Whale watching platform at Cape Solander

The National Parks and Wildlife Service is constructing a new whale watching platform at Cape Solander to improve your whale watching experience.

Cape Solander, within Kamay Botany Bay National Park, Kurnell, is a spectacular site and receives over 300,000 local, domestic and international visitors each year. It provides a great spot to look for whales from May to July each year, and is also the starting point for the popular Cape Baily Track.

Cape Solander is an exposed location subject to substantial wind and salt spray, with resulting deterioration of key infrastructure, including the existing whale watch platform and metal traffic safety barriers.

What are we doing?

The project will improve visitor access and safety by constructing a new whale watching platform with larger viewing areas, better pedestrian access and new interpretation. We will also improve the parking areas and safety barriers and provide a new footpath from the parking area to the whale watching platform.

The proposal will complement and promote the scenic values of the national park and is consistent with the National Heritage listing of the site.

In 2020, National Parks and Wildlife Service engaged landscape architects Oculus to design a new whale watching platform that meets the needs of the many thousands of whale watching visitors, will withstand the harsh corrosive environmental conditions, and improve pedestrian access and safety.

You can download the concept plans and comment using the feedback form below.

Construction is scheduled to commence in May 2021. The timeframe for completion of this work has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis, including the recent pause on construction and ongoing restrictions of movement of construction contractors between local government areas arising from public health orders. Alternate subcontractors are being sought to undertake these works, but the restrictions associated with local government areas of concern are likely to limit the availability of some trades in the short term.

We are working to resolve these issues and hope to provide a revised estimate for completion as soon as possible. Cape Solander lookout, the adjacent parking, and a portion of Cape Solander Drive will be closed during this time. Vehicle access will be closed beyond Yena, but all walking tracks will remain open.

Management (2019) and the Kamay Botany Bay National Park: Kurnell Precinct Master Plan, which aims to provide enriching and memorable experiences in the park, improve access to the park for all, and contribute to the goal of easy and safe transport to and within the park.

There will be unavoidable impacts to visitor access to the southern section of Cape Solander Drive and surrounding area during the construction phase (scheduled to commence May 2021). The works will take approximately 4 months. Cape Solander will be closed during this period.

We will inform visitors and the community of necessary closures and access within the Kamay Botany Bay National Park through online alerts via the NPWS website and onsite signage.

During the annual whale migration, you can spot them from lookouts along the entire coastline of Sydney. Check out some other top whale watching locations around Sydney.

Whale watching platform at Cape Solander

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