Looking for a lakeside walk that is a little different and avoids the bikepath? This peacful circuit follows informal tracks from Yarralumla Bay on Lake Burley Griffin, east to the Yacht Club, and returns via historic Stirling Park.

  • 3.2 km; 1 hour at a moderate pace
  • Lake views
  • Historic sites

Track heading north from Yarralumla Bay

Route

Start in the carpark next to the Canberra Girls Grammar Rowing Shed, Alexandrina Drive, Yarralumla. Head east and walk along the beach of Yarralumla Bay. Continue north east on an informal foot track that passes between the Sri Chinmoy statue and the water’s edge. Follow this informal foot track for 1.5 km to the Canberra Yacht Club, staying as close to the water’s edge as possible. On the way you, at the 1km mark, you will pass a rock cutting on your right which is a quarry dating from the 1920s. Shortly after that you will encounter this walk’s only ‘rough’ section, where you need to clamber over small outcrop of rock near a big old eucalpyt with a kid’s play rope attached to it.

Pass the Yacht Club on the lawns between it and the lake, then turn inland past the public toilets, across Alexandrina Drive and into Stirling Park. Follow a dirt track gently uphill for about 150 metres until you can see a grassy open space front-right. Cross into that space using any of several footpads and look for signs of the suburb of Westlake, which housed many of the workers who built Canberra in the 1920s. Stirling Park’s history goes back even further than that, however – it was on a tradition Ngunawal route from Black Mountain towards Red Hill.

Head west across the grassy space into the forest, climbing gently. There are a number of tracks here: I suggest you head uphill until you are eventually on the ridge crest, following it north west.

When the land starts to slope down before you, you should be able to see Yarralumla Bay – walk down to it, crossing Alexandrina Drive again and from the beach return 50 metres or so to the start point.

Downloadable files

Download the route in KML format here. Open Google Earth on your computer and drag the KML file on to it.  Or download the route in GPX format to load to your GPS.

Map of the route

Signs in the Westlake Village historic site

One of several tracks through the mature forest of Stirling Park (photo taken in rainy weather)