This is such a magical walk – views up and down the coast, stepping it out on gorgeous beaches and plenty of natural beauty to ooh and aah at. We loved giving the North Section of the popular Kiama Coast Walk, from the mouth of the Minnamurra River to bustling Kiama, a go.
Here’s what you need to know if you’re keen to do this 9-kilometre stretch of the walk.
Family Friendly :: It’s a long walk so would only recommend it for teenagers or older primary school kids who are used to walking long distances. There are a number of spots where you’re really hugging the clifftops without any fencing so definitely not suitable for little ones.
Easily accessible :: The official starting point is at James Oates Reserve at Minnamurra. We parked the car at Kiama and caught the train to Minnamurra. There is a map of the Kiama Coast Walk at the Minnamurra train station exit. Handy to take a photo of to refer to throughout the walk because the sign posting isn’t so great – we got lost a few times!
Dog Friendly :: Yep, we saw lots of gorgeous doggos with their owners on the walk and there are plenty of off-leash areas along the way too.
Stairs :: There are a few stairs here and there, and a number of hilly climbs.
Length :: It was 9 kilometres from the Minnamurra Train Station to the Grand Hotel on Manning Street on Kiama. Yep! Our destination was the pub – totally deserved it!!
Time :: We caught the 9:05am train from Kiama which got us to Minnamurra at 9:15am. It took us about three hours to get to Kiama, with one quick stop at Bombo Headland for a muesli bar (and we took a couple of wrong turns).
MINNAMURRA TO JONES BEACH
We parked the car in Kiama and jumped on the 9:05am train to Minnamurra (weekend timetable – it was a Saturday). 10 minutes later we were standing at the exit of Minnamurra Train Station in front of a big map of the Kiama Coast Walk. From the sign, head straight up North Street (it’s the road in front of you) and turn right at Charles Avenue until you get to James Oates Reserve which is second on your left.
James Oates Reserve is at the mouth of the Minnamurra River and the official start of the Kiama Coast Walk.
Head up towards Minnamurra Point and then Minnamurra Lookout, where you can look south and see across to your destination – Kiama (well, you can see the Kiama Lighthouse from here). Or look back towards where you came from and get a gorgeous view of the mouth of the Minnamurra River.
Follow the coast path down towards Jones Beach. You’ll head into a car park and then residential streets at Eureka Avenue. Take your first left onto Johnson Street which will bring you down to Jones Beach.
Now, you can do two things here. You can take the pathway down to the beach (the pathway is opposite Millar Place) and walk along the beach for a couple of hundred metres, peeling back off the beach when you see Kiama Downs Surf Lifesaving Club, then continue along North Kiama Drive.
Or you can stay on the pathway that runs along Johnson Street, turning left at North Kiama Drive, if you don’t want to get sand in your sneakers!
North Kiama Drive turns into Cliff Drive. Follow Cliff Drive – you’ll come across a good photo opp here, looking back at Cathedral Rocks, which is a beautiful rock formation at the base of the cliff. It’s less of a lookout and more of a reserve where you can grab a good pic. Punch 36 Cliff Drive, Kiama Downs into Google maps to find it if you get stuck.
BOMBO HEADLAND
We continued along towards Bombo Headland. You can take one of two options here.
Turn left at the sign for Bombo Headland. You’ll head down some stairs and onto a boardwalk before popping out at The Boneyard Beach, a pebbly but sheltered beach facing north. This would be a good spot for a mid-walk dip in the warmer months.
We followed the pathway along the coastal path to Bombo Headland. From there you can see some very cool rock formations known as Bombo Headland Quarry. This is when your scientist partner comes in handy. I was all like ‘Oh, look at the gorgeous rocks’. He was all like ‘They look like basalt columns to me.’ Turns out we were both right. They ARE basalt columns and they ARE gorgeous! This is a heritage-listed former quarry and now classed as a geological site.
We stopped and had a bit of a break here. A few minutes to catch our breath, chomp on a muesli bar, have a drink of some water, take some pics and recalibrate for the final leg to Kiama. After our break, we followed the path down towards Bombo Beach (it was a little funky-smellin’ when we walked past the Treatment Plant – must be the Treatment Plant with the best view in Australia!!).
The other alternative is to not check out Bombo Headland and follow the walk down to Bombo Headland Car Park. This will shave a couple of kilometres off your walk, but we actually enjoyed the views from the Headland, so if you’ve got it in you, give it a crack. Your Insta feed will thank you.
BOMBO BEACH TO KIAMA BLOWHOLE
Here’s another either / or decision for you. When you get to Bombo Beach, you can either get those calves pumping and walk on the sand to the southern end of the beach where you’ll tuck off to the right and walk under the trainline. This will pop you out onto Hothersal Street where you turn left and head up the hill towards Gipps Street where you will turn left again (it’s a bit of a heart starter up the hill!) . Gipps Street is the main road into town from the north and turns into Collins Street.
OR follow the road around from Bombo Headland Car Park and turn right before the train station. Turn left onto Hutchinson Street and follow the path on the westside of the Princes Highway and train tracks (you go past Kiama Cemetery) before crossing Spring Creek (under the Highway) and joining up to Hothersal Street.
We thoroughly recommend Option 2 because we realised too late that doing some soft sand walking in our eighth kilometre wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do! Add a delightful headwind into the mix and that part of our walk actually wasn’t that much fun! I just kept thinking of that celebratory wine at the end of the walk to get me through!
So whichever way you decide to get to the southern end of Bombo Beach, you’ll end up on Gipps Street. This will take you right into town – we loved wandering along Collins Street and checking out some of the fab stores here and listening to the chatter of people eating outdoors at the gorgeous cafes along this street.
Or you can peel off at Fitzroy Street, then turn left at Pheasant Point Drive to stickybeak at some pretty stunning clifftop homes. Pheasant Point Drive will bring you around to the Kiama Harbour waterfront. Just follow the pathway along the waterfront until you get to the Kiama Blowhole and the Kiama Lighthouse (always a good destination landmark to keep your eye on).
Or do what we did and head straight to the pub! It had been quite the walk by then and that headwind on Bombo Beach stuffed us. And seeing we had been to the Kiama Blowhole a number of times before, we knew that it was some pork belly and a glass of wine at the Grand Hotel on Manning Street that was going to give us what we needed at that point! Yum!
