Sydney Harbor and seashore has some of the finest shorewalks on earth which I keep repeating. I was so surprised to find a new one published in a 2006(!) brochure that I like most of all. It ties together various walks west of the Harbor Bridge to form a 8-10 hour loop walk. (you can take in portions, but beware the obvious half way stopping point at Birkenhead Mall has lost ferry service at least temporarily).

The brochure has mysterious mixed origins, but I got it from the huge tourist center above Cadmans Cottage in the Rocks area. Called "A harbor circle walk" with red path shown on a grey map. Hope someone put's it online, although it (and the trail) is a work in progress with some mistakes.

Any good map could show you the bridges involved, including the harbor bridge and the next set to the west that will allow a loop. But all the value is getting off the grim main highways these bridges use - but not just the shore which isn't quiet as visually or walker friendly as the east harbor. Don't even vary from their path by half a block after missing a turn - it is so well chosen in detail that you will be rewarded by backtracking to the exact path for endless surprises.

Sometimes you are on towering bridges with grand vistas, then you take some tiny path that seems to only go to somebodies private kitchen or backyard. Plunge into fern forest wilderness (like near Tamborine Bay) that you can't believe is so close to the mansions and commercial zones. Take a sun hat that will tie on (windy bridges) and if you don't carry water take advantage of every refreshment stop you pass (surprisingly few).

Thought I would acknowledge the other classic walks just to the east. You can walk all but a few blocks of the entire harbor, although areas immediately east of the central biz district have some offlimits or unfriendly parts.

Manly-Spit bridge is a classic walk praised in this forum, although I rarely feel moved to repeat it. Lots of nature (almost monotonously so).

Watsons Bay (or south head) to Rose Bay (or Double Bay) is the classic I repeat the most. You can take the infrequent ferry to Watsons, stroll the head, then just follow the shore as far as you like. At one point you see several branches opening up towards the shore - wharf st is a dead end, but take the adjacent one for easier access toward the pedestrian bridge across Parsley Bay. At Vaclouse House, you can stroll the gardens (maybe tour and eat inside) then head shorewards for Shark Beach Park (good food kiosk). From there find the nice nature trail going onward all the way to Rose Bay (or almost there; you have to climb out on Tivoli St just before).

There are north shore walks such as east of the zoo, and do not miss Cremorne Pt greater area (all spellings may be a bit off). Good walk between Bondi and Coogee outside the harbor, which is a major classic.

From Manly you can walk up to South Head on either side (at least the shelly beach side has a trail climb in progress) and there is a really nice artillery museum open half the week up there as well as lookouts, etc. Also you can walk north to the various crescent beaches such as Dee Why, etc as well as the long reef penninsula. The Manly tourist office has excellant maps and info on buses which you may want to use to climb headlands. I don't remember this part so well due to an incredible outbreak of rain and flies - no more spring visits for me (which have gone ok in past but fall must be more stable).

Oh, I forgot to report some other attempted walks that turned out nightmarish for the most part. I made the observation that getting a purple weekly travelpass got me to the start of various bushwalks about an hour outside of town.

I think the first was at the end of the trainline to south - Waterfall station. You can take the Coranga (spelling probably all wrong) track to the east which then hooks up to the Forest Path loop. At first I was pleased with Forest Path because it became miraculously free of swarms of flies for some reason. Also it was free of up and down hills, and finally followed a contour around a mountain. How nice to walk level, yet have mt views on one side and lush valley on the other.

Then a rare encounter with another person informed me this trail was alive with leeches and showed them on her shoes. Eventually I got a thick stick to knock them off my shoes, but even broke it with the hold they had. Later I found one had crawled inside and soaked the sock with blood. Every Ozzie I mentioned this experience to said the same thing happened to them - WHY ISN'T THIS TRAIL POSTED or documented as a danger?

I also went to Cronulla at the end of a SE rail line with a nice little downtown and wonderful shorewalk. I had missed a ferry tour that leaves at 10 that I hadn't heard of - hope someone can give it a try. Instead I took the ferry to Bundeena where you can clamber to the high/far part of town to start an interesting shorewalk. Shortened due to weather (and bugs) I mainly appreciated a weird outcrop looking like melted wax called Cobblers. Had a long trail toward Otford, which was on my list to visit but was also rained out.

