New South Wales – Page 4

Clovelly Beach to Bondi

I began this popular cliff-top walk from Clovelly after taking a bus from the city (#339 ) to Clovelly beach. Walking down past a little cafe, the Seasalt Café and Kiosk, and public toilets which overlook the beach brings you to a footpath and the beach. A group of males were frolicking in the water in their budgy-smugglers, not sure who they are but they certainly had a few muscles between them 🙂

The walk from Clovelly to Bondi is about 4 km but there are quite a lot of steps and stairs on this route. Clovelly beach is a popular swimming and snorkelling spot and home to a fish called the blue grouper that is affectionately protected by the locals.

The Start

The time

Banksia

Coastal path

Where we are

Looking back to Clovelly

Looking forward to Bondi

My first stop was at Waverley cemetery which may boast the world’s most scenic location.

Bottlebrush

Stepping down by the cemetery

Bondi ahead – see the beacon?

Boardwalk at the side of the cemetery

Looks like up again…

More steps

Looking back to Clovelly and Waverley Cemetery

Then on to Bronte beach. The ocean pool is very popular with children as is the sea-themed playground.

Oushi Zokei – Twice Twist Bands

Now this would do me…

Beautiful lily found along the coast

Another seaside plant

The road leading down to Bronte beach

Surf at Bronte

We have arrived…

Still some way to go though

Baking at Bronte

The path continues across the beach to Tamarama nicknamed by locals as Glamarama because of the bronzed and buffed bodies to be found there. En route you pass crumbling apartment blocks and multimillion dollar mansions.

Continuing along the path

View back to Bronte beach

Ahead is Tamarama

Pretty wave patterns

Tamarama SLSC and Steps!

Tamarama beach

Not far now…

Just around the headland

Continuing along the very interesting sandstone cliffs sculptured by the sea and wind, you reach Mackenzies Point where there is a well-placed lookout point.

Anyone need some more exercise?

Or just chill out

…and admire the flora

before moving onwards

and upwards…

Mackenzies Point

The coastal path then continues down to the Bondi Icebergs Club, so called because members swim all year round in its saltwater pool. Climbing up the last of the steps brings you to the southern end of Bondi’s beach and a bus ride back to the city.

Another cool house

and not so cool problems

Yuck!

Lovely sculptured rock

I know how she feels!

The Icebergs pool and Bondi

Oh yes!

It’s been a long time since I could do this

The End

This is a classic Sydney beach experience. Think stunning ocean views, invigorating salt air and the opportunity to cool off in the salt water pools along the way.

If you enjoy a walk, short or long, then you may enjoy visiting Jo’s Monday Walk where you are in for a treat.

Seeking Angels

It was a Sydney blogger, Lignum Draco, who introduced me to the angels of Waverley Cemetery. And as an avid (photographic) collector of unusual and interesting headstones it was a place added to the list of “things to do in Sydney”.

And after a superb brunch with another infamous Aussie blogger, the loquacious Margaret Rose, I set off to find me some angels.

I didn’t find the ones LD depicted, but that is probably just as well because my images are nothing like the quality of his, but I did find some that I liked.

It is the final resting place for notable Australian poets Henry Lawson, Henry Kendall and Dorothea Mackellar who penned the immortal ode to Australia with the lines:

“I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!”

And I’m loving angels…

Home and Away

Palm Beach is the northernmost beach suburb of Sydney. A mere 2 hour bus ride from the CBD brings you to the location of the Aussie soap opera “Home and Away” known as Summer Bay.

I first came here 16 years ago, pretty much to the day, with my daughter and her partner when we visited Sydney for the first time in order to attend the christening of my first grandchild. It is a breathtaking location.

On my first visit we took the trail up to Barrenjoey lighthouse which was quite a clamber up the cliff. This time I looked for the road – then very rough and bumpy – now resurfaced.

Cockatoo

Before I headed up to the lighthouse I treated myself to lunch at the Boathouse, a restaurant on the edge of Barrenjoey beach on the Pittwater.

The food is expensive and not all that great, but the glass of Sauvignon Blanc and the view more than made up for that and I was celebrating my daughter’s birthday, even though, disappointingly, she wasn’t with me this time.

Walking along the shoreline was like walking in bath water, it was so warm, in contrast to the windier surf of the Pacific Ocean.

The road wound its way up the rocky outcrop to Barrenjoey lighthouse, with the views I was looking for. Unfortunately the lighthouse is under renovation so I was unable to go inside, but I felt a sense of achievement having got to the top once again!

The boathouse from Barrenjoey lighthouse

The views from the top are well worth the effort it takes to climb up there, even in extreme heat.

and on the way back to the bus stop I was incredibly lucky to see a kookaburra sitting on a pole posing for photographs.

If you enjoy a walk, short or long, then you may enjoy visiting Jo’s Monday Walk where you are in for a treat.

