Getting there

Turn off the Pacific Highway into Shirley Road at Crows Nest. Drive to the end of Shirley Road, just before Berry Island. The Gore Cove Track starts on the western side. Street parking is limited. The track will take you up to Smoothey Park. Alternatively, you can start at the opposite end of the reserve and park in Russell Street.  The train to Wollstonecraft station will take you directly to Smoothey Park. Walk along the creek line on the Gore
Cove Track. This will take you to Shirley Road and Berry Island. A 5-minute walk up Shirley Road will take you back to the train station.

Maps

Which maps cover the area?

Route/Trail notes

The Gore Cove Track passes through several vegetation communities and provides habitat for a range of wildlife, the most diverse in North Sydney. You will pass through
sclerophyll woodland along the foreshore with Sydney Red Gums and Peppermints and an understorey of Grass Trees, flowering shrubs, Mat Rush and ferns. Further
along the creek line is closed rainforest, with Coachwoods, Tree Ferns, and Sweet Pittosporum, as well as Privet*. Down on the mud flats some grey mangroves survive, providing breeding and shelter sites for marine life. In the northern section of Smoothey Park there are remnant Turpentine trees, which is an indication of shale.
This soil type would have originally supported a Blue Gum High Forest. Locally rare Flannel Flowers are found along the Gore Cove Track towards Berry Island.  This walk will delight wildlife watchers. The diversity of vegetation and the creek support a variety of bird life.
Those with keen eyes may be surprised at what they find.  Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrikes, Kingfishers, Robins, Wrens, Treecreepers, Wattlebirds, Whistlers, Pardalotes, Thornbills, Parrots and Rosellas have all been sighted along this track. Bring your binoculars! Many seabirds such as Herons live down at the mudflats, and Ringtail Possum dreys can also be seen along the track. Skinks scurry around the leaf litter and the Brown-Stripped Marsh Frog and the Common Eastern Froglet live in the areas of runoff that pass through the bushland into the creek. Two microbat species have also been recorded in this reserve: Gould’s Wattle Bat and the Large Bent-wing Bat. The only recording in North Sydney of the native ground dwelling marsupial, the Brown Antechinus (often mistaken for a mouse or rat), has been along the Gore Cove Track. Mind your step!

Permits/Costs

Do you need any permits? What's the cost?

Other References

How can I find more info? Any guide books?