palona-cave-walk-royal-national-park-sydney

Palona Cave Walk In Royal National Park Sydney

Wanting to know what Palona Cave Walk in The Royal National Park in Sydney is like? Find out more about this lesser known Sydney walk you’ll more than likely have to yourself.

After I posted a picture on Instagram of a hike and swim I did through the incredible Mares Forest Canyon track in Wombeyan Caves (4 hours from Sydney), a guy called Alan saw my photo, felt inspired, and went and did that hike himself.

My picture which changed it all for Alan

Fast forward to a year later, Alan found himself going on regular hikes.  He’s since started a page on Facebook called Sydney Wild Swimming Adventures. It’s really impressive how he’s built a substantial following over the last few months, and regularly sees thousands of views on his hiking videos he shares.

Recently, Alan asked me to join one of his up and coming monthly hikes he organises on his new Facebook page Sydney Wild Swimming Hiking Group, so of course, a good opportunity to meet the man himself and other like minded peeps was good enough reason to go along.

Image by Red Imagination

I haven’t ever done any guided hikes in Sydney before (around the world yes, but not in Sydney), so I didn’t really know what to expect. We all met up at Waterfall Station just around the corner from the car park to the start of the walk so those without a car could also join. This meant I got to meet quite a few people who had recently moved to Sydney from USA, The Philippines and Spain.

Alan made it seem like a breeze to handle 20 people in the group and guided us all on a 6km hike to Palona Cave Walk in The Royal National Park, just 1 hour south of Sydney. The walk itself was easy and anyone could do it as you walk along the Lady Carrington Drive trail. Bikes passed us by on this track as well so it wasn’t in rough terrain. It’s just over an hour’s hike return if you’re not stopping for photos. There were leeches out and about so I’d recommend covering up if you’re thinking of exploring the area!

Image by Red Imagination

We were lucky to even have Alan’s friend, “G” Gunawan Red, a local professional photographer to take some Instagram worthy shots for us all! He’s a professional photographer and regularly joins Alan on his monthly hikes so he can continue his love for landscape photography. All the photography pictured in this post is by G. Check out his website Red Imagination for more of his awesome work.

Image by Red Imagination

If you are looking for a hiking or walking group in Sydney or you just want to get out of the city for a day, join Alan’s facebook here to keep up to date with his monthly meets. Best of all, these monthly hikes are COMPLETELY FREE!!

Image by Red Imagination

Check out the video I made of this walk!

Have you been on any hiking group walks in Sydney recently and what were they like? Let us know in the comments below!