Pottering around Sydney

Over January we had some extremes of weather around Sydney. Everything from a really hot day with a temperature of over 45°C to two days of continuous rain caused by the remnants of Cyclone Oswald. The weather was worse in other parts of NSW with many areas having out of control bush fires, and others with flooding. Sydney got off relatively lightly and I managed to get out and about on mainly sunny days. Here are some of the photos that I took on my trips.

I went to Chowder Bay by bus and then walked to Middle Head from there. This is the view from Middle Head looking across the harbour entrance towards South Head. The Manly ferry is passing by.

 

The start of a yacht race in the harbour.

 

Looking towards Manly

 

A Sydney sunset from my apartment.

 

I went by train to Austinmer via the Royal National Park. Here is the beach at Austinmer.

 

Hills in the background.

 

A lot of people around here were worried about fracking.

 

I walked along the coast to Thirroul.

 

The beach was much quieter at Thirroul.

 

Time to head home, so waiting at a rather deserted Thirroul station.

 

Maybe someone knows what the heck all these signals mean.

 

A few days later and they were filming a show from "The Biggest Loser". On this day the overweight contestants were abseiling down the AMP building in Circulat Quay.

 

Reaching the end of the 100 metre descent. It was also a very hot day. I was watching from an open air bar at the nearby Customs House library. I was having a nice cool beer with my daughter who was on her lunch break. She bought the beers.

 

My webcam shows a temperature on that day of 44.9°C but it had exceeded 45.

 

I had a trip to Manly one afternoon and here is the ferry.

 

A walk from Mosman to Spit Bridge via Quakers Hat Bay starts near the Mosman war memorial.

 

A suburban street in Mosman.

 

My first sight of Quakers Hat bay.

 

The foreshore walk was a bit more challenging than I had expected and it was a hot day.

 

Nice view.

 

Kids were on a sailing course near Spit Bridge.

 

A Spit Bridge marina.

 

On a warm late afternoon I walked around Farm Cove to Mrs Macquarie's Chair where I took this photo.

 

Another day, another walk. This time the view is across Mosman Bay while on the way to Cremorne Point.

 

A great evening at the concert hall in the Sydney Opera house. They were screening the film "2001, a space odyssey" but with the music played live by a large orchestra along with the sound effects from a choir of 30+ members. I will never forget that evening. The music and overall effect was stunning.

 

The next day was Australia Day when the weather started to deterioate. There was the usual race of the Sydney ferries in the harbour.

 

The fireboat and some wet yachtsmean.

 

This sound stage was pushed over to Athol Bay and there was a live and loud performance by Jessica Mauboy and others. By the evening the weather was getting bad.

 

A few days later there was the rare sight of a submarine going around in circles in the harbour.

 

Old and new.

 

The Allen Border oval at Mosman. Hopefully they will play some cricket here soon.

 

"Carnival Spirit" moored at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Circular Quay.

 

A look back while cruising down the Parramatta River. The water is still brown from all the heavy rain.

 

It had seemed that I had not done very much during January but the photos show that there were some sunny days.

Hoping for good weather in February and of course it is the Womens World Cup fifty over cricket tournament being held in India. Having said that, the male dominated organisation suddenly changed the venues and schedule just days before it was all due to start. Hopefully the media and teams were able to recover from this shambles. It seems that choosing India as a venue is a high risk strategy.

Peewit.

Recent photos

Christmas and the New Year was very enjoyable.
Some time was spent with my family and a couple of lovely walks were completed.

The walks were on hot sunny days.

The first was from Spit Bridge to Manly. The reward at the end was a large beer and a platter of German meats.
Here is a photo that I took from Dobroyd Head. link

Another walk was from Rose Bay to Vaucluse. This walk follows the foreshore and it was great to stop at the Vaucluse House tea rooms for a light lunch followed by scones, jam and cream with a pot of English breakfast tea.

I took this photo at Cremorne Point.

Here is another photo taken at Kirribilli. You can zoom in for more detail with this photo.

Have a good 2013

Peewit

Collaroy to Manly coastal walk

A couple of days ago I decided to do the coastal walk from Collaroy to Manly. I was using a book of walks and it describes the walk as 11.5 kms long and in the easy category. As it was a beautiful sunny day, I packed a couple of cereal bars, an apple and some water in my daypack and set out. I was using public transport so at 10:30 I was waiting at McMahons Point (where I live) for the bus.
View from McMahons Point

 

One hour and three buses later I arrived at Collaroy Beach. As the last bus that I used was a L88 (limited stop) it took me a half a mile further than the actual start point, so I had a short walk back. The temperatures were mid 20's C and there was blue sky with a light breeze so it was perfect walking conditions. I started up my Garmin gps so that it would record a breadcrumb trail of my route. The walk starts at Anzac Avenue that takes you to the Fisherman's Beach where you hang a right and walk along by Long Reef Golf club.

 

Looking north from Fisherman's Beach.

 

You walk up to a lookout out at Long Reef and as you approach it you start to see views of Dee Why beach across the golf course to your right.

 

From the lookout you can look south and see the Manly heads in the far distance (Manly is our destination).

 

As you walk passed the golf course, the path is easy and downhill.

 

You switch onto a boardwalk to get to Long Reef Beach. Time to take your footwear off for a very pleasant beach walk and paddle.

 

The beach becomes Dee Why beach and the surfing conditions look good. You do have to wade across the shallow river that goes into Dee Why lagoon. The book does not mention this and maybe the river does not exist at certain times of the tide.

 

At the southern end of the beach I decided to take advantage of the many cafes and stop for lunch. A cajun chicken salad washed down with a James Boags lager was really very enjoyable.

 

After lunch you continue south and soon reach the rock baths were there is a seawater swimming pool and from here I watched some of the surfers having fun.

 

You now need to follow a coastal bush path. The path is quite narrow and rocky and involves a fair ascent so I am not sure that I would call it easy, but perfectly manageable by anyone who is reasonably fit. You walk up to the Dee Why Head where you can look back towards Long Reef.

 

The path threads its way between the coastline and some expensive looking residences for the well heeled of NSW. You also get some good cliff views.

 

Eventually Curl Curl beach comes into view.

 

It is paddling time again and Curl Curl is a lovely beach.

 

The surf looks fascinating but is difficult to photograph. I took some movie to capture the full effect but have not included it here. A great photograph was let slip when about fifty youngsters all in blue were running up the beach towards me. However, they were schoolgirls in their pe kit and taking a photo could be misconstrued so that was one action shot I did not take. Whilst standing videoing the surf, I was caught out by an extra large wave and the bottom part of my shorts got a good soaking.

 

At the end of Curl Curl beach there is another rock baths and here you take another coastal cliff path (this time it is a proper pathway)over the headland. You soon drop back down to sea level to reach Freshwater Beach.

 

After crossing Freshwater Beach there is a sharp ascent up a zig-zag pathway over Queenscliff. Over the crest you arrive at Bridge Street and descend to the bridge that takes you over the entrance to Manly lagoon. Just over the bridge you can get onto the promenade that takes you the full length (1.25 kms) of Manly Beach to The Corso. The sun was now sinking in the west and the cloud that had been just inland all day was starting to cast a shadow over Manly Beach.

 

Once you reach the Corso there are plenty of cafes where you can satisfy your appetite but I decided to just walk the few hundred metres across this spit of land to the ferry terminal. Here I caught the 4:15pm ferry to Circular Quay.

 

Then another short ferry trip back to McMahons Point and I was home. It had been a truly excellent and enjoyable walk. I'm glad I did it and will always remember it.
If you have Google Earth and want to see my route click here
Peewit