[Syd Hiking] Manly North Head walk

Its one of those weekend that you spent day and night in the office and just want go away from home and get some fresh air during the weekend.

Since Dr.R was really busy, I reached out to my brunch group and asked whether anyone want do a hiking with me. And I ended up with some very serious people

Manly North Head hiking track is one of the most scenical track in Sydney. You can drive there or take a ferry from Circular Quay. I recommend to take ferry because Circular Quay to Manly’s ferry routine is one of the best ferry routine: you can see opera house, harbour bridge and great ocean view. You can even see those cuties on the ferry:

Then you can either start from East Esp or head to Manly beach to take the Shelly Beach routine.

We started from East Esp. Before you start the walking, make sure you get a copy of the map from the information centre. My hiking mates were all laughing at my hard copy map but it turned out to be a right decision because google didn’t work properly during the hiking and phone signal was weak.

The first stop point was the spring cove. A nice small beach with open view to the Sydney CBD and where we took that group photso :

After the Sydney Cove, follow the road and go through the Sydney National Park, we arrived North Head Sanctuary. This place used to be the former School of Artillery buildings and have a lot of interesting looking sculptures:

Pass the Sanctuary and follow the sign from there about 1.5km,  we arrived the North Head Visitor centre in North Fort:

At this point, we had a coffee and a light lunch at Bella Vista cafe. It is a cafe that has a stunning view over the harbour and serve good value food. I highly recommend this place if you looking for a lunch option.

Bella Vista Cafe

Saturday	8am–5pm
Sunday	8am–5pm
Monday	9am–4pm
Tuesday	9am–4pm
Wednesday	9am–4pm
Thursday	9am–4pm
Friday	9am–4pm

After a short break, we head off to the loop walk at Manly North Head, where the lookout points were. The view was beneath taking:

We see the cliff view one side and a magenificent CBD view on the other side which not many hiking routine could provide this kind of experience.

On the way back, we took a different track, which was through the Memorial Walk. This pathway was built along an old track that ran through the bush at North Head. Overlooking Sydney Harbour and at the Heads through which many servicemen and women sailed off to and returned from war.

(Pavers in the walkway are inscribed with the names and messages of those who have served in the Navy, Army, Airforce and Merchant Navy in the Defence of Australia and her Allies.)

Its a peaceful place right now but also reflected those heroes who protected our land. there are a lot of military mark here. For example: the disappearing gun base:

We didn’t have enough time to go to the Shelly beach so we took the blue track back.

the whole track took around 3 hours for us because we stopped, had a light lunch and took some serious photos. It is a easy 10Km (if add shelly beach part it is probably around 13 -14km) with not many stairs. The stunning view definitely worth the walk but make sure you put your sunscreen on.

Walked Oct 2016