Where can you find Abseiling, Rock Climbing, Suspended Adrenalin challenges and Team Building activities all in one structure in Sydney?

Answer: The Collaroy Centre, a Salvation Army camp and conference centre on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. We have just unveiled a major upgrade of one of our most popular outdoor activity space.

The centre has spent $160,000 refurbishing its Activity Tower and Vertical Challenge Walls, to offer a more varied rock-climbing experience and a brand-new ‘vertical play-pen’.

General Manager, Adam Gallagher, says the new upgraded walls offer challenges for individuals and teams looking for more variety, and more challenge.

We try to improve or make adjustments to all of our activities every year so there’s something new every year.

We have high retention rates for our school groups, so we want to make things interesting every time they come back.

The Activity Tower now offers groups:

• 10m & 5m high Abseiling walls
• 10m high Rock Climbing wall
• 10m high Vertical Challenge with various suspended elements

The upgrade allows school and youth camps more of a variable challenge, with different levels able to be created which are tailored around the age and ability of participants.

It also includes a brand-new experience, called the ‘vertical play-pen’ which participants have to climb in groups of three.

“This focuses on communication to be able to succeed,” says Adam. “The people are joined together. So, it’s literally like mountaineering… they have to climb together, they can’t progress unless they all go together.”

We are located on 10 hectares overlooking Collaroy Beach. The Centre can sleep up to 440 people and hosts school groups, corporate team building days, conferences, church camps and community group activities. Red Shield Camps are also run here to provide a holiday for children and youth from disadvantaged areas, and the Centre fully-funds single mum’s camps and camps to provide refreshment and respite for grand-parents who are caring for their grand-children. 

The reason I work for The Salvation Army, in its camping ministry, is because these formative experiences can make an impact that forever changes people’s lives. Knowing that we have equipment and activities on site that can change people’s lives by helping them overcome fear or help them develop their ability to communicate or work with others, so they go home different people because of what’s happened here, that’s the reason I’m here.

– says Adam, who’s been working at The Collaroy Centre for 23 years

If you have never visited and stayed, we guarantee you will love it here.
Book a personal tour of the site to see for yourself! Or visit our Virtual Tour here.