"Budawang National Park" a Budawang Range Travel Page by M0B1US

Situated 3-4 hours south of Sydney along the NSW coast are the twin national parks of Budawang and Morton, which encompass the eastern ranges of Australia's Great Dividing Range as they tumble down towards the sea. In fact Pigeon House Mountain was named by Captain Cook and used as a landmark on his journey of discovery!

The nearest major town is Nowra and the turn off for the parks is at Ulladulla, where there is also a good camping shop. A bit further south are Bateman's Bay and the lesser known but incredibly beautiful Jervis Bay.

These rugged, proud peaks and dominating cliff lines are protected by Morton and Budawang National Parks. Drive to Nowra on the New South Wales southern coast and be bathed in wilderness!

It is a stunning country of lush rainforests and rugged peaks with dizzying cliffsides - a true hikers paradise!

One of the things that immediately strikes you after driving about 20km into the wilderness to the edge of the parks is the amazing solitude - on our first full day, we encountered no signs of anyone else in the park! This truly is Bushwalking at its finest!

Read my travelogue : for a full account of the highs and lows of my journey...

Remember to think ahead and write a list of everything you need - if you forget things there is a great camping gear shop in Ulladulla.

Also, it is an hard walk with the potential for much to go wrong. It is therefore recommended that you are experienced walkers before embarking on this walk. In our party there were only two of us that weren't very experienced and one of our party had already made this hike a few years earlier. If in doubt there are a number of companies that arrange treks and canoeing expeditions into the Budawangs.

Check out the website below, not that I know much about them as such, it is an example...

http://www.parktours.com.au/news/August2002/budawangs.htm

You need your own transport to reach the insertion and extraction point and then it's walking all the way, baby!

Being very fit would help as well because we're talking a lot of uphill walking, some climbing and the fact you have to carry everything you need into the camp...

An alternative would be to leave things up to the professionals and go with a tour.