Urban dwellers longing for a break from Sydney’s car horns and carbon monoxide are just 10 minutes from a fair dinkum national park

By Lee Atkinson

The city skyline is twinkling on the not-so-distant horizon, but we could be a million miles from Sydney as we gaze at a family of lorikeets peering from a hollow tree. Two trees down, our torch picks out the shining eyes of a possum. All around us are tell-tale signs that bandicoots have been digging for dinner in the leafy undergrowth. We haven’t seen them yet, but this wild patch of bushland just 10km from the city centre is also home to powerful owls, tawny frogmouths, sugar gliders and even swamp wallabies. So says the ranger who is leading us on this free animal spotlighting tour in Lane Cove National Park.

Tucked away in Sydney’s northern suburbs, Lane Cove River Tourist Park is one of the best places to camp in Sydney, with more than 300 caravan, campervan and tent sites set in native bushland just minutes from the city centre. And you don’t need to rough it either; there are 28 fully serviced eco-cabins equipped with ensuites, kitchens and city views from your own private deck.

With tent sites for just $34 twin-share, powered caravan sites going for just $2 more and the two-bedroom cabins, complete with television and DVD player, reverse-cycle air conditioner and everything else a family of five needs for just $145, it’s one of Sydney’s best kept secrets. 

Facilities include all the things you’d expect to find in a good caravan park, like laundries, camp kitchens, barbecues, a swimming pool, bicycle hire and even an internet kiosk and recreation room. But because it’s so close to the city, there are lots of other things you wouldn’t normally find in the middle of a national park – like a wireless internet network and a regular bus service that leaves from the front gate and whisks you to Chatswood, where you can shop, see a movie, eat out or catch the train into the city centre.

But a stay at Lane Cove River Tourist Park is not just about saving money on accommodation or finding somewhere near the city to park your caravan a night or two. Here, the picturesque Lane Cove River winds through a peaceful valley just beyond the backyard fences of residents in East Ryde, Wahroonga and Pennant Hills, although the best access is via Plassey Road just off the Pacific Highway near Chatswood.

The river is the focus of most activities – take a stroll along the bank, hire a rowboat at the boatshed or bring your own canoe or kayak and go for a leisurely paddle. There are dozens of picnic spots and it’s one of the few wheelchair-friendly national parks with good access to the weir and picnic areas, the kiosk and the Kukundi Wildlife Shelter, where you’ll see injured birds, lizards and flying foxes being cared for.

The national park’s gates are open every day from 9am to 6pm (7pm in summer), but one of the added advantages of staying at Lane Cove River Tourist Park is you can follow the track down to the river anytime you like. Go early in the morning and you’ll have the place all to yourself as you watch the mist rise from the river and twist itself wraith-like into the trees above the opposite bank.

Situated at the heart of a national park, Lane Cove River Tourist Park is seriously committed to being green. Not just content to use 100 per cent accredited green power and leave a carbon-neutral footprint, it is the only tourist park in Australia to be Advanced Ecotourism certified by Ecotourism Australia and the only park to provide an on-site carbon offset program, where you can negate your vehicle and accommodation emissions by contributing to the park’s solar power projects.

In times of rising petrol prices, it’s nice to know there are still places left where you can introduce the kids to nature without having to burn a ton of greenhouse gasses to get there and without breaking the family budget.

For more information, visit Lane Cove River Tourist Park.

Open Road e-zine August 2008

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