists.

Lady Carrington Drive

The first section of the trail passes through Fig Tree Flat before following a long series of sandstone faces up to a formation known as Gibraltar Rock, which overhangs an old cobblestone section of the trail. The formation is named after the Rock of Gibraltar, though I don't really see the resemblance. Here, there is a view of the Hacking River through the trees.

Gibraltar Rock

The Hacking River at Gibraltar Rock

2.5km along the road is the Jersey Spring. The natural spring feeds into two sandstone watering troughs that were built in 1892 to provide water for horses and people travelling along Lady Carrington Drive. The troughs are still fed by the same spring. It is named after Victor Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey, the then-Governor of New South Wales.

Tall Sydney Red Gum trees line Lady Carrington Drive

The understory is a mix of many small trees and ferns

The Red Gum bark sheds in large scales

Jersey Spring

The inscription on the trough

The track continues into some of the best temperate rainforests that can be easily accessed in the park. These are incredibly atmospheric woodland, with moss-covered logs, towering tree trunks, bird’s-nest ferns, the spectacular palm tree understory. It is also one of the best places in the park to look for lyrebirds. 

Lady Carrington Drive

Lady Carrington Drive

A female Lyrebird - the males have an ornate tail, much like a peacock

Calala clearing

The sign at Calala

At the southern end of Lady Carrington Drive is the Forest Path, a linking track that follows Bola Creek and another stretch of the Hacking River. In my opinion, it is a more interesting way of reaching the Couranga Track that accesses the Uloola Fire Trail. The Forest Path does a loop around the lower slopes of Forest Island, a hill that is isolated by the surrounding creeks and rivers. The path passes a variety of native plants including the tall eucalypts and casuarina trees.

Lady Carrington Drive

Bola Creek from the Forest Path

The Forest Path

A hollowed-out Eucalyptus

The Forest Path links to the Couranga Track that crosses the infant Hacking RIver via some stepping stones. If the river is in flood, this section may be impassable. The rocky path climbs alongside a small creek for some time before tackling a more serious climb out of the valley, onto the Uloola Fire Trail (you could finish the hike here by making your way to Waterfall station and back to Sydney). 

Jumbled boulders along the Forest Path

The Couranga Track junction

Crossing the Hacking River

The Couranga Track

The Couranga Track climbs out of the valley

At the top of the Couranga Track

Uloola Fire Trail

For me, this was the halfway point an ideal time to pause for a break. The next objective was Uloola Falls, located some 6km away along the fire trail. The track is easy to follow and meanders through the picturesque highlands of National Park, passing Uloola Swamp and eventually arriving at the Uloola bush campsite (little more than a patch of cleared ground among the trees). Uloola Falls are adjacent to the campsite.

Uloola Fire Trail

Bark if the Scribbly Gum - the tracks are made by moth larvae

Uloola Fire Trail

Uloola Fire Trail

Approaching the Uloola campground

The waterfalls themselves look fairly impressive though are difficult to get a clear view of thanks to the trees which surround them. I think it's possible to get down to the foot of them but it wasn't obvious where. The most obvious track leaving Uloola Falls heads to Karloo Pool, however, I continued along a lesser trodden section of the Uloola Track up onto Gurrumboola Ridge.

The camping area next to Uloola Falls

Uloola Falls

Once again, it's a long hike to the next destination at Robertson Knoll but the ridge is interesting along its length with a mixture of bush and more open, rocky sections. There are a few instances of curious, whaleback rocks to cross in addition to a fine lookout close to Mount Ball which has a sweeping view of the national park.

Gurrumboola Ridge

The whale-back rocks found along the ridge

A distant Sydney

More whale-back rocks

Panorama from Gurrumboola Ridge

A view of Royal National Park

From the lookout, the path continues along the ridge towards the Audley Weir using the oddly named Robertson's Roundabout track (you can use part of this to descend to Audley but you'd miss the view from Robertson's Knoll). The name comes from the fact that the circular track has several other tracks branching off, much like a roundabout. The knoll at the north end of the roundabout overlooks the Audley Weir and has a fine view of the Hacking River and a distant city of Sydney.

Robertson's Roundabout

Robertson's Roundabout

Audley Weir from Robertson's Knoll

The view from Robertson's Knoll

From the lookout, the track descends off to the right (it's a little hidden among the rocks and trees). It makes its way down to the Engadine Track junction where, if you turn left, you can hike to Engadine Station via the Bottle Forest. I turned right, following the final few hundred metres of the Robertson's Roundabout track back to the Hacking River and the visitor centre where the car was parked.

Some of the more constructed sections of the track

The track descends towards the Hacking River

Hacking River

Hacking River

Audley visitor centre