- Grand Pacific Drive meanders through some 169 kilometres from Sydney's Royal National Park to the Shoalhaven, appropriate for leisurely motoring on the nearer New South Wales (NSW) South Coast.
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Grand Pacific Drive is actually a route whose sections may carry different names.
In fact, Grand Pacific Drive includes one of my favorite stretches of road, Lawrence Hargrave Drive — from Bald Hill at the southern end of Royal National Park all the way down the coast to Wollongong, a scenic, pleasant, and intimate way, to drive south from Sydney.
Grandly-named Grand Pacific Drive starts at Royal National Park and takes the coastal route to Wollongong, passing the equally grandly-named Sea Cliff Bridge between the towns of Coalcliff and Clifton... and then all the way south to the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales.
Where to begin
If coming from Sydney, you might want to start your Grand Pacific Drive right at Royal National Park.
Take the Princes Highway south past Sylvania in Sutherland Shire and take the left turn into Parnell Ave and the national park. You will pass a manned entry gate where you will be asked to pay the park entry fee which is charged per vehicle and not per person.
If you have the time and the inclination to do so, you can spend some time within the park, perhaps do a short bushwalk, go boating in the river (there are boats for hire at Audley), have a picnic under the trees, or go to the beaches.
To exit from Royal National Park and continue on Grand Pacific Drive, take Lady Wakehurst Drive to the park's southern exit and continue driving south to Bald Hill and into Stanwell Park.
- If you do not plan on stopping within the national park, tell the collector at the gate that you are merely passing through and you will not be charged an entry fee. If you do stop within the park without having paid the fee, you could be fined.
Bypassing the Royal
If you wish to bypass Royal National Park, simply continue south along Princes Highway past Waterfall where the highway becomes the Sydney-Wollongong Freeway. Watch for — and take — the exit to Helensburgh/Stanwell Park on your left.
Wildlife park
Just after the roundabout you will see Symbio Wildlife Park where you might want to stop and get close and personal with some of Australia's wildlife.
The road from the freeway exit past Symbio is actually the start of Lawrence Hargrave Drive which heads east towards Bald Hill then south to Stanwell Park and the coastal villages, passing Sea Cliff Bridge between Coalcliff and Clifton, all the way to Wollongong.
South of Wollongong
From Wollongong, Grand Pacific Drive heads further south to Kiama, then on to Gerringong, Geroa and Shoalhaven Heads before rejoining the Princes Highway just north of Nowra and Bomaderry.
Grand Pacific Drive may have ended at this point but if you wish to continue driving south on Princes Highway, you could head to Jervis Bay (leaving the highway after Nowra), Narooma, Bermagui ... and all the way to Melbourne.
