Date: 30/9/2026
Trip leader: Bruce Stafford
Party: Aidan, Churuo (Tracey), Hadrian, Matthew, Suellen, Xingming.
Helensburgh to Stanwell Park Beach WEDNESDAY 30/9/2026
This walk was an easy fairly short day trip on a weekday in the middle of the mid-semester break.
Our members got on the train at various stations along the South Coast Line, with Aidan meeting us at Helensburgh Station.
At Helensburgh we set off along the short walk to the first tunnel to visit, Old Helensburgh Tunnel, which is only 80 metres long – and no glowworms. Tracey posed in one of the tunnel refuges, placed every 50 metres in all tunnels to retreat into if a train came. This tunnel, like the next one, has not had a train since 1915!
Then we went to Metropolitan Tunnel, the one with glowworms. I did not go too far in, but the others went in far enough to see glowworms. After having a look (and experiencing the very damp muddy floor of this old tunnel, everyone came out to head back to Helensburgh Station for the next train to Otford, one stop further on.
Metropolitan Tunnel is 600 metres long and blocked at the other (south) end as the land at that end is leased by the Metropolitan Coal Mine. It mones metallurgical coal for steel-making, so is not likely to close anytime soon. Ironically, if this tunnel was ever opened up again at it’s south end, it would likely not be so suitable to glowworms as it would become much drier with a constant breeze.
At this point I received a text from another person who had missed the train at Central and was on the following one 40 minutes later and had just got off at Helensburgh. I texted her to say that we were coming back. Unfortunately another express train which was running late followed it into Helensburgh (first stop Thirroul not Otford) and she got on. As a result she missed the train to Otford and ended up unable to be on the walk.
So we went to Helensburgh station for the next train to Otford, which curiously was a four car “Marry-young” D set instead of the usual suburban “Tangara” sets. Maybe the present state government is worried that Wollongong people won’t vote for them in the NSW state election next March so are putting on the more “modern” trains (but like most Tangaras have non-reversible seats). Incidentally, certain anonymous railway bureaucrats have made on-line comments in Youtube and elsewhere that the “Marry-young” sets have that seating arrangement as “they are not suburban trains”.So, why are they on the Wollongong suburban runs!
Anyway, enough about “Marry-young” trains (for now). We got off at Otford and then set off up the hill then right into “Station Road, which for half its length is just a shaded track. It becomes a proper road near Otford School and then we turned left onto Domville Road and then the fairly steep climb up to Lady Wakehurst Drive and the “Otford Pantry” cafe. The cafe was not open this day but we could use the seats outside for lunch.
After a half hour break we then set off for the Bald Hill Lookout on the track which more or less follows beside Lady Wakehurst Drive. Along the way we were “serenaded” by several motorbikes with loud exhausts (as motorbikes do have) and a pair of Porsches with loud “look at me in my flash car” exhausts.
Anyway we reached Bald Hill Lookout which is claimed to have one of the best sea views in Australia, It overlooks Stanwell Park Beach and the South Coast as far as Port Kembla, The Sea View Bridge at Scarborough is in the middle distance (see Matthew’s photos). It is also a popular place for hang gliders but there were none there this day.
Then we proceeded down the Bald Hill Track which was completed only about 2 years ago which takes us to the bottom of the hill to near Stanwell Park Beach. At “Chellowdene Avenue” (which here is just a wide dirt trail) there was an opportunity to go to Old Otford Tunnel, but I decided to leave that side trip for another day (that tunnel does not have glowworms and is very long at 1.5km). And so we continued on the track to reach a street called “The Drive” above the beach. We left that road to go down the “shortcut” short but steep track down the cliff face to get to the actual beach. That track has got a but overgrown with Lomandra but also “ Asparagus Fern” (Asparagus aethiopicus), which is a declared noxious weed. Originally from South Africe, it is a garden escape with quite spikey stems so care needs to be taken not to touch one.
We walked along the beach to where the lifeguards had put up flags, and some of our party went in for a short swim in the rather cold sea (still 17 or 18C thanks to the El Nino effect). Once again, I found that international students do not know what the red and yellow flags are for – the flags show the area which the lifeguards have found safe to swim in. The sea was rather rough as well. Soon it was time to head off to the station, and Aidan went to the change rooms in the big park behind the beach. Unfortunately, Suellen made the mistake a few have done on past walks here in assuming that the nearby “Helensburgh Stanwell Park Surf Club” building has toilets and chage ropoms; it does not. Although there are toilets nearby (fitted with a 10 minute time limit like New York City has installed in it’s public “bathrooms”) there is no change room here (or cold showers). So Suellen had to make do with disappearing behind a wall to get changed. We thus did lose a bit of time so had to go straight up to Stanwell Park Station via boring unshaded Station Street instead of the scenic shaded route through the big park and past the chooks.
We made it to Stanwell Park Station with about 5 minutes to spare for the train arrival. As it was a local train (also a “Marry-young” set) we had to change trains at Helensburgh for the express train to Sydney Central. It arrived about 10 minutes late and also continued to lose time as far as Hurstville where it arrived about 25 minutes late. Here it was rescheduled to not stop at Wolli Creek so Tracey had to change trains at Hurstville (when Wolli Creek Station was built as part of the Airport line opening on 21 May 2000, it was built without any platforms on the two adjacent “local” tracks, a silly decision which complicates train scheduling on that line. Indeed it is planned by the end of this year not to have the express South Coast trains stop at Wolli Creek, a bad decision given that Wolli Creek is the interchange station for the Airport Line).
By the time the train reached Central I had well and truly missed my Central Coast train and only had a few minutes to spare to get the next one. Meanwhile I came across Danny Lim at Central, a local character whom you probably have seen in various locations in the City. Say hello to Danny whenever you see him.
So we had a good time on this walk which was on a day with nice weather and not too hot. We saw no whales this time, unlike the trip here last year. Maybe because of the colder temperature of the ocean water.
There was one “no-show” who has made no contact with me (not the person who missed the train BTW).. Aidan made the walk “by the skin of his teeth” (as the saying goes) as he had a new mobile phone which it seems was not showing messages properly, A text message early on the morning of the walk saved the situation for him (fortunately he got three hours notice to drive to Helensburgh).
The last nine of these photos are by Matthew – thank you, Matthew.
