Type

Picnic areas

Where

Seven Mile Beach National Park in South Coast

Accessibility

Easy

Opening times

In summer, Gerroa picnic area is open from 6am until 8pm everyday closed overnight. In winter, the picnic area is open 6am to 6pm.

What to
bring

Hat, sunscreen, drinking water

Please note

Remember to take your binoculars if you want to birdwatch.

Surrounded by bush, yet only moments away from the beach, Gerroa picnic area is a perfect way to escape and unwind. It’s accessible and offers something for everyone, yet remarkably secluded and peaceful.

Find a grassy patch under the trees and spread out your blanket, or set up your feast on one of the picnic tables provided. After lunch, why not wander over the dunes to the nearby Seven Mile Beach for a swim or a spot of fishing? Take in fresh sea air and stroll along the golden stretch of beach.

If you enjoy birdwatching, take a walk through the forests along the Sand track walk (north) towards Beach Road picnic area. Look out for the white-naped Honeyeater, little wattlebird or the black-faced cuckoo-shrike. But when all else fails, just sit back, relax and enjoy the tranquil surroundings with a good book and the sound of the waves breaking in the distance.

For directions, safety and practical information, see visitor info

Visitor info

Maps and downloads

Learn more

Aboriginal culture

The park’s beach, forest and wetland environments near Coomonderry Swamp were once important sources of food and materials for Aboriginal people. Part of the Dharawal language group, they had strong associations with other groups north to Sydney, inland to the southern highlands and south as far as Gippsland in Victoria. Today, you can see shell middens along the length of the foredune and in the forest. There are also several important ceremonial and culturally significant sites for Aboriginal people within the park.

Aviation history

Sir Charles Kingsford Smith started his historic 1933 trans-Tasman flight to New Plymouth in New Zealand from Seven Mile Beach. This flight led to the inauguration of the trans-Tasman airmail service, making Seven Mile Beach a significant place in aviation history. In November 1933, Kingsford Smith ran passenger flights from the beach and in 1934, he used it for an emergency landing.

It's a wild world

For animal-lovers, Seven Mile Beach National Park has lots to offer. There are great birdwatching opportunities in the tall forests and at Coomonderry Swamp. Rainbow lorikeets, king parrots, and rosellas can all be seen, whilst thornbills, wrens, New Holland honeyeaters and brown cuckoo doves are also in abundance. There are also plenty of small mammals to see, such as antechinus and a range of tree-dwelling mammal species. As you wander through the forests, keep your eyes out for the greater gliders found in the park. Gliders are best seen at night, so be sure to enquire about a spotlight walk with NPWS Discovery Ranger.

Unique landscape

This park supports several significant and endangered natural habitats. The forests are one of the last intact areas of Bangalay and blackbutt sand dune forest on the south coast. Coomonderry Swamp is also the only large semi-permanent freshwater wetland on the south coast. The area is significant as it shows a relatively intact example of a large scale dune barrier formed during the end of the last ice age, approximately 6000 years ago.