Start the morning at Berowra.
From the village, a bush track takes you down to Berowra Creek. At the bottom, a little car ferry carries you across the water. It is free.
On the far side, you climb back up to Cowan. It is a station you have probably never got off at.
Pack a lunch and eat it by the water. It is a full day on your feet, and a hard one. At the end of it, a train takes you home.
How do you get there without a car?
- Catch a train from Central to Berowra. On a Saturday, the 8.48am intercity leaves from platform 8. It gets to Berowra at 9.35am, 47 minutes later. The fare is $5.79. Sit in cars 2 to 10. You can also take the T1. It is slower, and Berowra is the end of its line.
- Pick up the Great North Walk from the village. Follow it down towards Berowra Creek.
- Stop at Naa Badu lookout on the way down. The name means see water in the language of the Darug People. It looks out over the creek.
- Cross on the ferry at Berowra Waters. Then climb out the other side to Cowan.
The walk itself
It goes down, and then it goes up.
Berowra and Cowan both sit high on the ridge. The creek is at the bottom. So the day is a long walk down, three minutes on a ferry, and a long climb back up.
Treat any time you see quoted for this walk as somebody's estimate. Give it the whole day.
Start early. Tell someone when you expect to reach Cowan. And agree with the people you are walking with how late you will keep going before you turn back.
The ferry in the middle
The Berowra Waters ferry is free. It runs 24 hours a day, every day. The crossing takes three minutes, and you just walk on.
There is one exception. On the second Tuesday of the month, it stops for maintenance from 12pm to 2.30pm. That is right when a walker would reach it.
From 1 November 2026, that stop moves to 9.30am to 1pm. If your day lands on a second Tuesday, pick another day.
The practical stuff
- Water and food: carry all of it, for the whole day.
- Phone reception is limited in the park. Tell someone your plan before you lose it.
- The creek is not for swimming for three days after heavy rain, or when the water looks discoloured. National Parks says it is prone to pollution.
- Kids: not one for young kids. It is a long day with steep climbs.
- Prams will not get down to the creek.
- Dogs are not allowed in the national park.
The last train home
The worry with this walk is getting stuck at Cowan in the dark. It is a fair worry.
Cowan is not on the T1. Only intercity trains stop there. They come about once an hour, not every few minutes.
- Monday to Friday, the last train leaves Cowan at 11.33pm.
- Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, the last train leaves at 12.01am. It reaches Central at 1.01am.
- The one before it leaves at 10.33pm, and there is nothing in between. Miss the 10.33pm on a Saturday night and you wait an hour and a half on a quiet platform.
On some nights, trackwork replaces the late trains with a bus. It leaves from the Pacific Highway at Cowan, not from the platform.
So pick your train before you set off. Check the live times again at the top of the climb. Then you will know exactly what you are walking to.