Sunday, October 02, 2005

October Long Weekend

The first weekend in October was a bank holiday, or ‘long weekend’ as they’re called here – it was Labour Day in New South Wales. There was a milestone (deadline) at TeamBondi on the Friday and luckily Dean was a good boy and had completed all his work. Unfortunately, many other people had to work the weekend to get things finished.
Anyway, we were able to take full advantage of the weekend and we explored the north shores of Sydney in search of some top beaches!

On Saturday, we went to Tania Park which the Spit to Manly walk goes through. There are some nice views and it is a fantastic walk to take. We saw a Kookaburra, well he actually came straight over to us to say hello! Here he is!

We weren’t in walking mode this weekend so we carried on with our search. We went through Balgowlah to the North Harbour Reserve which looked like it had a great beach according to the map. It wasn’t! There wasn’t really any sand – it was more of a watery inlet. But it did have some nice rocks which we perched on to eat our lunch!








We actually walked further along the rocks for a while and discovered that there are more ‘designated’ walks to explore. Again, we stored this information for later, as walking was definitely not on the agenda this weekend!


We came back over Spit Bridge and called at Chowder Bay which had a really sweet beach and park. There were people fishing from the wharf (stored for when dad comes out), and it also had a place that sold coffee and nibbles – very high on Dean’s list of priorities!

Aware of the time, we set off again for Bradleys Head (just next to Taronga Zoo). This headland juts out into the harbour looking south and you can see the city in front of you with the Opera House and Harbour Bridge to the right. We stayed here and waited for the sun to go down. What a fantastic way to end the day! [the photo is under this post - I couldn't insert it here!]

This is Balmoral Beach

On Sunday we went to two gorgeous beaches – the best of the weekend in my opinion. These two were in Mosman (a very well-to-do area with some of the most stunning houses imaginable) and they overlook Middle Harbour. Chinaman’s Beach is just before you get to Spit Bridge. There were loads of boats moored off the beach with their occupants sunning themselves on the sand or playing in the surf with the kids. They were definitely not your Skeggy types!! It was so hot that we had to sit in the shade! After a lazy morning, we set off for Balmoral Beach – another gem (with another wharf for fishing)! This was like a posh Manly, but it didn’t have as many coffee houses. Many of the beaches around Sydney (these included) have green, park areas immediately in front of them with picnic tables and some have barbies too. It makes for a very relaxed and laid back environment!

We were sat on the wall drinking our flat whites, looking at the tide come in and we saw a pelican land on the wharf.

It was obviously waiting for any leftovers from the fishermen! We went round to see if we could get a good shot. The light was fading and because of it’s position, it ended up being a bit backlit – not the best photos in the world. I’m sure there’ll be plenty more opportunities!

On Monday we chose to go the northern beaches again – somewhere familiar! As usual, we stopped in Avalon for brekkie, but this time we actually spent some time on Avalon Beach. Dean went for a swim – mad if you ask me as the water definitely hasn’t warmed up yet! Then after a spot of lunch, we went up to Whale Beach. This is a much quieter place, but then it is about 4 times as long. Again, you get the most stunning houses overlooking the beaches here. We’re always blown away by the size of them and the fantastic views they must enjoy.
Well that was our weekend over – can’t wait to do it again!

Sunset at Bradleys Head


For some reason this image wouldn't upload into the post above, so here it is on it's own!!