The best secluded beaches in Jervis Bay: Kittys & Whiting Beach

Everyone knows that Jervis Bay has some of the best beaches in NSW and come summer time and school holidays it can start to feel a little crowded. That’s when it’s time to head for the untouched paradise that is Kittys and Whiting Beach. And as luck would have it, they are located on the same circuit walk, so you can visit both on the same day.

Spots this quiet and secluded do of course come with a trade off, and that’s the length of the walk to reach them. However, if you’re up for a bit of a hike then you will be greatly rewarded with numerous beaches and swim spots, as well as great whale watching ops if in season (May to October).

Here’s what to expect on the Booderee Circuit Trail via Kittys and Whiting Beach.

The Booderee Circuit Trail via Kittys and Whiting Beach

The stats

Distance: 14km circuit (add on 1.2km return for Steamers Beach)
Elevation gain: 400m
Difficulty: Easy, but long
Trailhead: Steamers Beach Car Park

Summary: I won’t dress it up: this is a long walk and the vast majority of it is on a mundane fire trail, some of which is exposed to the sun.

Though there are flat sections, there are also a fair few ups and downs along the way. Getting down to the beaches is on proper walking tracks as opposed to fire trail, and though these bits are short, the 850m stretch down to Kittys Beach is gorgeous.

There isn’t any tricky terrain on this hike, but you do have to walk over a rock shelf to reach Whiting Beach. If you want to go round to the secret beach beyond, there is an additional 500m rock hopping.

Otherwise it’s just a case of putting in the kilometres and reaping the rewards!

A note on tides

If you want maximum space on the beaches then you’ll want to time your walk to hit the beaches within a few hours either side of low tide. We recommend checking the Jervis Bay area tides on WillyWeather.

This is especially important if you want to head round to the secret beach, as this requires a significant amount of rock hopping which is easiest at low tide (and low swell).

You can visit both Kittys and Whiting Beaches outside of this time period, but there’s less space on the beach to enjoy.

Starting the trail

The walk begins at the Steamers Beach car park and heads onto the well maintained shady fire trail. The first 250m are flat before the track begins to undulate. The undulations are never steep or slippery.

At the 1.1km mark you’ll come to a point where a small creek crosses the path.

Just beyond this you’ll see a signpost and this is where you need to decide in which direction you want to walk the track. Heading left would take you to Steamers Beach first, and straight on will take you to Whiting Beach.

We’d recommend heading straight to Whiting Beach purely because it’s easier to aim for the beaches which are somewhat tidal first and finish with Steamers, which is big enough to visit on any tide.

To Whiting Beach

From the junction you’ll head onto a compact sandy fire trail. Roughly 400m later you’ll reach another junction and continue straight, towards Blacks Waterhole.

Roughly 150m later you’ll begin descending, for the most part it’s gentle with a couple of short, slightly steeper bits.

Roughly a kilometre later you’ll get your first glimpse of Blacks Waterhole, a peaceful lake, and a couple of hundred metres later you can stand at the water’s edge (though you are not allowed to swim there).

From here the track undulates and reaches a junction 300m later, or just over 3.2km into the track. You’ll head left and shortly after the lake will disappear from view.

There’s another 400m of undulating fire trail before you get your first view of Whiting Beach. It looks so wild and remote and it’s at this point that I knew it was going to be worth the long walk!

Roughly 150m later you’ll come to a junction and follow the signpost right, towards the beach. You now leave the fire trail and follow a narrow sandy path gently downhill.

The sand is compact so it’s easy to walk on. The descent is 200m long and roughly halfway down it gets a little steeper, but it’s still a good track and it’s not slippery.

Just over 4km into the walk you’ll arrive at a rock shelf and follow it right, towards the beach.

This rocky stretch lasts for 150m and there are little bits where you have to hop from one piece of rock to another, but it’s easy enough and grippy when dry.

The rock shelf is quite high up, so you can still visit on a higher tide if the timings don’t work out for you to come at low tide. At the end of the rock shelf there is a small clamber down and you’ll reach the beach 4.2km into the walk.

Whiting Beach

Whiting Beach is a stunner. It has wild Robinson Crusoe vibes, especially because you’re unlikely to share it with anyone else.

The beach goes quite far back at low tide, but is much smaller at high tide. The water is not as calm as Kittys Beach, but calmish for swimming. It’s a real gem.

