Sydney/St George and Sutherland Shire

St George and Sutherland Shire is a district about 25 km south of Sydney CBD, centred around the Georges River and bounded by Botany Bay and Port Hacking.

Sutherland Shire
Sutherland Shire is primarily a residential area and is known as "the Shire". Its main tourist destinations are the beach suburbs of Cronulla, the bushland of Australia's oldest national park the Royal National Park and the first landing point of Captain Cook at Botany Bay in Kurnell.

It is surrounded by water, with the ocean to the east, Port Hacking to the south, the Georges River and Botany Bay on the north, and the Woronora River on the west, although the Menai area (east of the Woronora) is also considered part of the Shire. It has numerous opportunities for uncrowded swimming, boating, bushwalking, and exploring the parks, gardens and history of the area.

The Sutherland Shire is a destination to consider if you were looking to stay in Sydney, but want to avoid the expense, parking hassles, and crowds of the city centre. It offers cheaper accommodation, less crowds, free parking, access to beaches, parks, and bushland, shopping and other amenities and is an 30-40 minute train trip or drive to the attractions at the city centre.

St George
St George is the area north of the Georges River and south of the M5. Mostly made up of residences, the areas directly north of the river like Oatley and Lugarno are especially quiet and hardly explored by visitors. The population is rapidly changing, epitomised by Beverly Hills and Hurstville, now hotspots for Chinese shops and restaurants.

Get in
See Cronulla and Royal National Park for information on how to access those areas, and the information with the attractions on how to access them.

By train
Trains run on the Eastern Suburbs and Illawarra and the South Coast line to the district every 15-30 minutes. The journey takes around 30-45 minutes. The city train stations of Central, Town Hall, Martin Place and Kings Cross offer a direct service. From the other city stations you will need to change at Central to platform 25.

From Sydney Airport catch any train from platform 2, change at Wolli Creek station to platform 4.

By car
From the north there are three bridges over the Georges River that link to the Sutherland Shire. If you follow the Princes Highway south from the Sydney CBD towards Wollongong, you will enter the Sutherland Shire crossing the river at the Tom Ugly's Bridge. The journey will take around 30 minutes. Alternatively, you could travel along Rocky Point Road and cross Captain Cook bridge to enter the shire through Taren Point.

From the south Wollongong just follow the signs to Sydney via the Sydney freeway, and as soon as you seen the "Welcome to Sydney" sign, you have made it. The journey takes around 30 minutes but can be congested at peak times.

By bicycle
The cycleway from Sydney Olympic Park follows the Cooks River to the edge of Botany Bay through Southern Sydney. It enters the Sutherland Shire over the Captain Cook bridge and continues largely off-road or on quiet roads to Cronulla. It then continues on a wide shoulder on a 80km/h road to Kurnell. The cycle route is signposted, but there are a couple of intersections that are not well marked, and you should do some research on the route and take a map so you don't get lost or end up on a very busy road.

By bus
There are bus connections to Miranda direct from Hurstville and from Rockdale. Both are slower and more expensive than the train. Parramatta, and Bankstown are linked to Sutherland by the high frequency M92. As with most public transport in Sydney, Transport NSW will give you all the timetable and routing information you need.

By car
Car is the easiest way to quickly and easily get around the district. It takes around 20 minutes to drive from east to west, and around 15 minutes north to south.

By public transport

 * Trains between Sutherland and Cronulla every 15 minutes, and every 30 minutes to other stations.
 * Miranda tends to be main bus hub, with services running to Lilli Pilli, Sylvania (as well as Cronulla and Sutherland). Catch a bus to Sutherland for Menai, and points west of the Woronora River.

Transport NSW provides information on all bus and train times to any street address or attraction. It will recommend the quickest method at the time you wish to travel.

By bicycle
The area can be pleasant for cycling, but plan your route to avoid traffic and significant hill climbs. The three cross-routes from West to East, connect Illawong to Sutherland, Sutherland to Taren Point, and Taren Point to Cronulla and Kurnell.

See
See Cronulla and Royal National Park for sights in those areas of the Sutherland Shire.

Other sights in the Sutherland Shire include:

Do
Do the things there are to do in Cronulla and the Royal National Park and then:





Buy
Cronulla has an open air shopping mall, but also:



Eat
There are a selection of places to eat at Cronulla.

As with much of Sydney every shopping strip has at least one decent Australian-Thai restaurant, which may not please the gourmet with service nice food at around $15 a main for dinner, with a lunch special usually $7-10. There is no shortage of Indian and Chinese options too.

For morning coffee try the strip in Gymea, on Gymea Bay Road near the Kingsway for a selection of several nice cafes, or for a more relaxed pace there is a coffee shop at the Marina near the Como Pleasure Grounds in Cremona St.



Sleep
There is accommodation in Cronulla and there is camping and a YHA in the Royal National Park. Please see those articles for details.

The choices in the rest of the area are limited.



Internet access
All Sutherland Shire Libraries provide full internet access, with free Wi-Fi for up to 4 hours per day and computers for hire. There are libraries at Cronulla, Caringbah, Miranda, Sutherland and elsewhere, that are open Monday to Friday and Saturday Mornings. Only Sutherland is open Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

Wi-Fi
Gloria Jeans Coffee by the station in Sutherland provides free Wi-Fi for customers, as does the cafe two doors down in the Eton Arcade, and various other cafes around. Usually you will need to get the password from the counter.

There is free Wi-Fi in both the food courts in Miranda Westfield shopping mall, courtesy of the McDonald's restaurants there, as well as at the McDonalds in Kirrawee, Sylvania and Cronulla.