The Sunday road trip is remerging as a regular adventure many families are enjoying. For Sydneysider, the choice of destinations is only limited by the amount of petrol in your tank. You could head to the mountains, the lakes or the plains. Our most recent find is the Grand Pacific Drive although, at this stage, we have only enjoyed the section between Stanwell Park to Thirroul which takes you across Sea Cliff Bridge.
Sea Cliff Bridge is a breathtaking engineering marvel. It has become a favourite film location for car commercials here in Australia and even internationally. Costing over $52 million to build, the bridge connects Coalcliff and Clifton which were isolated from each other after a rock slide. Sea Cliff Bridge is a balanced cantilever bridge which means portions of it act as an anchorage for sustaining the other portions. Basically they counterbalance each other. (If you’re an engineer, you’re probably you could probably explain this much more accurately). You can drive across it. You can walk across it. We did both!
At just under a kilometre in length, Sea Cliff Bridge is best enjoyed on foot. It has been cleverly constructed with pedestrians in mind. The pathway is on the side closest to the ocean and has clear views of each segment of the bridge. It’s also well bordered by safety barriers both from traffic and from the drop down (it’s 41 metres at its highest point).
To get to Sea Cliff Bridge from Sydney, take the Princes Motorway towards Wollongong. Take the Symbio Wildlife Gardens exit and follow straight on to Lawrence Hargrave Drive. The bridge will creep up on you after you drive through Coalcliff.
I will keep that drive in mind next time i’m down in the Illawarra – it definitely looks worth a visit.
Do! Drive over it on the way down. Park and walk back across it before continuing down. It’s pretty spectacular