The only downside was that it did have a lot of weed when we visited, I’ve seen many beautiful pictures where it’s completely weed free so I assume we got a little unlucky.

It was still stunning as the weed wasn’t on the sand (except at the very back of the beach), only in the water. I can only imagine how good it would be if the water was clear of weed - hopefully we get to experience that next time!

Rock hopping to the secret cove

If Whiting Beach is not secluded enough for you, there’s a tiny hidden cove located further along the rock shelf on the far side of the beach.

Now for us this beach suffered the same weed as Whiting Beach, but were that not the case, it would have been a highlight of the whole trail.

The tiny spit of sand has wonderfully clear calm water, which would be perfect for swimming if the weed is in your favour. It’s completely cut off from the rest of the track and feels like you’ve stumbled on your own private oasis.

Even with the aforementioned weed it was very pretty, but I did miss having the chance to swim.

If you want to visit, it’s an extra 500m each way (ish as it’s harder to measure distance when rock hopping, it’s probably a little less). This does need to be done at low tide, or within a hour or so either side for it to be comfortable.

Start by crossing to the far side of Whiting Beach and then walking between the rocks to the rock platform.

It’s easiest to walk a little in the water here as the large rocks can be slippery - even at low tide you’re likely to get wet feet on this first bit.

You’ll then begin traversing the rock platforms for around 200m.

This is generally easy and grippy when dry. After 200m you’ll need to climb up onto the next rock platform, which is still straightforward, but it’s a bit more like scrambling - though just for a couple of steps.

You’ll then be walking over darker rock with some grass, which is worth avoiding as it can be a little marshy.

Following this there’s a little more rock hopping and the rocks are tiered nicely down to the beach, which you’ll reach approximately 500m after leaving Whiting Beach and 4.8km after leaving the car park.

This cove is perfect for swimming and paddling if not weedy, or simply somewhere to sit and relax in perfect solitude.

Make sure you allow enough time to get back to Whiting Beach without getting cut off by the tide (or having to make a swim you weren’t anticipating!).

Heading on to Blacks Harbour Beach

Once back at Whiting Beach you head back the way you came to the trail junction. If you have visited the extra cove you’ll arrive at the trail signpost just over 5.6km into the walk, if not it will be roughly 4.6km in.

You’re now back on fire trail which begins to undulate gently for the next 750m. At this point you’ll reach the junction with Blacks Harbour Beach and head right.

There’s a sandy path followed by some ramshackle wooden steps leading down to the water.

We were lucky enough to share the grassy patch at the bottom with a friendly kangaroo, which was quite the surprise in the middle of the day!

The path down is just 200m and this will bring you to a channel between the rocks which is good for swimming.

You can make your way right, along the shore towards the beach, which is a few minutes away. Around low tide it’s very shallow here and easy to walk in the water, or if you want to stay dry you can rock hop along the shore.

The beach is tiny (there’s actually a few spits of sand so you can take your pick) but it’s another pretty spot. However, my one piece of advice is not to spend too long here if you’re pushed for time because Kittys Beach is even better!

Once you’re ready to leave you head back up to the junction and after another 200m on the fire trail you’ll see the signposted turnoff for Kittys Beach.

The track to Kittys Beach

If you’ve taken all the same side trails as us, you’ll reach this track junction 7km in. If not you can probably lose about 1.5km at this point.

The track down to Kittys Beach is by far the prettiest part of the walk. It’s a narrow path with intermittent views down to the ocean between the trees. It’s so beautiful and my only wish was that the whole trail was as gorgeous as this section.

The path is mainly flat and reaches another signposted junction 650m later. You’ll head right and begin descending towards Kittys Beach.

The last bit of the descent is a bit steeper, it’s on a sandy track with some rough wooden steps, but it wasn’t slippery. You’ll reach Kittys Beach 850m after leaving the fire trail, just over 7.8km into the walk (including all side trails).

Kittys Beach

Kittys Beach was the unexpected gem of the walk, I assumed Whiting Beach would be the showstopper, but for me, the smaller Kittys Beach was the highlight.

The beach is small but pristine and backed by dense forest. The water is crystal clear and shimmers turquoise in the sunshine.

It was lovely and calm and a real treat for swimming. It was also weed free, but even if the same could have been said of Whiting Beach, I still think Kittys would have been my favourite.

It had such a lovely feel to it. In fact it was so utterly delightful that we struggled to leave and did end up running out of time to visit a couple of other viewpoints along the track, which I’ll explain in the next section.

