My friends, David and Melissa, from Hobart were in town. A nice day was forecast and I suggested some coastal walking. They decided to walk out and around North Head and invited me to join them. This was my first visit to North Head.
The walk we completed is part of the Sydney Coastal Walk. This website has maps and notes.
Sydney Harbour from the Manly Ferry
North Head. The tall ship looks a bit close…..
We met up on the Manly Ferry and then walk along the Corso to Manly Beach. After fish and chips for lunch, we started off along the coastal walk towards Shelly Beach. This small beach is in Cabbage Tree Bay.
We continued on past the beach up onto a headland that offered fine views stretching up the coast. Then past a carpark and more climbing took us to some nice coastal heath. Some old stone walls and concrete gun emplacements and bunkers reminded us of the areas military history.
The wild flowers were starting to come out. Many red and grey Grevilleas were in bloom. We also saw a nice Boobook owl sleeping in a tree.
We then entered Sydney Harbour National Park at the old military barracks, part of which is now the visitor centre. We went inside. It looked a bit like a war room with a huge photo-map of North Head raised off the floor. A staff member, used a long stick to point out features and walkways to us. It looked like to us, that in a previous occupation, he had used the map to move model guns, tanks and soldiers around on the map.
Next, we walked past the patrol ground and along another old stone wall and down to the cafe. A little road walking took us to some fine vantage points. Great views of Port Jackson. More tracks tools us right to the top of the cliffs of North Head. More photo stops.
Then we headed back to the cafe and down along a road to Collins Beach. The a bit more foreshore walking out to the old gasworks site, and from there last Little Manly Cove and back to the Ferry Wharf.
More photos are on my website here.