Caves Beach & The Wallarah Coast

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Route: Caves Beach, Caves Beach Road, Stinky Point, Spoon Rocks, Quarries Head, Pinny Beach, West Pinny Trail, Southern Headland Trail, Shark Hole Trail, Shark Hole, Middle Camp Inlet, Catherine Hill Bay

Date: 06/03/2021
From: Caves Beach

Parking: N/A
Start Point: Caves Beach
Finish Point: Catherine Hill Bay
Region: Wallarah National park

Route length: 3.2 miles (5km)
Time taken: 02:28
Average speed: 2.3mph
Ascent: 192m
Descent: 192m

Points of Interest: Caves Beach, Spoon Rocks, Pinny Beach, Catherine Hill Bay

We spent some time in 2020 camping along the shores of the Central Coast and enjoyed our stay so much we decided to head back. That time we had a look around the caves of Moonee Beach within the Munmorah State park. There are more caves to be found along the coast and I set out to find them, concocting a route between Caves Beach and Catherine Hill Bay, though part of the Wallarah National Park.

After being dropped off in the large car park, I made my way down to Caves Beach - aptly named after the string natural sea caves that can be explored at low tide. I hadn't actually known too much about the caves so it was lucky that it was low tide when I arrived. I spent a few minutes exploring the caverns before backtracking to the beach and climbing a set of wooden steps to a viewpoint at its southern end which has an excellent view of the caves.

Caves Beach

Waves roll onto Caves Beach

The sea caves of Caves Beach

Inside the largest of the caves

Entrance to the caves

Caves Beach 

Looking south along the coast

Sea caves

A path continues through the bush, running parallel to the coast where it emerges on Cave Beach Road. Another paved track heads downhill below the cliffs to the beach at Stinky Point on the north side of Spoon Rock Bay. The bay has been created by a long rock spit, built by a mining company for coal transportation - a venture which never came to fruition. The spit remains, however, and has created the perfect sheltered beach.

Looking back towards Caves Beach

Spoon Rock Bay from Stinky Point

Heading down to the beach

The path crosses the beach where the spit joins the land and squeezes its way under the cliffs, past boulders that look like they have recently fallen. It then climbs a fire trail a short distance before cutting up the hillside to another lookout. From here, it is easy to see the influence of Spoon Rocks in sheltering Spoon Rock Bay.

Below the sea cliffs at Spoon Rock Bay

Spoon Rocks

The view towards Quarries Head

A recent rockfall on the path to Quarries Head

Spoon Rock Bay

I continued southwards following the coast to Quarried Head, a rocky point overlooking the beautiful Pinny Beach and the Southern Headland, both parts of Wallarah National Park. A muddy track snakes its way down to the beach from here. 

Waves crash against the Wallarah National Park cliffs

Quarries Head

Quarries Head

Pinny Beach

After crossing a footbridge over a small lagoon, I entered the Wallarah National Park for an abrupt change of scenery. Gone were the sweeping coastal views, replaced with lush Australian woodland. The path follows the murky creek for a short distance before turning 180-degrees onto the West Pinny Trail, a broad fire trail that climbs up towards the Southern Headland. A triangular track does a circuit of the headland and is worth the short detour.

Pinny Creek

Pinny Creek

The West Pinny Trail

West Pinny Trail

Views from the Southern Headland

A short distance further is Shark Hole, arguably the beginning of my favourite section of this hike as it enters the Munmorah State Conservation Area. Shark Hole itself is a large sheltered ocean inlet, surrounded by rocky cliffs but its most remarkable feature is the long, deep incision into the rocks. The fissure is only 1.5m wide but up to 7m deep or more and is seemingly accessed by a shaky-looking ladder at the top. I thought about venturing down but decided against it, being on my own.

Shark Hole

Shark Hole

Access to Shark Hole

The path descends steeply around Shark Hole before it peters out. The remaining few kilometres of this hike would be along the rocks and sands of Catherine Hill Bay. The flat coastal rocks are a joy to hike along and the scenery is pretty impressive too.

Shark Hole

Shark Hole

The entrance to the Shark Hole fissure

Heading south towards Catherine Hill Bay

The rocks below Baldy Cliff

The waves crash against the coast

Rocks beneath Baldy Cliff

Catherine Hill Bay

I reached another fissure a short distance later, not half as impressive as Shark Hole but barring the way nonetheless. Bypassing it requires hiking steeply up the grassy slopes, emerging at a more formed trail and then descending again to Catherine Hill Bay Beach where I had agreed to be picked up. Unfortunately, the car park is some 1.5km away at the southern end of the beach and hiking along the sand is hard work. 

