Walking Volunteers

The NPA Walking Volunteers joined NPA in July 2026.

Walking Volunteers originally formed early this century when Bill Orme and several like-minded individuals came together to map iconic walks of the Sydney region, working with land owners and manageers such as local councils to improve access. An early success was formalising the 415km Harbour and Coast walk.

Since then, over 2,100 km of walking track has been researched, proof-walked and digitally mapped in a network stretching from the coast, west to Mount Victoria and from Barrenjoey, south to the Royal National Park. The walking routes run along existing tracks and paths through public land and are approved by land managers such as Councils, National Parks and Wildlife Service, Sydney Harbour Trust and Sydney Water. 

As the network spread it became impractical to print, distribute, and keep up to date, paper maps covering all the routes. Hence the move to digital maps that may be downloaded onto smart phones, tablets and PC, using the GoogleMyMaps platform. Since they were released in 2019 at www.walkingvolunteers.org.au they have received over 2.5  million hits.   

Red lines indicate main routes while green indicate links to public transport or loops for local walkers. You can zoom down to whatever scale you need and can locate the nearest toilet or water fountain by clicking on the map legend. The maps are constantly updated.  Whenever a track is closed for repairs an information icon is put on the map and a detour shown. 

In addition to the Sydney-wide network, the website includes information on multi-day ‘named’ walks, such as The Great West Walk, plus suggestions for a range of shorter day walks. 

While the Volunteers are rightly proud of what they have achieved, and are still achieving, much is yet to be done. Further expansion, however, means more tracks to be monitored for closure alerts and potential alternative routes. The local knowledge of the NPA membership thus becomes an invaluable resource. 

The Walking Volunteers welcome any NPA member who wants to join the weekly mapping walks or the group walks. These monthly group walks will shortly be included in the NPA Walks program. If you can help with this Volunteer effort just ring (02) 4784 2002 or email wavery@bigpond.net.au.