This Saturday was just the same – gloomy and miserable. So when the forecasters predicted a cloudy but mostly dry day we were determined to get out of the flat! We took one of the Sydney Ferries to Manly (Dave is now one of their employees!) We decided to adventure around the historic North Head which is on quite high ground overlooking the Northern beaches, Manly, Queenscliff, Curl Curl and beyond.
We first climbed a residential hill up to St Patrick’s Seminary which is now an International College of Management. It’s a gorgeous old building with amazing views. Then we walked on up into the National Park, not quite expecting what to we would see.
The interior of North Head is a former military ground. We passed the old officer’s quarters and the ceremony pitch and a ceremonial path. Apparently this place was quite busy during the World Wars and Vietnam. We did not take any photos because it was mostly just military buildings and stuff.
We passed through some cool nature trials, passing huge spiders hanging over our heads. The sounds of the trees creaking were class and we had to be careful not to get ticks. We thankfully did not see any snakes or the endangered bandicoots (or as Chris called them Bandidots) However we did see a rabbit, a giant queen ant and heard loads of frogs croaking away. We also saw weird plants and flowers and learnt their aboriginal use.
One particular trail lead us to incredible views of the harbour overlooking Watson’s Bay to the left and Bradley’s Head to the right with the city in the background. We could also see Balmoral Beach where we have been a few times.
North Head was also a major quarantine area for colonists and they had special cemetery for people who had died with the plague, small pox, scarlet fever and the flu. I think these dead people were very lucky to be buried in such a nice place.
On our way to the Hanging Swamp we passed a park ranger who was walking through the flooded path from the recent heavy storms, in his bare feet. He asked us to check his legs for leeches! We decided not to go though the swamp and backtracked. But before we did he told us about a secret military look-out point that is not on the map as it is too tricky to find and get there. We decided we would take a chance. We crawled under a closed gate (Chris got muck all down her backside!) and scrambled through a tiny walkway. It seemed like the park ranger was taking the mick but then we go to the old look-out tower. It was bloody class! The views were pretty nice.
We decided to take another wee trail that would lead us down to Shelly Beach where we passed really unusual but beautiful ponds on top of a cliff. The views of the beaches were magnificent. As we made our way down through Manly we realised that our faces were completely burnt! It was so embarrassing. So much for it not being a sunny day!
1 comment:
I wish the weather was as poo here as it appears to be in your photos. What sort of camera are you using as it is always sunny? Glad to hear that Dave is working for the Manly fairies. Is that a group of butch gays? Did his moustache help him get the gig?
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