Finally I went to my limit north on the trainline to take the trail from Cowen to Brooklyn (Hawkesbury River train stop). The latter wasn't allowed on purple travelpass, but I too cleverly planned to take a ferry from Brooklyn to ? (a town I forget), then from ? to Palm Beach on another ferry, then the travelpass would allow me to bus all the way back to Syd in a loop!

Well, the trail was backbreaking and I got smeared black with charcoal from past forest fire debris. Stumbling into Brooklyn, the ferry refused to run without a min of 10 passengers. They have now done this to me 2 out of 3 times including their mailboat cruises - can't depend on them!

Finish with the lightest of all possible walks downtown. The royal botanic gardens gives an endlessly changing and facinating shorewalk, usually with shady benches available. Even overlooking the Opera house, the obvious benches may be taken but there are many hidden just steps up the hill. For some reason this area seems free of flys that swarmed almost every undeveloped area as well as partway into the city (beware of buying icecream when you notice not only the shop but the very icecream freezer is swarming with trapped flys).

There is an unsettling problem in the ornamental tree part of the park, in the form of hundreds of huge bats, larger than cats. They are destroying the trees by scuffling the new growth off, and this place holds the rarest tree in the world as well many precious ones. They are dense overhead and I worry about droppings. The efforts to shoe them away to timidly politically correct, and someone needs to unleash a teenager with a paint gun there periodically to save this botanical treasure house.

Finally I pioneered a path thru the wlderness of downtown for the least ambitious walkers. Now I can get from Martin Place to a block beyond Town Hall without ever encountering street traffic. Most of this is connected by underground malls sort of going diagonal to the street plan, but the final part from Pitt St mall to Martin Place mall can be crossed overhead. Try out healthy lunchtime food, like the pumpkin/pinenut salad from Sumo Salads, or the healthy nondairy smoothies. Go near end of day for special priced overstock delicacies... yum!

Glad you went out and found all that, viking. You've done some that most people won't have time to do.

But nobody should leave Sydney without doing at least one. And my top pick for short and sweet would be to take the ferry to Cremorne Point and either:

walk clockwise (ie up the eastern side of Shell Cove); then cut through a few streets - tricky but - hey - just follow your nose - and then down the western side of Mosmam Bay. And take the ferry back to CQ from Cremorne Point. ... OR ...

walk up the western side of Mosman Bay and continuing going all the way round to the eastern side and take the ferry back from Mosman.

Hermitage Foreshore also amazing.

Or a trip to Balmain and a wander round the side streets - with a market to visit if it's a Saturday - and eateries of such variety that you will be spoilt for choice.

Viking, that's the best treatise on the walks of Sydney that I have ever read.... I am saving it as a word document -- ostensibly for my own use, but you can be sure that eventually I will quote from it in a reply on this forum, and pretend that I wrote it myself!

Strength to your arm!

Hi Viking,

Thanks so much for sharing your experience of some great aspects of "our town" that I'd managed to miss in some 20 odd yrs living here.

Those leaches can be rotten little suckers (literallly!) can't they? I had a similar experience just outside Berry 4 or 5 years ago and still have the scar on my foot. I thought the sloshing in my shoe was moisture from the wet grass, too!

Thanks again.

great description of things to do in SYdney, Viking!

Viking,

this is a great report, filled with lots of wonderful information!

I adore walking in general, and walking in Sydney has always been a pleasure. Usually, alot of my time is taken up walking from one hotel to another, doing site inspections, but I am determined to fit one or two of your walks into my next trip (next year)!

Thank you for your informative report! Like Alan, I've copied this and will print it out for future reference.

I doubt that I would have found the "Leech Walk" on my own, but am grateful for the heads up...I cringe every time I watch "The African Queen". Leeches...ugh!

Regards,

Melodie
Certified Aussie Specialist

As I am going up to Sydney for a few days I did a search on this site for "walks Sydney" and found this treasure trove of information that you have provided Viking. A great job and exactly what I needed.

for those doing the leech walk (really any walk in scrubby, damp areas), take a little container of salt. if you get a leech on you, pour on some salt, they quickly fall off. You can also burn them off if you're a bit sadistic (not so good when there's fire bans). They are horrible little critters. if you pull them off though, the bleeding will keep going.

Concerning leeches: I've grown up in Sydney with a long history of bushwalking and never encountered a leech. Maybe I'm just lucky! Also the only snakes I've met have been under my washing line in my backyard - we live near the bush. And the only Sydney funnel web spider - the most dangerous critter - was dead and under my desk at work, a school close to the bush.