Catch a small ferry across Port Hacking, then walk the clifftops of Royal National Park to Wedding Cake Rock, a block of bright white sandstone high above the ocean.
In spring the heath is full of wildflowers, and from May to November you can watch for whales most of the way. Pack lunch and eat it out on the cliffs. It is a train, a boat and a bushwalk, and none of it needs a car.
How do you get there without a car?
- Catch a T4 train from Central to Cronulla, the last stop. On a Saturday the 9.22am from Central gets to Cronulla at 10.14am, and it costs $4.34.
- Walk to the wharf on Tonkin Street, right behind the station.
- Take the 10.30am boat to Bundeena. On weekends it leaves Cronulla at half past every hour from 8.30am, and you are in Bundeena by 11am. Pay on the ferry, by card. It is $9.40 each way for an adult, or $26 for a family of four.
Coming by boat also means you skip the $12 National Parks charges to park a car in Royal National Park.
The walk itself
From Bundeena the track heads south into the national park. National Parks says to allow at least an hour each way, and it is rough, often steep and rocky, so wear shoes with some grip.
You walk through low coastal heath with the ocean beside you. In spring it is in flower, there are swamp wallabies and plenty of birds, and between May and November it is worth stopping at every lookout to scan the water for whales.
Wedding Cake Rock looks exactly like its name. The white comes from iron leaching out of the sandstone, which has made it soft and likely to collapse, so it sits behind a fence now. Take your photos from behind it. There are good angles all along the cliffs.
If you still have legs left, the track carries on past the rock and down to Marley Beach.
The practical stuff
- Toilets are in Bundeena. There are none on the track.
- Water is not on the track either. Carry enough for the walk back.
- Sun: it is open heath the whole way, so bring a hat.
- Phone reception is patchy on the track. Load anything you need before you leave Bundeena.
- Fire bans close the track. Check the Royal National Park alerts the morning you go.
- Kids: the rock is fenced, but the cliff edges along the rest of the track are not, so keep them close.
- Prams will not manage the rocky sections.
- Bad weather: if the boats are cancelled, replacement buses are arranged, and the ferry company posts the details.
Getting back
The thing that keeps people in their cars is the fear of being stuck on the Bundeena side of the water once the boats stop. Know one time and it goes away. The last boat leaves Bundeena at 7pm, every day from September to May. On weekends in June, July and August it is 6pm.
It is an hour each way on the track, so leave the rock by 5pm and you are back at the wharf with time to spare.
The trains keep going after the last boat. Off the 7pm boat, the 7.50pm train has you at Central by 8.42pm on a Saturday.
Check the live train times while you wait for the boat, and you will know which train you are walking to before you step off it.