The Centre Trail is another track that I’ve never been particularly excited about, being a firetrail that doesn’t really go anywhere… It starts and finishes on General San Martin Drive, following a ridge between a large loop in the road. Starting at the eastern (West Head) end, the track was initially steep and rocky – it was graded in 2021 and the initial section is now a more of a road than a firetrail!
After a short distance, there’s a sandstone platform which has some Aboriginal engravings and a view to the south over Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, with the Baha’i Temple in the distance. (The rock art is not signposted – please take care not to walk or ride over them!)
After another short distance, the Centre Trail makes a hard left-hand turn, while a narrow walking trail continues straight ahead to a lookout. If you continue to the lookout, you’ll reach a long and wide tesselated sandstone platform. It provides views to the west, over the national park and Coal and Candle Creek.
As well as some interesting rock formations, there’s another Aboriginal engraving – a pair of mundoes (footprints). Mundoes often indicate a spiritual path to be followed or point to a sacred Aboriginal site.
The lookout is the highlight of the walk, and is a great spot to watch the sun set!
The rest of the track is pleasant, but not particularly exciting… it’s perhaps better suited as a mountain biking trail (bikes are allowed), being fairly flat and mostly smooth.
Near the middle of the Centre Track is a large sandstone platform, with views over the bush.
It’s definitely worth the short walk up to the lookout – but there’s much better bushwalks nearby if you’re bushwalking.
0.0km Start of Centre Trail (eastern or West Head end) 0.5km Junction with side-track to lookout 0.6km Centre Track Lookout 3.7km End of Centre Trail (western end) 7.2km Return to eastern end of Centre Trail
More information on Centre Trail
- National Parks (NPWS) – Centre Trail
- Wildwalks – Centre Track track notes
- Centre Trail Figures Aboriginal engraving site
For more bushwalking suggestions, have a look at the Guide to Ku-ring-gai Chase, which lists all the official and informal routes in the park.
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