Bonnie Vale

Two weeks after the island

This was our second camping trip, two weeks after Cockatoo Island, and the first one taught us plenty, so we went again. Three families this time — the same three who have camped together at several of the places on this site, North Narrabeen among them — with five children between us. The eldest was thirteen; the youngest was not yet four and had a friend his own age; the other two were in between.

The booking was for two nights, 14 to 16 October. It was not a long weekend and one night was all we wanted, so we checked in on the Saturday and packed up on the Sunday afternoon.

Our own trailer, for the first time

It was also the first trip with a trailer of our own: a box trailer, bought for this trip. The rooftop tent that now sits on it came later. We had towed once before, a hired trailer to Old Adaminaby in 2022, but backing a trailer into a campsite is a skill, and on the day it was one I did not have. One of the other fathers had more towing experience and reversed it in for us, and where it still would not go we unhitched it and walked it into place by hand, slowly.

An evening, a morning, no surprises

The campground is on the water: a minute or two across the grass and you are on the sand. As the light went we opened up the barbecue and the three families cooked together — paneer first, for the vegetarians among us, then chicken on the same grill.

Early on the Sunday I went for a stroll around the campground along the water’s edge with the friend who owns the kayak — the same friend I walked down to the ocean pool with at first light at North Narrabeen. The drowned trees photographed at 07:33 are from that morning.

The rest of the morning was warm and sunny. We set up a table and a small camp kitchen of our own under one of the shelters at the campground’s barbecue areas, then carried the chairs down to the beach and sat in the shade of a tree with the water in front of us. The children spent the morning in the sand. The friend who had brought his inflatable kayak to North Narrabeen brought it here too and took the children out one at a time, and another friend hired a stand-up paddleboard. The eldest got out a chess board and played the adults and the younger children in turn. The rest of us talked. It was short and sweet, with no surprises at all.

What we have learned here

It is a national park campground, and it runs like one. There is a boom gate, and the campground past it is for people with a booking. Before the gate is a public picnic area on the same beach, so there are day visitors on the sand too. While we were there rangers walked the campground checking each car.

Vehicle entry is on top of the camping fee. NPWS charges $12 a vehicle a day to enter the park, separately from the site. Check-in is 2 pm and check-out 10 am.

The amenities are on a code. Toilets and showers opened with a PIN we were given for the stay — the first time we had come across it. Keep it on your phone.

Bring your own kitchen. There are barbecue areas with shade shelters, and a table with a small camp kitchen set up under one worked well for a morning.

Kayaks and paddleboards. Hire is available nearby, and NPWS names the Bonnie Vale picnic area as a place to launch.

New to towing? Practise reversing first. Somewhere empty, before the day, and do not be too proud to unhitch and move the trailer by hand.

• Bonnie Vale beach and the tidal flatsThe campground fronts a sheltered estuarine beach on Cabbage Tree Basin, inside Port Hacking — flat protected water rather than surf, which is why it suits small children.The NPWS campground map marks tidal sand flats exposed at low tide, so at low water you get a wide wading and shell-hunting flat and very little swimming depth.Plan a swim around high tide. No lifeguard.$12 per vehicle per day, on top of camping
• Jibbon Beach and the Jibbon Head engravingsThe Jibbon Loop is about five kilometres, easy, roughly two hours, from Bundeena wharf or Loftus Street — fifteen to twenty minutes’ walk from the campground to the trailhead.The engravings are viewable: NPWS built a boardwalk and viewing platform after decades of open access caused deterioration.This is Dharawal Country, managed with the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council.Jibbon Beach itself is a calm north-facing swimming beach with middens behind it.Free if you walk from the campground
• Kayaks and paddleboards at Bonnie ValeBundeena Kayaks operates from the Bonnie Vale picnic ground on Sea Breeze Lane — from the campground’s own beach, so no drive at all.Seven days, 6 to 6, weather permitting.Children from five with an adult, and everyone must be a swimmer.Booking recommended in peak periods, walk-ups taken.Single kayak $30–$75 · double $60–$130 · paddleboard $30–$75
• Bundeena villageThere is a full IGA at 96–98 Loftus Street, open 8 to 8 seven days — the practical detail for campers, because it means you do not have to carry a week’s food in.The community club at 69–71 Loftus Street serves food daily 12 to 8. There are cafes.There is no bakery and no pub that we could verify against any primary source, so do not plan around either.Free to walk in
• The Bundeena–Cronulla ferryAbout thirty minutes each way, and a genuine car-free way in — from Bundeena wharf it is about fifteen minutes’ walk to Bonnie Vale.Weekdays roughly hourly 5:30 to 6:30; weekends and public holidays 8:30 to 6:30 in summer, 8:30 to 5:30 June to August.The catch: Opal is not accepted and you cannot pre-book — pay on board by card or cash.In poor weather they run a bus instead, so check before relying on a sailing.One way: adult $9.40 · child 4–15 $4.70 · family $26
• Audley boatshed and the causewayAbout twenty minutes back up Bundeena Drive.Rowboats, canoes and kayaks with life jackets included, and NPWS suggests an easy four-kilometre return paddle up Kangaroo Creek.Open 10 to 5 Tuesday to Sunday, closed Mondays unless a public holiday.The Audley Dance Hall Cafe is beside it, with free barbecues, flush toilets and drinking water, and NPWS rates disability access here as medium.We have not published hire prices — the operator’s own price list would not load.$12 per vehicle per day · hire prices not published
• WattamollaAbout twenty-five minutes.The lagoon is the reason to go with young children — NPWS describes calm water for snorkelling, swimming and liloing and says it suits small children.But the ocean beach alongside has strong rips and no lifeguards.Two live catches: NPWS says the car park often fills before midday on a hot weekend.And the pontoon has been removed for maintenance to 30 September 2026, so beach access is via stairs at the eastern end and a crossing through water that varies with the tide.Bring all your drinking water.$12 per vehicle per day
• NPWS guided nature walk at Bonnie ValeNinety minutes, 10 to 11:30, leaving from the campground — mangroves, or the beach and rocky shore depending on the tide.NPWS rates it easy, about a kilometre on flat ground, and suitable for all ages, which makes it one of very few structured options here at toddler scale.Booking required, and the listing is sparse between October and January, so check dates.Adult $15 · concession $13 · child $11, plus park entry
• Wedding Cake Rock — read this before you goNot a family walk, and not what the photographs suggest.NPWS states the white colour is caused by iron leaching that makes the sandstone “dangerously soft, prone to cracking and at very high risk of collapse”.Many visitors have been injured there, and you must stay behind the fences.A permanent fence surrounds it — you cannot lawfully stand on it.It is at least an hour each way from Bundeena on a track NPWS calls rough, steep and rocky.Free on foot from Bundeena
• The Figure Eight Pools — we are not recommending theseWe have included them only because people come looking.NPWS says the pools sit on a dangerous rock shelf, and that the ocean “can be calm for a couple of minutes before a series of big waves can suddenly smash the rock shelf”.NPWS also says people are often dragged across the shelf by freak waves, and that they have seen head injuries, broken bones and bad cuts.No lifeguards, no rescue services, limited phone coverage, and some injured visitors have had to stay overnight because access is so poor.The walk is six kilometres return, about two hours each way, and NPWS states plainly that it is not suitable for young children or prams.Free

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