Middle Camp Inlet - a fissure in the cliffs

Middle Camp Gully

Catherine Hill Bay, named after a ship that ran aground in 1867, is a historic mining village while the beach has been named as one of 'Australia's 100 Best Beaches'. Its defining feature is the old coal transfer jetty which is a magnet for landscape photographers (though I didn't quite make it that far).

Catherine Hill Bay

It had turned pretty cloudy by the time I reached the southern end of the beach, which was just as well that I was finishing my hike here, having had the best of the weather in the morning. If you feel so inclined, you could continue hiking from here to Moonee Beach and Ghosties Beach, the latter also features an impressive sea cave. For me though, it was back to the campsite for a few well-earned beers.

Empire Pass - Blue Mountains National Park

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Route: St Bernard Drive, North Lawson Park, Empire Pass Track, Dantes Glen, St Michaels Falls, Empire Pass, Frederica Falls, North Lawson Trail, North Lawson Park

Date: 21/02/2021
From: Lawson

Parking: St Bernards Drive
Start Point: North Lawson Park
Finish Point: North Lawson Park
Region: Blue Mountains

Route length: 3.2 miles (5km)
Time taken: 02:15
Average speed: 1.4mph
Ascent: 212m
Descent: 197m

Points of Interest: Dantes Glen, St Michaels Falls, Frederica Falls

Sara and I were back in the Blue Mountains again this weekend, exploring one of the lesser-visited areas near the village of Lawson which resides along the Great Western Highway, between Sydney and Katoomba. Our aim was a hike around Empire Pass, a short loop through the canyons of Blue Mountain Creek and includes several small, charming waterfalls.

There's a modest parking area at the end of St Bernards Drive which provides the ideal place to park for this hike. A path heads into the bush before it descends steeply down a set of steps into the canyon. This is a good hike for the warmer months as much of the track is in the shade of the rainforest gullies. It is best after rain, as the waterfalls will be flowing better, as was the case today.

A narrow path leaves the parking area

Starting our descent along Empire Pass

The Empire Pass Track was constructed at North Lawson Park in the early 1900s, and improved and opened on Empire Day, 1913, hence the name. It was an attempt by the local township to tap into the popularity of nearby Katoomba and Wentworth Falls. At North Lawson Park, the main attractions lay on the western and eastern sides – Dante’s Glen and Fairy Falls on the one and Frederica Falls on the other. The “pass” (probably named to make it seem more impressive than it actually is) was constructed to join these two areas.

The original steps descend to a very precarious-looking bridge that crosses the creek at Dantes Glen. So precarious in fact that a warning sign discourages more than one person at a time. In Dantes Glen you'll find the first waterfall of the day, tumbling out of a crevice in the rocks.

Heading down the original 1900 steps

Reaching Dantes Glen

Dantes Glen

Dantes Glen

Next is St. Michaels Falls, arguably the best of the falls we'd see today. From Dantes Glen, the track makes its way along the creek a short while before crossing over and heading up to St. Michaels Falls. Given that we were not hiking a long way today, I had my tripod and SLR with me, enabling me to take some rather nice shorts of the waterfall and plunge pool.

The rickety bridge at Dantes GLen

Sara heads towards St Michaels Falls

St Michaels Falls

St Michaels Falls

We returned to the Empire Pass track from St Michaels Falls where the well-signposted route is easy to follow. The path follows the creek downstream, perched on the side of the valley for a while before it drops down to the creek itself. It’s very picturesque, with cascades and big boulders but requires crossing via some pretty slippery boulders.

Blue Mountain Creek

Empire Pass

Looking down to the creek from Empire Pass

Blue Mountain Creek

Crossing the creek

Looking downstream along the creek

After a couple of kilometres of pleasant track, you’ll begin heading uphill for a while and the rainforest starts to give way to drier bushland. It was far sunnier in this section but the flatter path can get pretty muddy, as Sara found out. The path leads to Frederica Falls, the final small waterfall on this circuit. I was going to give it the DSLR honours but there aren't many clear spots and those that were clear were occupied by picnickers.

Empire Pass

Empire Pass

Empire Pass

Frederica Falls

Frederica Falls

Verdant bush at Frederica Falls

Finishing the circuit is along a fire trail which I'm becoming quite fond of. There's something quintessentially Australian about them - the mix of orange dirt, green trees and blue skies. This particular fire trail has a hefty climb in it - regaining the height lost down the sandstone steps earlier in the day.

Crossing the creek above the falls

North Lawson Trail

North Lawson

We made it back to the car in time to head to Leura for a late bite to eat. If you haven't been, Leura is a charming village next to Katoomba and well worth a visit if you're in the area. Leura Gourmet, a deli and cafe on Leura Mall is a firm favourite of ours. Driving out of the Blue Mountains also gave us the chance to stop off at Lincoln's Rock, a superb lookout that has no guard rails of any description - a rarity in these parts.

Views from Lincoln's Rock

Mount Solitary