This was a pleasant walk along the Coastal Track from The Gap to Bondi Beach. I started by catching a ferry to Watsons Bay and then walking the short distance to the reserve at The Gap.
After a bit of time looking for whales, I set off along the path to the south. For a long way it mostly follows the cliffs, but deviates on roads for short sections.
View from The Gap
I deliberately walked slowly, taking the time to look for and photograph birds and whales. I did spot a bird of prey flying a fair way off. Possibly a Nankeen Kestrel?
The early part of the walk is hemmed in a bit by high fences. Its a shame that these are needed as they do spoil the view.
I walked past the Navy Signal Station and the Macquarie Lighthouse, then a short section of road walking to reach Rosa Gully and Diamond Bay.
From the boardwalk I could look down to the the bottom of Rosa Gully and see the fisherman’s ladder that leads to a long ledge.
Climbing up the boardwalk on the far side I paused to watch a whale watching boat far out to sea. They normally know where whales are and are a good guide to places to look. Sure enough there where a few whales a long way out. But much closer where a nice pod of whales with some calves.
I am not sure why some of these waves were travelling north. More spectacular clifftop views –
And then some road walking to Dudley Page Reserve.
This is one place that I don’t mind deviating from the coastal cliffs to see an awesome view of Sydney city and its harbour.
Then back to the cliffs, to follow the Coastal Path through a nice park – The Rodney Reserve. The first part of this is the site of an early radio astronomy facility. It is the birthplace of radio astronomy in Australia. There is an interesting information display and a replica of one of the original yogi array antennas.
At the southern end of this park, I found nice bench in the shade – a good place to stop for lunch. Most of the other people around where professional dog walkers. I also did some bird photography.
A Peregrine Falcon was hunting in the area – but its very fast speed made it hard to photograph –
After this park, there is some more road walking to reach the golf course to the north of Bondi.
This is an interesting area geologically – being the site of and old volcano (diatreme) and a very obvious dyke.
From the golf course, it was a short walk down to a bus stop near Bondi Beach.