Road Trip: Stanwell Park to Mount Keira

Starting at Sydney’s southern outskirts, this drive abounds with scenic coastal views. The vistas unfold right from the start: Bald Hill, at Stanwell Park, looks south towards a succession of headlands and beaches, with high, forested cliffs dropping down almost to the ocean in places.

Stanwell Park

The Illawarra escarpment forms an impressive backdrop to Stanwell Park, which faces the ocean’s breakers over an unspoilt beach. Groves of tall cabbage tree palms lend a subtropical feel to the scene. Bald Hill rises above town and beach, and, from the park on the summit, there are magnificent views south down the coast to Wollongong – a preview of the drive’s route. A monument here commemorates the aeronautical achievements of local resident Lawrence Hargrave. In the 1890s Hargrave took advantage of the strong onshore winds to fly box kites from this spot, experiments that influenced early aircraft designers. Today, the same winds make this a popular location for hang-gliding.

Royal National Park

Just a kilometre or so north of Stanwell Park is Otford and the southern entrance to Australia’s oldest national park. ‘The Royal’, with its 15,000 hectares of heath, eucalypt woodland and superb coastal scenery, was set aside in 1879. Visitors with a day to spare might like to explore one of the park’s many coastal walking tracks, or spend a few hours driving to its pretty beaches and picnic grounds. A particularly scenic, day-long walk runs from Otford Lookout to Burning Palms Beach, along cliffs and beaches and through bush and palm forest.

Sea Cliff Bridge

The drive runs south on Lawrece Hargrave Drive, which hugs the coast all the way down to Thirroul. The section between Coalcliff and Clifton, once squeezed between sheer sandstone cliffs and a steep drop into the ocean, is now spanned by the spectacular 665-metre Sea Cliff Bridge which juts dramatically out over the pounding waves. For walkers, a track from the northern parking area leads along Paterson Road and across the bridge; allow 45 minutes for the return walk.

Coalcliff is the first in a string of small settlements which were once busy coal-mining centres – coal had been discovered in the area as early as 1797, and by the late 1800s most people living here were employed in collieries at Scarborough, Wombarra and Coledale.