Lake Parramatta, North Parramatta

Lake Parramatta Reserve is a man-made reservoir and a recreational area located just north of Parramatta. It is 73 hectares of natural reserve within city life. This secret haven which surprisingly is not well known to locals is full of many recreational facilities for families to enjoy such as swimming in the lake, fishing, bushwalking, hiring boats and enjoying a picnic or BBQ.

The Reserve is open all year round, with the main gate opening at 6:30am and closing at 5:30pm (7:30pm during Summer months). During the weekends or school holidays when you see someone near the lake under an umbrella you can hire rowboats, pedal boats, canoes, and kayaks to use in Hunts Creek from 10am to 6pm.

You can also take a non-motorised boat to go fishing in the lake, or if you don’t have a boat to use, fish along Hunts Creek. Besides fishing, Lake Parramatta officially became a designated swimming spot, with an area marked out with buoys for swimming and lifeguards present between 9am and 5pm on weekends and public holidays in the summer. However, make sure you don’t swim in the water for 3 days after heavy rain and always swim within the buoys when there are no lifeguards.

If you love hiking more than swimming, Lake Parramatta provides three awesome bushwalking tracks. Namely the She-Oak Track, which is an easy walk along the lake edge of 1550m. The Banksia Track of moderate walk with uneven surfaces of 2450m and then the Lake Circuit which I recommend if you love hiking is also a moderate walk of 4200m along uneven surfaces and takes around 1hour 45mins return.

If you love bushwalking, Lake Parramatta is the place to go within Sydney to enjoy being out of city life within it. You would never realize you are actually anywhere near suburban life as you hardly hear any traffic noise, the view is great and while you walk within the bush feel like you are somewhere outback. The trails aren’t always flat, which is a good thing if you enjoy a bit of exercise. There are people who actually go running and jogging along these trails.

Apart from hiking, the area also offers great picnicking and BBQ facilities, toilets, playgrounds and parking. There is also a cafe there should you need some coffee or food as you become famished after your bush walk or run.

Overall Experience
A great peaceful place that you could just stay for the whole day doing many things. I would definitely come here a lot more than just twice to hike or just sit down on the BBQ seating area or lay on the rocks to either read, listen to music or just unwind. Lake Parramatta is definitely one place you need to visit.

Pros & Cons
Anyone can come to enjoy the area, with a lot of seniors coming to just relax with others or hike together. Since there are many people that walk or run around the trails, you don’t feel like you’d be in any danger as some other secluded walking tracks within Sydney may feel. As it’s a very family orientated place I feel that when it becomes warmer the less area space there will be should you want to come for a family BBQ or to just relax around nature without the crowd.