Escape the city for a day

Summer is soon here and what is not more fun than a road trip out from Sydney to visit some cool places. Do you need ideas of day trips?. I will share few of my favourite spots.

Caves beach,

Caves beach is a must place to visit. A lot of travellers is missing out of this amazing place. It is located just before Newcastle near Lake Macquarie. If you would like to stay the night they have a nice camping area about 2 km from the beach. The beach is popular for surfing and the large number of caves on the southern end of the beach. They have picnic are with BBQ near the beach. Check the tide before you go there, it need to be low tide to enjoy the amazing caves on the beach.

.

Hanging rock, Blue Mountains

Hanging rock is located in Blue Mountains National park in Blackheat, about an 10 km drive from Katoomba. You will need a car to get to the start of the hike.

The hike is an easy 10 km return walk on fire trail, The trail is bike friendly as well.

Figure 8 pools, Royal National Park

Figure 8 pools is located in Royal National Park near Burning Palm beach. It's about 3-4 hours return walk from Garrawarra Farm carpark. When visiting the figure 8 pools you need to make sure it is low tide and carefully watch the waves, if it is big waves you shouldn't go there. You walk over slippery rocks to get out there and waves can wash up there if they are big enough and cause injuries. The place is worth visiting, some of the pools has shapes of an eight and they are really deep with clear water,

Wattamolla, Royal National Park

I don't have any photos of Wattamolla beach, but it is a beautiful place to visit and if you like to jump of cliffs, it is the place to visit.

It is also family friendly with the calm water there. Fishing is also very popular at Wattamolla beach. Located about 50 km drive from CBD in Sydney.

Cronulla, Wanda sand dunes

Wanda beach is located on the northern side of Bate Bay in Cronulla. The length of the beach is 1,5km and behind the beach you have amazing sand dunes to walk in. It is also a popular place for running hills. Cronulla is a beautiful suburb south of Sydney, it's the only beach in Sydney you can reach by train.

Leura, Royal National Park

Leura is my favourite village in Blue Mountains National Park. Leura has a little street with nice cafes and a lot of cute little shops that sell everything from handmade crafts to organic homemade lotions, candles and clothes. Katoomba is the village that has all the tourist shops, hiking stores and hostels, hotels etc. While Leura has more Bed&Breakfast's that is located a short walk off the main street in more private own places there they host couple of people at the time. It is also a bit more pricy. I love the Belgian restaurant Flemish Flavours. they offer great food and Belgian beers there. You can sit outside in a beautiful garden and eat or enjoy a beer or a meal if you like.

A short walk from Leura you can hike to Leura Cascade and watch beautiful waterfalls. If you walk down the valley you can walk all the way to Three sisters or Scenic world in Katoomba. I'm not sure how long that walk is as I usually run there. But it is a lot of stairs and can be a bit unstable at places. If you would like and easier walk you can hike the cliff top walk called Prince Henry Cliff walk. It goes all the way from Leura to Three Sisters, you can continue to Scenic World and then catch the train back to Leura if you like or why not walk down the valley and walk through Leura forest back to make it a day hike.

- Which is your favourite place to visit around Sydney?

// Gina Johansen xx