We are getting really good at timing the buses and Ferries. We get into town and catch the 7:40am Ferry to Manly. Arrive 8:10am and after a quick coffee we are underway. The day starts with a fair amount of sun and quite warm, although it is due to storm later. From the ferry we can see North Head, our first target for the day.
From the ferry we walk around Manly cove, toward the harbour side of North Head.
We first pass through Little Manly Cove, a small popular beach.
From here, we walk out on a nice track, first on grass and then through bush, to Little Manly Point
And then on to Collins Beach and Collins Flat. This is a small beach with a waterfall at one end.
This is as far as you can go along the shore. There is an institute of police management then the quarantine station blocking the way. There is quite a long walk up and around Collins beach road, past the entrance to North Fort, to the entrance to the quarantine station.
From here, we head left out towards North Head. Another long road with plenty of cyclists clearly doing loops (we see the same cyclists several times). Finally, as we approach the summit of North Head we are rewarded with a spectacular view looking back toward of the entire harbour. Even Alex is impressed. Definitely worth the walk up the hill!
From this vantage point you can see all the way down the coast as far as Bondi, and all the way into the harbour as far as the bridge. Equally impressive is that we have walked the whole thing!! We are amazed and impressed with ourselves.
Soon after this, we get to the pedestrian track around North Head itself. It is quite spectacular. Here is a view over the edge, it is about 50m or more high and an almost vertical drop.
As we turn around North Head, we complete the Harbour section of our walk. Another major milestone. From here, we simply head north. As we turn the corner we can see the major set of cliffs on the ocean side of north head, and an appreciation of the large swell on the ocean today. Again, a fantastic view.
The walk back takes us through North Fort aiming for Blue Fish Road. Be warned, you need to have a close look at the map at the entrance to North Fort to work out where you need to go. Along Blue Fish Road, there is a walking exit on the right as shown in the picture below. Take this exit!!
Blue Fish Track is then well signposted and takes you down Parkhill recreation reserve toward Shelly Beach. As we walk down there is another great view, this time of Manly and the Beaches heading up the North Coast.
A lot of different great views in a short span of walk; from looking back at the harbour, to the North Head cliffs, to the Northern beaches. Well worth the walk. Along the way down, there is a passage through the old wall of North Fort.
There is a winding, well laid but and rocky path leading down to the Shelly beach car park and ultimately to Shelly beach. This is now home territory as we often come to Shelly beach for a swim. From Shelly beach we walk along the Bower path around Cabbage Tree Bay to Manly beach. The swell is up and, despite all the crowds, the beach is closed for swimming.
We have a discussion about wether we should stop here or continue on. We decide to carry on. Walk up the beach to North Manly which, confusingly is actually called Queenscliff.
Confusingly, because Queenscliff Bay is actually over the headland and is called Freshwater Beach.
This looks like the pattern heading North. Some big beaches with headlands in between, some quite steep and rocky. After Freshwater, we walk over the headland and along a timber path coast walk, eventually arriving at Curl Curl Beach. Here, we take off our shoes and cool our feet down.
Like Manly (and all the beaches along the coast today), Curl Curl is closed to swimming. We look and see what time the bus comes, but not for another 45 minutes, so we decide to carry on walking. We walk barefoot up the long beach to North Curl Curl.
At this point we mis-read the map and think it is but a short walk over the headland to Dee Why where we can catch the bus. However this turns out to be much longer than we thought. The walk from Curl Curl (Dee Why Head) to Dee Why Beach is again very well laid out, following the cliff tops and having interesting views both up and down the coast. The early part of the walk is through bush,
then there is a section along the cliff top with great views
And finally, some quite steep paths and stairs down eventually to Dee Why.
Because we walked in bare foot on the beach at Curl Curl. We only wear flip-flops for this part of the walk…probably a big mistake for next time. Alex reminds me that only true Australians can sprint in flip flops. We arrive at Dee Why
We are fortunate in immediately catching a 136 bus back to Manly Cove and catch the 12:45 Ferry. On the way back we get some spectacular views of a large storm rolling into Sydney
We get home at nearly 2pm, just as it really starts with the rain. We have walked close to 25km today and seen some really great views. We feel we are now on the home stretch up to Palm Beach. Two or maybe three weekends to go.
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