First time visitor to this awesome place where we decided to catchup over a bbq with friends…read more Access is by boat, ferry or water taxi. Unsure if you can drive here as I didn't see any cars. What struck me immediately is the local swamp wallabies that coexist with the visitors and rangers. Sightings on the day included kookaburras, various birds and reptiles. It is the only place in the Ku-ring-gai Chase where you can camp. Being part of a national park, ongoing conservation and preservation is by way of entrance fees ($3 per head), which is separate to camping fees. Restrictions applies to this beautiful place i.e. fires. The campsite is well maintained and very clean. Plenty of hiking opportunities for those who are keen as it is surrounded by hills and mountains There is a body of water that is safe for some water sports. Bbq facilities is also available which we took advantage of. Beechwood Cottage is a historical property which is available to hire for functions and events. This place is great if you want to get away for the weekends with or without the kids. It overlooks Pittwater and is just a beautiful place to hang and chill.

This is a great beach and camping area, with mountains all around. Access is by boat or trails…read more No vehicles allowed. It's not a pristine sand beach, more like sand based mud, but has nice calm clear water on the back harbour side. The place has lots of space to picnic and relax. Everything is clean. And the kids get to run after the wallaby(ies) when they hop by. We went in by boat, which is a great way to arrive. There are lots of tent campers, most of which seemed to arrive and bring their gear in by boat. Several ferries service the area.

We stayed here for two nights in June. The campground was practically empty since it's winter…read more There are 74 sites with about half on the beach side. Cost is $32 a night. Since it's winter, we opted for a site on the side opposite of the beach because there is no shelter from the wind on the beach side. The campground had two bathroom buildings. The bathrooms had showers and a lot of flushing toilets. One of the three sinks had hot water. There is also a sink to wash dishes. Bonnie Vale is one of the better campgrounds I've stayed at. They have more amenities than a lot of other places. In addition to the bathrooms, there are also picnic tables and electric stoves for those of us who want to have a picnic and go swimming in the ocean. I definitely recommend Bonnie Vale campground if you're looking for camouflage ng with full amenities. As if that's not enough, there is also an IGA in town which is a few minutes drive from the campground.

The Great Aussie Bush Camp is an amazing camp. It has so many great activities like a giant swing,…read morehigh ropes, rock climbing and bush craft. The dining at The Great Aussie Bush Camp was surprisingly great except for the spaghetti which was watery and nobody ate. The rest of the camp was amazing. Don't listen to the 1,2 or 3 star reviews because they are exaggerating. The giant swing was Had no seat which is why I didn't put it as a 5 star review. Everything at the Great Aussie Bush Camp is safe and enjoyable unless you don't like the activity which is very unlikely. The instructors will get you excited.

Lord. This place is even worse than New York Public Bathrooms. Yes, the Giant Swing was fun, but…read moreall the activities of course, had to be ruined by instructors. Not to mention, the food tastes like cardboard and glorified water. Spaghetti at Tea Gardens taste like someone added noodles to soggy water, the bread seems more sad than me and the nachos: you normally can't mess up nachos - but nope. The Nachos were soft as hell and the salsa tasted like rat piss. Not to mention the instructors ding Dong ditch, sweat and physically assault people and, some pervert at my school looked in my bathroom, naked. Speaking if the bathroom, the hygiene and cleaning is more than horrendous. Even my poop is more cleaner than the bathrooms, and it smelled like someone added fart spray. And the cabins and mess hall looked like prisons. Horrendous.

Located about 5km from Hornsby or 25km from Sydney, this has got to be one of the best National…read moreParks on offer. There is not much that you can not do here no matter your interest. If you are after camping, picnic areas, hiking, bike riding, BBQ areas, canoeing, fishing, swimming, or even boating/sailing, then this is the place for you to head to when you get a spare day. I say day as to make the trip here worthwhile, that is about how much time it will require. Besides that, as entry to the park is not free, if you are after your money's worth, you should try and stick around a bit. While the obvious fee is the $11/car ticket machines you see everywhere, the website goes into a little bit more detail. While I have not yet had to pay anything more than the $11 before, the details of potential other charges from the website include: Daily entry fees: if you're arriving by bus or car and walking or cycling to The Basin you'll need to pay daily entry fees of $4 adults, $2 children (pre-booked groups) or $4.40 adults, $2.20 children (groups without a booking); there is no daily entry fee for teachers/educational supervisors (1 adult per 10 children). Also, while I added an approximate opening and closing time for the gates to Yelp, different gates have different opening and closing times depending on the time of year. Thus... Gates to Bobbin Head and Appletree Bay are closed from 8pm to 6am during daylight savings periods, and 5.30pm to 6am at other times of the year. Gates to West Head are closed from 8.30pm to 6am during daylight savings periods, and 6pm to 6am at other times of the year. In this park, vehicle entry fees are $11 per vehicle per day. Be sure to check this park out if you have the chance as it really is stunning. Best of all, the Bobbin Inn actually has half decent coffee and breaky on offer (review http://frid.co/smNIYr ) so you might want to start your day there... :-)

