My Coast - Jilliby

The A-Z of the Central Coast, NSW, Australia

Welcome to the tenth installment of my fortnightly photo blog exploring my local area, the Central Coast. This week's destination is Jilliby, an area which we have never previously explored.

J-Jilliby

Jilliby is a rural suburb spread out over a vast geographical area. The area encompasses Little Jilliby as well. The combined population of the two suburbs is just under 2000 people. It is situated about 30 minutes drive north west of Gosford.

Sunflare

Jilliby is located in the picturesque Dooralong valley and is comprised of rural properties, many of which are sizable and have acreage. There are a number of farms with dairies. It is the home of the Central Coast's equestrian centre, the Central Coast Sporting Horse association where riders can bring their own horses and compete in competitions in this family friendly club.

Looking into the back of a horse yard

Jilliby State Conservation Area is the main attraction in the area. It is popular with 4WDers. mountain bikers and horse riders, as well as providing plenty of opportunities for families to go on bush walks in the forest. We decided we would head up to Muirs Lookout, which is up in the middle of the forest. It was accessible by going up Forest Road from Jilliby according to Google Maps. We got a few hundred metres up the road when it turned into a dirt track with big boulders protruding from the road! I was not confident of getting the car up and down safely so we decided to pull over and check the internet. Apparently this track was classed as hard access and only for 4wd. I think the recent downpours may have washed away some of the road as well which didn't help

Farmers wetlands on the road to Jilliby

Not to be beaten we took the alternate route. To avoid this 8.7kms stretch of rocky road we had to take a 52 km detour that would take us nearly an hour! The last 15 km was on unsealed roads, and the last 5km were starting to require all the power of our all wheel drive Toyota. We eventually arrived and were very eager to get out of the car and check out the view.

The view from Muirs Lookout to the Pacific Ocean in the distance

We could see all the way out over Lake Munmorah, including the power station we saw at Halekulani a couple of blog posts ago. In the distance the Pacific Ocean was glistening blue in the winter sunshine. The view was truly spectacular and well worth the effort. There was a walking trail that was very steep and wound its way down through the forest. We got about 15 minutes down and decided that was far enough as we didn't want to get lost.

The walking trail wound its way through the forest

We walked back up the trail shouting out to echo our voices round the forest.The only thing that broke the silence other than us was the occasional hum of dirt bikes. Judging by the number of them we saw on our drive through the forest it appears to be some sort of dirt bikers paradise with all the trails. We got back to the car and tired from our exertions of carrying the kids up the trail we stopped off for some ice creams, before heading home from our adventure.

Time for a quick shot of the kids on a stump before we got back into the car

Thank you very much for reading. If you would like to be notified of my next post in two weeks time, where the destination will be my home suburb of Kariong, please click the link on the right