Dee Why Lagoon

Today (Friday 21 November) was forecast to be one of the hottest November days in Sydney. 40 degrees centigrade. Fortunately it didn’t peak that high, but at 10 am it was 38 degrees and warm enough. By 3 pm I was fed-up of being indoors so set out for the beach at Dee Why, a mere 5 minute walk away. I took a book and headed for shade near the sea swimming pool at the south end of the beach. After an hour, I decided that it was cool enough in the breeze to head off for a walk along the beach. Walking on the sand is very good for rough heels. 🙂

I kept to the edge of the surf as I headed towards the metal pole featured in my previous post, stopping occasionally to see if I could spot a surfer. At the post I headed up into the sand dunes which were apparently once 20 metres high, and found a trail that led to the lagoon, once home to black swans, but sadly no more. Within moments the roar of the ocean was left behind and only birdsong could be heard in the stillness surrounding the lagoon.

A trail leads around the lagoon to Long Reef Beach where a couple of weeks ago I watched school-kids learn to paddle surf. When the sea is cut off from the lagoon, as today, you can walk over to a boardwalk and up the Dee Why headland for 360 degree views. I opted to give this a miss and made my way back to the edge of the surf to walk back along Dee Why beach back to the Strand, letting the sea breeze caress my skin.

It did occur to me to put my sandals back on and also keep an eye out for snakes. I have no idea if there are any around here, but since Australia has the most poisonous snakes in the world it makes sense to be careful.

I’m still amazed to see so many Aussies lying out in the sun without shade. Hardly anyone wears a hat, even children! I feel like a right tourist in mine!

‘Slip, Slop, Slap! It sounds like a breeze when you say it like that Slip, Slop, Slap! In the sun we always say ‘Slip, Slop, Slap!’

Slip, Slop, Slap! Slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and slap on a hat Slip, Slop, Slap! You can stop skin cancer – say: ‘Slip, Slop, Slap!’

What happened?

Has the ozone hole healed up?

It certainly doesn’t feel like it.

Perhaps they need to reinstate this advert!

Arrived back to a very warm flat, but a nicely chilled New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc that I had popped into the freezer before I left.

If you enjoy a walk, short or long, then you may enjoy visiting Jo’s Monday Walk where you are in for a treat.

A Walk in the Blue Mountains

Last week we took a train from Sydney up into the Blue Mountains Region. It didn’t look very promising as we set out from Central Station amidst grey skies and high humidity. As we passed the soulless western suburbs of the city seemingly full of business parks and car lots, it struck me how awful arriving in any city by train can be. After an hour though we started climbing and then went through the more picturesque suburbs of Emu Plains, Warrimoo and Bullaburra – you have to love the Australian names. Arriving in Katoomba we found the bus to take us to Echo Point and The Three Sisters lookout. As we stepped out of the bus the cloud broke and the sun pierced it’s way through and the full weight of the heat struck us.

Views

Scenic World

Bottlebrush

Blue haze

Three Sisters

After admiring the views for a while I decided to head off on one of the bush trails past Kedumba View which looks out over the Kedumba River to Mount Solitary. It was too hot already to contemplate the longer, more arduous boardwalk you can access from over at Scenic World, but I think you’ll find that even on a shortish walk (40 mins one way) there is a lot to see.

The trail to Kedumba View

Blossom – similar to our Blackthorn

A tree fern

The trail

Sky Train – can you spot it?

I continued along the trail which would lead to another viewpoint, before retracing my steps. The views were amazing, but I was also interested in the flora alongside the trail, much if looking like the fynbos found in the Cape Peninsula, South Africa.

The path became muddier and less easy to traverse with short steps along the route, but the joy of discovering different things to see every few yards made me continue until I reached Lady Darley’s Lookout.

Steps and curves

French youngsters on the edge

Lady Darley Lookout

View to Echo Point

Echo Point

Bridging a cascade

Where I found the most wonderful views, and a group of French youngsters posing for photos on the edge of the overhang! What makes people do this? Do they not realise that one false step and they are over the edge? Looking at my options of either the ladder going down (and the steps in the distance to the next viewpoint at Katoomba Falls) and the steep staircase going up to the Cliff Drive, I decided that this would be my turnaround point. By now that sun was hot too!

Ladder down

The View

The next viewpoint

and more steps…

Returning

Lovely trees

Lady Darley Lookout – can you see the ladder?

and a final few photos of the flora…

Tree fern unfurling

Silver grey gums

The following day there were severe bush fires in the Blue Mountains – a common occurrence and one which must put fear in the hearts of those people who live in this vast ‘bushland’.

(Why are the Blue Mountains blue? The distinctive blue haze is always present. The phenomenon is known as ‘Rayleigh Scattering’ and caused by scattering rays of light coming into contact with the fine dust particles and droplets of oil dispersed from the eucalyptus trees in the valley.)

If you enjoy a walk, short or long, then you may enjoy visiting Jo’s Monday Walk where you are in for a treat.