Upper Causeway Picnic Area

Upper Causeway Picnic Area is a small, rustic roadside picnic stop in the southern forest of Royal National Park, near Waterfall, at McKell Avenue and Lady Wakehurst Drive. It suits a quick meal or rest among rainforest and towering Sydney red gums, especially before setting out on a nearby walk. Cyclists can use it as a break on the park roads. Bring your own food; no café or kiosk is listed.

The park recommends this picnic stop before Forest Path, Couranga walking track or Lady Carrington Drive. Forest Path is a 4.4 km loop beside Bola Creek and Hacking River, passing cabbage tree palms, winter-flowering Gymea lilies and tall eucalypts. It is one of the park's oldest tracks and crosses Forest Island, almost surrounded by the two waterways; community protest helped protect the rainforest from logging. Couranga is 5.1 km one way and passes old sawpits from the area's logging days. Its Hacking River crossing is passable only in dry weather, so check conditions before adding that walk to your day.

Treat Upper Causeway as a self-catered stop. The park's listing does not confirm a public toilet or drinking water here, so bring water and don't plan around facilities being on site. Roadside parking is available, though current surface and capacity details are not published.