Cronulla to Botany Bay Discovery Centre Hike (14km)

Cronulla to the Botany Bay Discovery Centre is a 14 kilometre, grade 4 coastal walk in Botany Bay National Park that typically takes around four and a half hours. It links long stretches of beach with rugged headlands, heathland, hanging swamps and historic sites, offering a constantly changing feel as you move from suburbia into a more remote coastal landscape.

The walk begins at Cronulla Station and quickly leaves the streets behind, slipping between shops and parkland before reaching the shoreline. From here, the route follows a series of paved paths and beachfront promenades, keeping the ocean close on your right. You pass ocean pools, rocky platforms and surf clubs before descending onto the sand at Elouera Beach. This long beach walk stretches for several kilometres, with the sound of the waves a constant companion as you head towards the rocky point at the eastern end of Bate Bay.

Beyond the beach, the walk becomes quieter and more natural as it climbs out of the bay and follows the coastal track through heath and open grass. Old infrastructure lines the route in places, but it never dominates the experience. The track weaves around dunes and down to a small shelly beach before reaching the Boat Harbour Aquatic Reserve, a sheltered and scenic corner of the coastline. From here, the path turns inland briefly, skirting Sir Joseph Banks Drive before looping back towards the coast on a sandy management trail.

As you rejoin the coastline, the track crosses rock platforms and skirts low scrub, gradually climbing through taller heath. This section leads towards Cape Baily Lighthouse, an optional side trip well worth considering if you have the time. The sandy bush track to the lighthouse is mostly clear, though the final stretch can be overgrown. While views back inland are more open than those to the east, the lighthouse itself is an interesting reminder of the area’s maritime history, built in 1950 to help ships safely navigate strong coastal currents.

Returning to the main track, the walk continues along the clifftops and then drifts inland through a series of small dunes and depressions. This area is home to several hanging swamps, fragile ecosystems formed where water slowly seeps from surrounding high ground and collects among reeds and dense vegetation. These swamps can be easy to miss at a distance, but close up they add a quiet, almost hidden character to the landscape.

North of the swamps, the track becomes sandier and more overgrown in places, opening occasionally into clearings between dunes. The route winds through scrub and across rock shelves marked by interesting erosion patterns before reaching Tabbigai Gap. From here, a mix of sandy trails and rock platforms leads past bush track junctions and onto wider management trails, with the terrain gradually becoming easier underfoot.

As the walk approaches its northern end, it passes infrastructure such as water tanks and radar installations before dropping gently through bushland towards Polo Street. An alternate exit is available here for those finishing outside the park. Continuing on, the route climbs again through ferny forest and sandy tracks to Kurnell Lookout, where views are mostly filtered through trees, before descending along a wide gravel service trail to Cape Solander Drive.

The final section follows an old road that now serves as a service track, crossing a small bridge before opening out into the Botany Bay Discovery Centre car park. The Discovery Centre sits just to the right and is a fitting end point, offering information about the area’s natural and cultural history, a small shop with basic food and drinks, toilets, and accessible facilities including a Trailrider available for free hire. It is a comfortable place to pause, reflect on the journey, and take in the broader setting of Kamay Botany Bay before heading home.