Manly - North Head - The Spit
20 km (1045 km | 7 hr
The two distinct parts of today's walk are both easily accessible from Manly Wharf - a superb 20-30 min ferry ride from the centre of Sydney. After the sizzling summer sunshine of the previous day, it was a grey, overcast day, much cooler and with gusty southerly winds of 30+ knots. Not ideal, but it certainly kept the crowds away!
North Head first: It was a delightful walk around from Manly to cute and calm little west facing Shelly Beach (as the zillionth one on the coast please can we rename all the ‘Shellys’ asap) and then up to magical Fairy Bower. An easy hiking trail from the coast side of the Bower led most of the way to dramatic North Head - the towering headland that marks the entrance to Sydney Harbour. The track has splendid views, a few hanging swamps, bandicoots, kookaburras and fairy penguins, alongside some interesting military history. Note to newbies that when you get to the big sandstone wall you need to look for the little 'hole' with a small gate and a ‘no dogs’ sign that provides the entry to the National Park, and the almost embarrassingly well-made track onwards to North Head.
The various lookouts at the top of the headland offer sweeping views down the harbour to the CBD, across to South Head, Middle Head and Middle Harbour as well as out to sea. Awe-inspiring indeed! It's about 3 km up to the lookout from Manly and then 5 km or so to return via the old Quarantine Station (which would have been an idyllic place to be quarantined, and one I wish they had reactivated during covid - folk would have been begging to be isolated there!)
Leaving the Q station there are a few small harbourside beaches (Store, Collins and Little Manly) before returning to Manly to then start the next famous section of the day’s walk. The 10 km Manly-Spit Walk officially opened in 1988 and was a major influence in helping Sydneysiders to realise the outstanding opportunities we had for longish harbourside bushwalks. It now forms part of the 80km Manly to Bondi Walk, a which traces the harbour foreshores between our two most famous beaches.
The walk is marvellous, particularly the National Park area beginning at Forty Baskets Beach on to Reef Beach (another perfect little National Park protected cove), up to Dobroyd Head and around Grotto Point to Clontarf Beach.
There is plenty of info online about this walk but one fantastic, suggested diversion from me - Crater Cove Huts! These surreal depression era stone and timber huts sit waterside of a steep semi-circular ravine. It's a deliberately 'hidden' place which, once you 'discover' it, makes you feel like a member of the bushwalking illuminati. Just a perfect place for a bit of contemplation and one that you will usually have all to yourself.
If you search online for 'Crater Cove Huts' one of the top hits will be a great article about their history and the bitter court battles that surrounded their handover to Sydney Harbour National Park in the 80s. The article also explains the rationale (and controversy) behind keeping the place virtually unknown.
So, without giving too much away, if you keep looking to your left (coming from Manly) you'll spot the track about 100m up from the Dobroyd Lower Lookout. The track is not maintained but it is not thaaaat steep or thaaaat difficult if you have an ounce of adventurous spirit. That's sufficient, no need for further information - if you are meant to get there you will find the way, perhaps even through the back of a magic wardrobe...
Washaway Beach is another little nook just off the main walk that gets minimal publicity but is another perfectly hidden Sydney beach. The entry into the beach is via some rope assisted rock cut footholds, and once there you feel as though you are on a wild beach in the middle of nowhere - sandstone cliffs behind you and Sydney's three chief heads (North, South and Middle) your only companions most of the time - hard to believe you are only a few clicks away from the centre of the big smoke.
Grotto Point Lighthouse and the nearby indigenous rock carvings are also a little off the main track, but well signposted and well worth the detour. The sheltered beaches on the western side of Grotto Point are wonderfully snug – Castle Rock was a fantastic place for a cool off swim. The day’s weather wasn't particularly conducive to showing off the remarkable views on these two amazing bushwalks but trust me, they're incredible!