Discover Lake Mac’s best springtime walks

Published on 04 November 2020

Spring is the perfect time to get outdoors in Lake Mac and discover the area’s incredible flora and fauna.

Lake Macquarie offers some of the best and most accessible wildflower walks in NSW, with the abundant springtime native blooms providing food and habitat for a diversity of birds, insects, small mammals and reptiles.

Check out six of the best wildlflower walks right on our doorstep, but don’t forget: take only photos, and leave only footprints!

1. Dudley Bluff (1.2km – easy)

This easy walk from the end of Ocean Street and onto Awabakal Nature Reserve’s sandy plateau is rewarded with some of the most spectacular coastal views in the Hunter. Along the way you’ll spot picture-perfect flannel flowers, lady finger orchids, banksias, stunning ball honey-myrtles and myriad other native species.

2. Green Point Foreshore Reserve (up to 7km – easy)

With sweeping lake views and 152ha of bush, it’s amazing this waterfront gem is not more widely known. Once a mining site, the rehabilitated reserve is teeming with native wildflowers this time of year. A meandering boardwalk about 400m in from the Valentine end is like something straight out of a storybook.

3. Wallarah National Park (5km – moderate)

Follow the track south from Caves Beach to Pinny Beach, passing through a variety of vegetation and habitats. Black-eyed susan, coastal headland pea and beautiful banksias are among the species you’ll spot here, with sea birds and raptors wheeling above.

 

4. Lake Macquarie State Conservation Area, Wangi Wangi (1.8km – easy)

Eucalypt blossoms hang overhead, sea turtles are commonly spotted swimming in the shallows nearby, and amazing orchids such as the brown beak, the waxlip and the leek orchid sprout along the track’s edge.

 

5. Galgabba Point (3.2km – easy)

Home to endangered ecological communities and threatened plant species, this lakeside peninsula south of Swansea provides beautiful sunset views over the water. Look out for flocks of black swans on the water, while on land you’ll spot wedding bush, old man banksia, bossiaea and the unusual golden mistletoe that grows as a parasite on other plants.

6. Yuelarbah Track (6.8km – moderate)

Yuelarbah is one of Lake Mac’s showcase walks, passing through a variety of bush and rainforest habitats before ending at spectacular Glenrock Lagoon and the beach. Along the way you’ll spot narrow-leaved geebung, gorse bitter pea and rough guinea flower.

 

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