North Head - 1st April 2021
The group met at Circular Quay Station.
Participants - Ron, Chris, Richard, Helen, Colin and Natalie.
Another spectacular day for walking.
Along the Way:
Time Taken: Approx 6 ½ hours with morning tea and lunch, with 3h 40 min of walking.
Distance: Approx 8km, but there were some difference in distances as measured by our phones.
The group met at Circular Quay Station.
Participants - Ron, Chris, Richard, Helen, Colin and Natalie.
Another spectacular day for walking.
Along the Way:
- met at Circular Quay Station, boarded the ferry to Manly at 8.40am, caught the bus up to North Head at 9.40 and arrived just inside the gates at 9.50am
- walked through the Barracks precinct, across the parade ground and walked past the plotting room as it was not open
- walked through the 3rd Quarantine Cemetery, which was very overgrown but had great views across to Middle Head. It was established in 1881 for victims of the smallpox epidemic
- morning tea stop at the North Fort area
- looked through the Visitors Centre where we were given some very good advice about which walks were still open as some were closed due to fire damage
- walked along the Australia’s Memorial Walk, which was initiated in 2002 to honour those who served and supported the defence of Australia in peace or in war. We all found the walk very interesting. There were many pavers with the names of soldiers placed all along the walkway. There were larger sandstone pavers from organisations such as RSL Clubs. The fire came to the edge of the pathway and it was evident that some sections had been replaced and some were perhaps added recently. There were 7 monuments along the path eg Colonial Wars Monument, Lone Pine Memorial, WW2 Monument and Peace Keeping Monument
- walked down the Shelley Beach Walk and through the hole in the wall
- all along the walk we saw wonderful examples of -flannel flowers, banksias, red devils, fuchsia, heath (bells), grey spider flower and sunshine wattle
- continued down to Shelley beach and were delighted to see several water dragons
- walked around the headland at Shelley Beach and decided to keep going to Manly arriving at 1.30pm
- fish and chips for lunch sitting along the beach front
- back on the ferry arriving at Circular Quay Station at 3.10pm ready to catch the train back home.
Time Taken: Approx 6 ½ hours with morning tea and lunch, with 3h 40 min of walking.
Distance: Approx 8km, but there were some difference in distances as measured by our phones.