I went to the Great Aussie Bush Camp with my grade. When we got there it was time to settle into…read moreour cabins. My friends and I was at cabin 1 , however our cabin wasn't built yet, so we had to stay in the scorching sun whilst the others had a shaded room! Then after that we had lunch. I was expecting worse , but I had just eaten the most delicious burger ever! Who knew buns, a patty, cheese and tomato sauce could be so tasty. After that we had archery which was nothing much. Archery is more easier said then done! Then we had giant swing and I was shaking in my boots! My group and I only went halfway and it was still very scary and thrilling. My suggestion is if you're scared of heights ask to only go halfway, trust me, but it was still very fun! Dinner was horrid! Spaghetti, how bad could it be? Even worse than you'd ever imagine. They literally just put spaghetti and spaghetti water and that was it no flavor at all, except the disgusting taste! if you are eating dinner here, don't. Just eat the garlic bread only. And commando sucked! The night guard wasn't scary. In the morning I did raft building which was amazing! The aim of the activity was to build a buoyant raft to hold one of the groups members. Then put the raft in the water and have a relay race. I was the one on the raft since I was the lightest and it was great! Then we had an anti bullying discussion. I don't know why we needed this but it was okay. after that lunch was great! We had sausages. they were fine overall 3 stars, would recommend the camp leaders were nice however my peers in my grade kept ding dong ditching people at night!The bugs really sucked, mosquitos everywhere! And that was basically it.

It was horrendous. When we arrived we were served yellow, moldy burger.That whole trip I starved to…read moredeath. The spaghetti was watery and groos, the fried rice wasn't even cooked. Also why do the teachers get seafood platters and steak while we get dog food.One of my friends got really sick from the food and had to miss out from commando. The tent were terrible. We slept on yoga mats and mine was broken so i kept sliding onto my friends head. All of our beds were covered in sand then at the end of the camp we were the ones that had to sweep it up. Don't bang on about how "OH it's a camping experience". NO when i go camping my tents don't have holes in them. The activities were fun but my instructor Mitch was really rude. He would always yell at us if we asked a question. I loved commando though. Oh and don't get me started on the bathroom. The bottom of the shower door went up to my knees, like privacy please. There was also mud and old, used toilet paper on the floor. All in all it was a bad experience.

Fred Caterson Reserve is close by to the centre of Castle Hill yet once you enter the grounds you…read morefeel as if you have escaped to the bush. I don't know how many hectares it covers but it is large. It contains a baseball diamond, cricket pitch, basketball centre, bike tracks plus a number of other things that I can't remember. Lots of kids play sport there and there is a natural friendliness about the whole place. The Hills Hornets have their home base there. There's plenty of parking for each one of the separate fields and during the week they're full. A great place to take kids if you have just moved to the area, let them choose which discipline they want.

Fred Caterson is a basic rec centre for basketball. It has 4 courts and the surface is generally…read morewill maintained. There's no air conditioning though so it can get quite hot, but I've never seen anyone leave the game due to cramping (take that, LeBron) The refs are either hit or miss, and you can usually get a good game during the week when they don't have camps on.

A delightful surprise. Staying at the Sport & Rec camp…read morenearby, some staff wanted to explore the local area on a much deserved night off! We rang the Club to be on the Pick-Up service operated by the Bowlo. A friendly driver arrived in a timely fashion & our group of 8 were pleased to be leaving a camp of teenagers behind us! The menu offered a good selection. As it was Tuesday there was a Pizza Special : any pizza on menu plus a drink $15. Some of my friends opted for this. Others chose seafood, my neighbour had pasta & I ordered Lamb Shanks.... as I often do! There were a few desserts available too. I enjoyed every bite of the Rum & Raisin Creme Brûlée as my mates tucked into a decadent choc tart. Wine by glass or bottle was reasonably priced. Wow, a pleasant surprise. And when we were ready to return to real life the mini bus was there to chauffeur us back.

Worst place I have ever lived in in my entire life. One night I had people banging on my caravan…read morewalls telling me they were going to come in and rape me. Another night someone banged on my wall and asked me if they could come and take a piss in my sink. One night someone literally walked right into my caravan asking if I had any weed. The stuff of nightmares. And then when I finally left after my six month lease was up the manager had the nerve to keep my deposit claiming that I hadn't paid my water and electricity in months. Apparently finding excuses to keep deposits is a common thing. Someone else where I live said that she had had her deposit kept because apparently they claimed she had taken the stove from the room with her. AVOID AT ALL COST