Wollstonecraft Loop: Gore Track, Berry Island, Badangi Reserve

Tucked away on Sydney’s lower north shore, the Wollstonecraft Loop is a short walking route through urban coastal bushland around Gore Cove.

The route is largely shaded, making the Wollstonecraft Loop a great short walk for sunny Sydney days when you’re after a track that doesn’t leave you sweating through long exposed sections. The fern canopy and tall Sydney Red Gums provide welcome respite from the sun.

At around 3.4km, the walk passes through bushland alongside Berrys Creek on The Gore Track, on The Gadyan Track around Berry Island, and through Badangi Reserve.

You can start and finish this loop track at Wollstonecraft train station, making it an ideal choice if you’re after a Sydney walk you can access easily via public transport.

Distance:	3.4km
Start:	Wollstonecraft
End:	Wollstonecraft
Public Transport:	Train at Wollstonecraft
Water:	Drinking water at Smoothey Park and Berry Island Reserve
Toilets:	Berry Island Reserve
Top Tip:	Pack lunch and enjoy a picnic overlooking the water at Berry Island.

Wollstonecraft Loop Overview

The Wollstonecraft Loop walk starts at Wollstonecraft train station. The walk begins right outside the train station (on the Wollstonecraft Station Park and Cafe side). Tap off at the Opal readers and turn right to head down the walking path past the playground towards Smoothey Park.

The walking path soon brings you to Smoothey Park where there’s tall shade trees, bench seating, and a water fountain where you can fill your drink bottle.

You’ll walk through Smoothey Park, veering left on the path to cross Beencke’s Bridge over Berrys Creek. At the end of Beencke’s Bridge, turn left and take the steps down into the bushland under the bridge. At the bottom of the steps, just before you reach Berrys Creek, you’ll see a ‘Bushwalk’ sign. From here you’ll turn right and follow the path alongside the creek.

The path crosses Berrys Creek and you’ll walk along the other bank. On this section of the path you’ll pass signs by North Sydney Council with information about the local environment and history of the area.

A directional sign at a fork in the path — with one direction heading to Vista St, Greenwich and the other Berry Island and Badangi Reserve — you’ll follow the path toward Berry Island. The path around to Berry Island heads up stone stairs before reaching a short section on raised boardwalk. It’s not long before you get your first glimpse of Gore Cove.

The track continues along the edge of the cove before climbing up until it meets Shirley Road. At this point you’ll turn right and momentarily arrive at Berry Island Reserve. There’s a toilet block, bins, and a water bubbler as you enter the reserve.

Making your way straight across the grass lawn, the loop around Berry Island is sign posted as The Gadyan Track and begins alongside the children’s playground.

On The Gadyan Track at Berry Island you can see Aboriginal engravings (marked with informational signage and viewed from the raised boardwalk to protect the site) and enjoy views across Gore Cove and Sydney Harbour.

As you finish the loop around Berry Island you’ll walk up Shirley Road until you reach the Badangi Reserve sign (on your right as you walk up the right hand side footpath).

Badangi Reserve takes you through another section of foreshore bushland. You’ll come to a fork in the track with Tryon Avenue in one direction and Balls Head via Oyster Cove the other. You’ll head straight in the direction of Balls Head… but not for long.

The next sign you’ll see forks with a continuation to Balls Head via Oyster Cove or a left turn towards Wollstonecraft Station via Bridge End, and for this loop walk, you’re walking toward Wollstonecraft Station.

From here you’ll just continue on the path as it winds through ferns and Sydney Red Gums.

At the end of Badangi Reserve you’ll make your way up to the roadway, taking Bridge End over the railway line, then left onto Belmont Avenue and left again on Shirley Road which brings you back to where you began: Wollstonecraft Station. If the cafe is open, you might like to enjoy a snack and a cool drink while you wait for your train home.

Maps & Navigation

The Wollstonecraft loop is a series of connected walking tracks on Sydney’s lower north shore: the Gore Cove Track, The Gadyan Track on Berry Island, and Badangi Reserve. Each section uses directional signage to aid navigation.

For a map you can walk with, add the Wollstonecraft Loop to the All Trails app on your phone.

The All Trails map doesn’t include the section around Berry Island, but it’s easy enough to pick up. When you exit The Gore Cove Track onto Shirley Road, instead of crossing the road to enter Badangi Reserve, you turn right and walk to the end of Shirley Road where you’ll find Berry Island Reserve. The Gadyan Track is signposted and easy to follow, looping around the reserve, ending back where it began. From there, you walk up Shirley Road to enter Badangi Reserve.

Facilities

While this walk is through bushland, it starts and finishes at a train station and passed through parks so there are some facilities along the way, including a cafe, drinking water, and toilets

Cafes & Shops

There is a cafe at Wollstonecraft train station.

Toilets

You’ll find toilets at Wollstonecraft train station and Berry Island Reserve.

Drinking water

Drinking water is available at the water fountain in Smoothey Park near Wollstonecraft train station, and at Berry Island Reserve.

Wollstonecraft Loop Highlights

Highlights on the Wollstonecraft Loop walk include Beencke’s Bridge, Berrys Creek, Berry Island, and Badangi Reserve.

Beencke’s Bridge

Beencke’s Bridge is a pedestrian bridge over Berrys Creek. The bridge connects Smoothey Park in Wollstonecraft and St Giles Avenue in Greenwich.

Since the late 1800s there have been several bridges built over the creek here.

The original bridge over Berrys Creek was a log bridge. It was replaced around 1906 with a wooden trestle bridge between Smoothey Park and Greendale Street, built by John Beencke of Greenwich. Beencke’s wooden trestle bridge was replaced with the current iteration in 1964. At that time the bridge was reoriented to connect with St Giles Avenue.

Berrys Creek

Berrys Creek is a pretty waterway between Wollstonecraft and Greenwich that flows to Gore Cove. You’ll follow Berrys Creek as you make your way along The Gore Cove Track toward Berry Island on this Wollstonecraft loop walk.

Berry Island

As you’ll rightly observe, Berry Island is not, in fact, an island. A peninsula, the area that now forms the grassed lawn of the reserve was once more precariously joined to the mainland and has been built up and widened over time.

Both Indigenous and European histories are evident on Berry Island today. The reserve’s name is a reference to British settler Alexander Berry. Long before the arrival of the British, the foreshore was used by the Cammeraygal people. As you walk The Gadyan Track around Berry Island you’ll come across Aboriginal rock engravings and grinding grooves.

And while today we get to enjoy the bushland of Berry Island as a place for recreation, like so many areas of the Sydney harbour foreshore, it took the dedication of the community to achieve this outcome. After years of local advocacy, Berry Island was formally reserved for public recreation by the NSW Government in 1926.

Badangi Reserve

Badangi Reserve is an area of bushland between Berry Island and Balls Head via Oyster Cove. As you walk through the reserve you’ll enjoy the shade provided by the Sydney Red Gums and Forest Red Gums, and the picturesque understorey of ferns.

An information sign alongside the walking track through Badangi Reserve notes the Angophora woodland here is home to rainbow lorikeets, noisy miners, grey butcherbirds, tawny frogmouths, and eastern blue tongue lizards.