The Grand Pacific Drive
Australia, why so beautiful 💗 The 50,000 km of Australia's coastline gives you one of the most scenic and breathtaking views to drive. I have been to many road trips in Australia, be it Great Ocean Drive, Grand Pacific Drive, Drive to Gold Coast from Sydney and other short trips from Sydney to places like Newcastle, Jervis Bay, Blue Mountains in Katoomba, Canberra.
Just a short drive from Sydney city is the start of Great Pacific Drive which gives you everything an Aussie coastline have it for you, perfect beaches, breathtaking views, lovely weather, scenic windy roads, pit stops, detours and beautiful towns and attractions in between.
The entire road trip from Sydney to Nowra along the Great Pacific Drive will take about two and a half hours but then the fun is taking stops in between and making a whole day trip till Nowra. I along with my friends took a rental car from Sydney Airport. There are many options available there and we chose Europcar.
Grand Pacific Drive: Photo Credit - Google Maps
Royal National Park
One of the first stop on the Grand Pacific Drive from Sydney is the Royal National Park. It is one of the oldest parks in the world. The entrance of the park is through the southern suburb of Loftus just off the Princes Highway heading south.
The park is spread over 150 square km covering bushwalks, trails, campsite, lagoons and beaches along the Tasman Sea, Some of the famous places to cover at the national park are the Wedding Cake Rock where we went on a seperate tour as it involved taking a ferry from Cronulla Beach towards Bundeena. The park is a great place for walks, exploring some wild and untamed beaches, wildlife and rainforests.
We explored this place for a while through walks before kicking our road trip further. It is a nice place to explore, relax and energize yourself for the rest of the journey. There are many spots to take photos on the way. So we just stopped where ever we felt like taking some snaps. It made our journey more fun.
Sea Cliff Bridge
The next stop on this great road trip is the Sea Cliff Bridge. The bridge runs around the coastline for about 650 meters and gives a breathtaking view of the Tasman Sea. To get more out of this awesome place, you can take a walk along the pedestrian path on the bridge and click some awesome memories to take back with you.
Some other fun things we can do along with this road trip here are tandem hang gliding or para gliding, horseback riding in Otford, visit Symbio Wildlife Park, take surfing rides at Coledale or camp right there on the beach.
Wollongong
The next leg of the road trip takes you from the quite scenic views of national park and sea cliff bridge to the bustling Woolongong. It is the 3rd largest city in the NSW. Some famous coastal activities here are swimming, fishing and boating. You can explore Woolongong on foot via the city walk map or on bicycle via the beachside cycle way.
Nan Tien Temple
Just south of Wollongong is Nan Tien Temple, the southern hemisphere's largest Buddhist temple. It is also known as "Southern Paradise". It's a great to exchange western and eastern cultural values. Take a tour of this temple and experience some meditation session.
Source: nantien.org.au
Kiama
Kiama is a beautiful city surrounded by green hills and forests. It is one of the best place to walk and experience this beautiful city. You can see lot of shops and seaside cafes to refresh yourself (cant live without caffeine !) 😁😁.
One of the famous attraction here is the Kiama Blowhole. It is a hole in the volcanic rock that rushes water up in the air when the sea rushes underneath. Situated right in front of the Kiama Lighthouse, it gives a breathtaking view.
Source: whattodoinsydney.com.au
Kiama also boasts of seaside markets. It hosts two monthly markets, on the 3rd Sunday of the month for handmade goods and other on the fourth Saturday of the month selling local produce. I loved the view and the natural beauty of this place. Its a breathtaking view.
The Kiama coast walk is a 20 km walk along the coastal track that takes you from Minnamurra village through Kiama and ends at Werri Beach in South of Kiama. Either you can complete the walk in sections or all at once in a day.
Kiama to Nowra
The last leg of this great drive is the drive to Nowra.
You will pass through towns of Gerrigong and Gerroa. These places has some great cafes with ocean views (caffeine recharge needed 🙈). After Gerroa, my recommendation would be to take a small detour to the town of Berry. Its a 5-10 min drive off the Grand Pacific Drive where you can find some awesome boutique shops, country pubs, cafes. Its a perfect place to grab something quick and start back.
Get back to the trip to finish the last leg and drive towards the Shoalhaven Heads where the Shoalhaven River meets sea and onto Nowra.
We decided to stay back at Nowra for the night as we were already tired of the all day drive and we had already booked an airbnb place. It was a really great place and hosts made us feel like home.
After our rest here, we started back to Sydney in the morning. Before starting we explored little bit of this place. We had our breakfast at Pelican Rocks Seafood Restaurant and Cafe and clicked some pictures before heading back.
Source: TripAdvisor
So now, as they say "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page"
Over to you guys !!
Whats your favorite coastal drive? Do let me know.
Follow my instagram page @enroutesolace to get more of where I travel.
Thanks for reading and will come with another such amazing road trip soon.
Love you and take care ! 💓
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