This leg of the Great North Walk is a lush escape from the Sydney grind that offers plenty to see, do and eat..
For the last few months, we have been nibbling away at the 250-kilometre Great North Walk from central Sydney to Newcastle. Completed in 1988, this network of tracks offers a perfect cross-section of central NSW as it traverses cityscapes, national parks, beaches and suburban back streets. We have been digesting it in single-servings, indulging ourselves in extended day trips of eight to 15 kilometres with time to explore food and sights on either side.
While always flirting with the built environment, each segment feels like stepping into a parallel world that is distantly connected to the surrounding city. There is a special joy reserved for discovering something new in familiar places and no one section better captures this feeling than the Benowie Track from Thornleigh to Hornsby. Here, any concept of being in Australia’s largest city is stripped away and you are transported to a different place and time.
