Hello.<BR><BR>I'll be spending about two weeks in Sydney and am looking for some great walks in the area. I've heard about the Spit to Manly walk and was wondering if there are any other good ones that you really rate. Also, do you have any suggestions of things to do that are non-touristy? This will be my third trip. I'm not particularly interested in museums, but love being by the water and walking around different neighbourhoods, and particularly good hikes. Would also be interested in hearing your views of good sidetrips apart from Blue Mtns.<BR><BR>Are there any good websites with walking trails of Sydney? Have had little luck searching so far.<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR><BR>x

Hi, x!<BR>This is the kind of question I love to hear, as Sydney is one of the great walking cities of the world, yet so many of our tourists allow themselves to be ferried everywhere by coach and miss the lot. We are surrounded by national parks (well, on three sides, anyway), including the second oldest national park in the world (The Royal National Park.... Yellowstone was the only one designated before it), and you could really spend a year -- at least -- exploring them all before you had to retrace your footsteps.<BR>Now, to cases. Sydney Olympic Park has several kilometres of walking trails, even though most of the visitors to this area just look at the Olympic Village and walk on. The website to tell you about these is www.thisweekinaustralia.com/Sydney/locations/article9162.asp<BR>Next to the Spit to Manly walk, which I was delighted to hear you know about, one of the best walks you can do is the Bondi to Coogee ocean walk. This, and the Barrenjoey Lighthouse walk, are described on www.mynrma.com.au/travel/go/destinations/sydney/wal.shtml<BR>For walks in some of the other national parks, you should look at www.australianexplorer.com/sydney_national_parks.htm<BR>I could go on and on, but this will keep you busy for at least two weeks. When you arrive, you can pick up books of National Park walks in the travel section of most of the major bookstores. Have a great time, and, my advice is, keep your return date "open"!

Just about every bit of the harbor edge between the bridge and tips of north and south heads is an excellant walk. The bible guide is a brochure the ferry info office ocassionally has in print called something like "go walkabout with Sydney's ferries".<BR><BR>I've walked most of it at least once, and could pound the keyboard for an hour with all kinds of discription. But bottom line is to get the best info and maps you can, then hug the shoreline closely. Sometimes there are cute little pedestrian bridges or trails bypassing the anyway attractive mansion walkways - keep close watch.<BR><BR>Some of it is or used to be impassible, such as due to a Navy base near the zoo, but that has just opened up all the way to Spit bridge. And the urban parts have such great eating stops and parks...<BR><BR>Other activities can be para/hang gliding at Stanwell Park, ferry excursions from Palm Beach (bus stop) or Hawkbury River (train stop name) postal ferry. For example<BR>http://www.sydneysceniccruises.com/s...uise_route.htm

Take an overnight at the Pittwater youth hostel...access by water only...and walk into kuringai national park.<BR><BR>Do the west head to flint and steel walk<BR><BR>Catch the ferry to the basin and walk up to the aboriginal rock carvings.<BR><BR>catch a train to waverton station and do the balls head walk...have a coffee at whithams coffe shop near waverton station.<BR><BR>If you can afford it take the seaplane from rose bay to palm beach..better value than the bridgeclimb...<BR><BR>you can do your own bridge walk for one tenth the price of the bridgeclimb...catch a ferry to luna park...swim some laps at north sydney pool...have a coffee at ripples..walk over the bridge..go up the south east pylon..have a beer at the rooftop bar at the Glenmore hotel as you walk back thru the rocks..

A bit more detail<BR><BR>Watsons Bay to Rose Bay (or beyond) is one of the musts. Walk around south head, then follow the bay as far as you want. Easy to cover distance due to flatness. Shark Beach is a great place to stop for a snack, as are the cluster of restaurants near every ferry stop.<BR><BR>Cremorne Point area on the north side is a must. Don't ferry directly to the point, but to either side - you can easily walk between many ferry stops.<BR><BR>The well known Manly-Spit is beautiful, but more tiring than the others due to up and down bush trail. I did encounter unexpected refreshment choices in the form of an ice cream truck in a remote park, and a cappuchino boat(!) that came in at a remote beach.<BR><BR>Coogee-Manly is must due to the open ocean views. Zoo-Middle Head is great, but not sure the best way to proceed from Middle Head. There is a nice but hard to find path from Manly to North Head along harbor (hilly). I meant to look for oceanside walks north from Manly, but not yet...

I also love getting posts like this - as a new Sydneysider I was just stunned as to how many hidden beautiful walks there are that most tourists just never see...<BR><BR>I live in Bundeena which is a lttle village in the Royal National Park. You get here either by a 50km drive fromt he city or take a train to Cronulla and then a ferry from therre to Bundeena. Once here there are dozens of walks. Takre the newly opened Bundeena-Maianbar heritage trail or one of the coast walks. It is stunning here.<BR><BR>I used to live on the North Shore in a suburb called Castlecrag which was desgigned by Walter Burley Griffin (who designed Canberra). Just wandering round the streets is fun as the whole suburb is on a narrow strip of land justting out into Middle Harbour. If you go up to Castle Cove, the next suburb along, there is a gorgeous walk that starts in the harold Reid Reserve that hugs the water for several kms...you woould never believe you were only 10kms from the city!!<BR><BR>Someone above mentioned walking from The Basin to the Aboriginal Carvings - i have done this and that area is stunning too. But if it is a hot day remember to take lots of water and suncreen as i found there was no shade at all on this 2 hour walk. Take a ferry from Palm Beach to The Basin and then just walk up the hill!<BR><BR>Day trips from Sydney:<BR>Bundeena<BR>Ku-Ring-Gai National Park<BR>Hunter Valley<BR>Reptile Park at Gosford (best place i found for seeing Aus fauna)<BR>Try any of the beaches on the Central Coast such as Avoca, Terrigal etc (only 1.5 hrs drive from sydney)<BR><BR>Hope this gets you started anyway...<BR><BR>Sonia