http://harrisst.homeip.net/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=4554
It’s Sunday again, and I am keen to explore a bit more of Sydney. After seeing some photos that my workmate (Danny) took of his wekeender trip, I decided I have to pay the Manly Scenic Walk a visit. It’s 9.5km walk, which seems a bit long, but everyone’s been saying it can be done in 3-4 hours. So, I decided to give it a shot..
I had Marissa’s car, but I decided I’ll just get there by public transport. A short walk to the Pyrmont terminal, the ferry took me to Circular Quay. From there, I switched to another ferry, which took me straight to Manly, in about half an hour. The scenery, was definitely quite breathtaking. Love the cliffs.. can never get enough of these Sydney coastal cliffs.
This is not the first time I’ve been to Manly. I was told the scenic walk starts at Manly, but had no idea where in Manly. I took a chance and walked to the beach end of Manly. There was a walking track there along the beach, which I assumed is where it started. There was no sign to say it’s the official ‘Manly Scenic Walk’, but I thought it was pretty scenic anyway. It turns out (after reading on the net about the area), that I was actually discovering Shelly beach, and the Sydney Harbour National Park! It was a nice bonus. The coast cliffs here look quite similar to the cliffs I saw at the Royal National Park a few weeks earlier. The park itself is relatively ‘undeveloped’ with no clearly marked tracks. At this point I knew I wasn’t really doing the Manly Scenic Walk. Fortunately, there was another family (which I believe was Americans), that had a handy Lonely Planet. Thanks to them, I realised I needed to go back to where the Manly ferry terminal is, and start there. *Doh!!*
By the time I get back there, it was about 2:00pm already. As expected, there were million dollar sea-side homes, bushes, docks & small beaches. As it was a ‘rushed’ walk for me, I didn’t really take much notice of the highlights, like the ‘anchor’, the ‘wheel of fortunte’, aboriginal carvings and the lighthouse. I definitely need to bring a pen/paper, to remember the numerous beach names, and areas of interest. The most memorable one is Clontarf beach, which is very close to the Spit Junction (end of the walk). The residences here literally was one narrow beach away from the water! Needless to say, the prices of these homes are far far beyond what I can afford.. 🙁
Overall, I did end up taking some good photos of the walk, although I can definitely do better if I started the ‘right’ walk a bit earlier. It’s definitely a walk I NEED to come back and do again to fully appreciate what it has to offer.
