Get out of town this weekend and be home by sundown with the Mercury's list of the best day trips to take from Wollongong.
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These 10 attractions are less than two hours drive from your house and a fun day out for your friends or family.
1. Jibbon Beach, Bundeena
Enter Jibbon Beach from Neil Street in Bundeena in the Royal National Park and follow the signposts along the beach to the ancient Aboriginal rock engravings.
2. Keith Longhurst Reserve in Campbelltown
Kentlyn offers several walking trails leading down to the Georges River, including the 2km Basin Walking Trail and the 2.6km Old Ford Road Walking Trail, a historic road built in the 1880s to cross the Georges River. This popular scenic waterhole showcases a small waterfall. Details.
3. Fairy Bower Falls in the Southern Highlands
Sure, it's a bit of a hike to reach the falls, but this really is a magical place befitting of pixies and goblins. Looking up, long dangling vines festoon the escarpment like a Jurassic Park movie set, while underfoot droplets of water cling to moss-covered rocks and shimmer like sparkling stars. Details.
4. Abrahams Bosom Beach walks at Currarong
Abrahams Bosom Reserve offers a range of graded walking trails, including a 9km round trip (Coomies Walk) to the Trig Station. This is a lovely walk, offering breathtaking ocean and cliff-top views. The terrain varies from native woodland to low scrub. Details here.
5. Point Perpendicular Lighthouse, Currarong
A drive through natural scrub and spring wildflowers will bring you to the lighthouse and spectacular escarpment at Jervis Bay. There is no access to the inside of the lighthouse, but the view from the grounds makes this drive worthwhile. Details here.
6. Fitzroy Falls Reservoir, Southern Highlands
Go trout fishing in the Fitzroy Falls Reservoir, about 20km south-east of Bowral on the Yarrunga Creek upstream of Fitzroy Falls. The reservoir is popular for land-based recreational fishing. Details here.
7. Box Vale Mine Walking Track, Mittagong
The track follows the formation of a historic railway line and passes through cuttings, along embankments and through a tunnel 84m in length. There is also a spur track to 40-foot falls and a very steep track leads to vantage point below the falls. Details here.
8. Bens Walk, Nowra
Views of the mountains can be seen from vantage points along this iconic walk near Nowra Showground. A short return walk from the footbridge to Hanging Rock takes around 10 minutes, or tackle the complete 5.5km track. Details here.
9. Cataract Dam, Appin
Cataract Dam at Appin is the oldest of the great dams of the upper Nepean River. It has facilities to cater for hundreds of families including hectares of lawn where kids can kick a ball or throw a frisbee. Details here.
10. Adams Lookout, Bungonia National Park
Marvel at the view of the 300m-high limestone cliffs of Bungonia Slot Canyon (only 25m apart), the beautiful Bungonia Creek Gorge and distant views of Ettrema Wilderness way over in Morton National Park. Details here.