A friend, Steffy, had suggested this walk. I had been to the start before – at the Sphinx at North Turramurra and had visited Bobbin Head on bike ride, but never down the walk along Cowan Creek. Also a commentator to this blog had also suggested the walk.
Cold and windy weather was forecast, so I thought that it would be a good day for the walk and it should be relatively sheltered along the side of Cowan Creek. It was. I had a very pleasant walk.
The walk I went on goes from North Turramurra to Berowra via Bobbin Head and Cowan Creek.
I started by catching the train to Turramurra and then the 8:50 bus to Ku-Ring-Gai park entrance on Bobbin Head Road. Notes for this walk are online on Tom Brennan’s Website here.
From the Sphinx, the walk descends quickly to Cowan Creek. Then it is pleasant walking along the foreshore to Bobbin Head. Along the way are many interesting things to see – nice angophoras, some aboriginal middens, plenty of waterbirds and mangroves.
On this part of the walk – there were plenty of other walkers out and about and lots of mountain runners. The second half to Waratah Bay was a lot quieter.
At Bobbin Head, their is an abrupt change – as you walk through a large marina to reach  Bobbin Head Road and the picnic areas.
I continued past the large National Parks buiding, up along the track that goes to the park visitor centre on the top of the hill. I only walked up a small part of the hill to another parks building, then crossed the road and descended back down to the water at Apple Tree Bay. Lots more boats and cars.
Then along more quiet walking tracks along Cowan Creek again, that take you to Waratah Bay. On the way you have to walk around three small bays – each with beautiful rainforest creeks at their heads that you cross.
Some suggest that you should do this section of the walk on weekdays to avoid speedboats. I did see lots of boats – but none were noisy. It looks like there must be a speed restriction. Power boats were putting along very slowly and quietly. Not too bad.
Waratah Bay is an interesting place. It is the site of an old boat-shed and a small settlement. This was set up by Edward Windybank in 1890 – and information about it online can be found here and here. I could easily see some old foundations in the water, and further up the bay – an old steel framework. I’m not sure if the framework is the wreck of one of the house-boats or part of the old boat-shed. There are old rock retaining walls as well.
The track up from the Bay to Berowra seems to be along an old road – at least for the first part – up the gully. It also seems to be an easement for some pipes – a small bore water pipe and a larger pipe – perhaps a old sewer pipe?
The last part of the climb out is via a series of switchbacks – and from the top, it is not far to Berowra Station which is reached by a footbridge over the motorway.
More photos of the walk are on my website here.