Cowan Creek history walk

A beautiful and refreshing walk, the Cowan Creek history walk (NSW, Australia) is full of history (as the walk promises) and scenic spots. Parts of it are very easy to walk on with clearly marked tracks, but parts of it can be confusing – just the thing for a challenging walk.

The walk covers both Aboriginal and early European history, with boatsheds, middens, rock engravings and rusting remnants from times gone by. This walk is best done on a sunny day, not just to enjoy the views of Cowan Creek and to rest under huge gum trees, but also to navigate the somewhat dark and deeply shaded parts of the track.

The entire walk is close to 11km and starts at the Mount Ku-ring-gai railway station and ends at the Berowra railway station. Key points along the way include Apple Tree Bay with its oyster shells and boathouse ruins, Winson Bay with its shallow water and gum trees, the rock platforms of Lords Bay, and Waratah Bay where Edward Windybank lived with his family and ran his boat building business in the 1890s.

Cowan Creek is full of motorboats and parties of people on houseboats, as well as a few jet ski riders but we didn’t find it too disturbing. The environment just absorbs the sounds and its vastness makes you feel all this can exist together.

Vast and beautiful...

This walk is filled with expansive green vistas that come around every corner – these views are breathtaking. There are lots of cool spots to rest in and have a snack, but make sure you finish the walk before it gets dark.

The most amazing thing for me was how the track seemed to peter out, just to emerge on the opposite side of a creek. Whenever we came across a spot like that we thought we’d have to turn back – it really appeared to be completely beyond crossing, with moss-ridden rocks, around which water flowed incessantly. It even looked a little dangerous. But careful, slow and steady footholds made it possible to get to the middle of the creek, at which point a faint track appeared. The trick is – don’t give up, keep going.

Don't let this stop you - keep going

It can get a little tiring towards the end, when you’ve walked for about three hours and then realise the rest of the way is all uphill, on a cobblestone road. This path ends rather abruptly with a bit of a jump to a flat rock with water running through to a waterway below.

From this point on, the track turns into a rather uneven and winding one – going up. It may be a good idea to have a strong stick to get some leverage. In any case you soon end up at the station, and that’s not a bad way to end a walk.

The Cowan Creek walk is one to be enjoyed slowly. So, let your eyes just drink in the green, wander over the shiny blue waters and let the walking begin.

So much green...