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November in Sydney and the temperatures soared to 36 degrees (and I am talking centigrade here) for almost a week. People flocked to the beaches to bake in the warmth of the sun.
Arriving by ferry from Circular Quay, Sydney.
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.
My first stop was at Waverley cemetery which may boast the world’s most scenic location.
Then on to Bronte beach. The ocean pool is very popular with children as is the sea-themed playground.
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 very interesting sandstone cliffs sculptured by the sea and wind, you reach Mackenzies Point where there is a well-placed lookout 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.
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.
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…
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.
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 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.
TRAVEL WORDS 