Continuing towards Steamers Beach

When you’re ready to tear yourself away from Kittys Beach you head back up the hill to the trail junction, 250m away. You turn right here and continue climbing up the narrow track towards the fire trail.

The first 100m from the junction are quite steep and then it slackens for the next 50m, at which point you reach the fire trail and another signposted junction.

This is where you can choose to visit two additional lookouts, Kittys Point and St Georges Head. We think this adds on an additional 2.5km return if you did both and some extra elevation gain too. We chose not to as we were running low on time due to the aforementioned long stint at Kittys Beach!

So you’ll either head right to the lookouts or left, heading uphill on fire trail. Now I am not going to lie, this next part of the walk is a bit of a grind. The fire trail is monotonous (I don’t mind a bit of pretty tree lined fire trail, but this section is much more open) and there’s a decent amount more uphill to go.

After just over 1.2km the track will head noticeably downhill before flattening and then beginning to undulate again for the next 2.2km to the junction with Steamers Beach and Brooks Lookout, which you’ll reach 11.7km into the track if you walk it exactly as we did.

Brooks Lookout and heading to Steamers Beach

If you want to visit Steamers Beach then you’ll turn right at the signposted junction rather than continuing straight. After 100m there’s the option to make a right turn to visit Brooks Lookout, which is 350m away. It offers an expansive ocean view as well as a wonderful view over to Steamers Head.

There’s a bench seat and we were lucky enough to see several whales, including a full breach. You’re quite high up so the whales will be quite small, but we could still see them with the naked eye and it was a magical way to finish the walk.

I would say if it’s not whale watching season the lookout is not a must do, but it is a peaceful spot to sit and relax.

You then head back onto the fire trail and head right towards Steamers Beach 350m later (12.5km into the walk). Roughly 350m later there is a section of fire trail that is heavily eroded which has created a gully, however, it’s easy to walk to the side of it.

Just 150m later, or 13km from the car park using our exact route, you’ll reach the final turn off to Steamers Beach on the right.

If you haven’t been already, Steamers Beach is a must. We had recently visited, so we didn’t go again on this walk, but we’ll cover what to expect as we’d highly recommend it if you still have the energy.

Steamers Beach

From the turn off Steamers Beach is 600m away. The walk is predominantly downhill, you have another 200m on fire trail to go before you hit the stairs.

They begin as wide, fairly shallow wooden steps before you reach a brief flatter section and then the final 150m to the beach is more steep and the stairs are narrower.

However, they are wooden and even when waterlogged were easy to walk on. The last 50m down to the beach are on a metal walkway.

If you want to walk the full length of this spectacular beach, it’s another 700m each way.

It’s a rugged beach bookended by steep headlands and backed by bushland. It’s absolutely stunning and feels very different to any other beach along the track. It’s not great for swimming though as it’s known for both rips and a resident shark population.

You can read more in our detailed guide to Steamers Beach.

Completing the circuit

From the metal walkway at the foot of the beach you have another 2.3km to go to get back to the car park. The first section back to the fire trail is quite steep, but then it’s back to the gentler undulating fire trail again.

This section is nice and shady from the tree cover and you’re very likely to see plenty of roos in the bush lining the track.

Overall, this is a long, but very worthwhile walk for the chance to access such incredible, quiet beaches.

Keep them wild

Please remember to take all rubbish with you and keep these places wild and pristine - as with anywhere in the outdoors. It’s important to leave them exactly as you found them so they will remain beautiful for generations to come.

Litter tends to breed litter, so if you do spot any and are able to pick it up and dispose of it outside the national park, it will go a long way to keeping the area clean.

Getting to the trailhead for the Booderee Circuit Track

The walk to Kittys Beach and Whiting Beach begins at the Steamers Beach car park in Booderee National Park. The last 2km of the road to the car park are gravel, but at time of writing the road is in great condition and suitable for any vehicle.

It’s around 20km and a 30 minute drive from Huskisson and 39km and a 45 minute drive from Nowra. It’s just under three hours from Sydney CBD.

There aren’t any facilities at the trailhead, but as you drive into the national park you’ll pass the visitor centre which has toilets.

The Booderee National Park entry fee

The walk to Steamers Beach falls into the fee zone for the Booderee National Park. Currently that fee is $20 for a vehicle to enter the park for one day.

There are concessions and annual passes available and as prices will no doubt change over time, you can see the current rates here.