A harbourside walk, and yet another photographer's dream day

A very blue sky, a blue and green and ludicrously clean sea. That was Sydney Harbour the other day (and Middle Harbour too). A great day for a harbourside walk.

The good old Spit-to-Manly walk

It works every time. You've got an overseas or interstate visitor. You need an easy but scenic little bushwalk to show off Sydney Harbour in all its glory. The Spit-to-Manly is a very safe first choice.

It's capped off by the ferry ride back to Circular Quay at the end.

Aboard the James Craig

On Australia Day I found myself aboard the good ship James Craig, and had a little ride around the Harbour. It was my first time on this fine old sailing ship. It's an iron-hulled barque, built in the UK in 1874, and it carted freight around the world many times until it was abandoned and sunk off the coast of Tasmania. In recent times it got lovingly rebuilt, and it's now operated (equally lovingly, I observed) by the Sydney Heritage Fleet.

I'd invited myself on board to say hello to my old friend Liam, who happens to be the third mate. Half way through the trip, he got promoted to driver, or whatever that is in correct nautical terminology. It looked like a rather demanding role, and consisted of running around the back end and peering over the edges, trying to see what's ahead. He was in radio contact with people at the front (fortunately), with the chap operating the engines, and with the drivers of the various ferries that were scuttling backwards and forwards around us.



















Bringing the thing in to the wharf at Darling Harbour seemed particularly challenging.And there were the tugboats too to coordinate then.

Here's a tug shadowing us as we pass Barangaroo and the nearly-finished Crown Casino thing.

They weren't using the sails this time, but they'd used them earlier, and they were still being furled up as we started out. Looks like a labour-intensive operation, and there are 21 of them.

And then there were four!

It was finally the big day: the 10th annual bushwalkers' 42km Marathon Walk.

I thought it was going to  be a record turnout at first. The scenic and relatively flat course produced 12 enrollments. We were walking from Circular Quay to Maroubra, via South Head and Harbourside and coastal tracks. Lots of public transport around, easy food and drink availability, interesting sights galore.

Come Sunday morning there were seven starters. Five others had become suddenly unwell, or decided hard pavement walking just wasn't for them. It was a fabulous day for walking. A break in the rains we'd been having, clear blue skies, and beautifully cool.

We took lunch in a shady spot at South Head. You can see North Head in the background of the top picture.

Soon we were at the Gap, and the anchor of the wreck, the Dunbar.

Still seven of us as we arrive at the two-thirds mark: Bondi Beach. A lot of buses pass by Bondi Beach.

And sure enough there's only four of us after that.

Unusually, it's still daylight as we arrive at the destination beach: Maroubra.



All a bit too easy really!





Photo credits to unknown kind tourists for some images

North Head & South Head

North Head (and Manly to its left), viewed from South Head.

Barangaroo: a tale of two Australia Days

The prize exhibit at Barangaroo this Australia Day was the very fine 'Always' sculpture (as in "Always was, always will be: Aboriginal land") So that was my primary focus yesterday morning.

If I'd been earlier out of bed, I'd have got to see the early morning smoking ceremony, and maybe the other indigenous entertainments that had been promised. The smoking ceremony chap was still in action though, and was in much demand for photographs still. His fellow participants and entertainers seemed to have taken an early mark?

My take on what the sculpture's about: I approached from the shiny side, and saw the back-to-front version, and the shiny illusory reflections of myself and the modern city. Then from the other side it's the way it should be: very solid, a little rusty, but timeless and sustainable, the real deal.

Meanwhile on the harbour just behind me, the usual red-white-blue Australia Day waterborne festivities were going on. A huge flotilla assembled to watch the end of the traditional ferry race under the Harbour Bridge, and it was all quite exciting!

Here's the end of the race, with the Port Authority's firefighting boat clearing a path through the crowd.






















The first, second, and third ferries, I think. (I couldn't find any sort of official race result report when I did a search just then. Only ads for passengers - let's keep our money-making priorities after all!)

In fact there's a lot of middle ground going on between the two Australia Days, despite the deliberately incendiary pronouncements of partisan activists like the current (very temporary) Prime Minister, and despite the media emphasis on conflict and division. I've a feeling we'll work out an appropriate solution to our big National Day conundrum before too long.

Harbourside sights #281: Stately queens, trusty ferries, & crazy jet boats

There's usually a cruise ship or two in port in Sydney Harbour. The other day the Queen Elizabeth was in town.





The good old harbour ferries beetled back and forth as usual.

But for a lot of tourists it's all about the jet boat.

Harbourside sights #280: Streeton's view and the Curlew Camp

In the 1890s several of the great artists spent time at the artists' camp at Little Sirius Cove - Curlew Camp. Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts are probably the best known.

Harbourside sights #279: Sirius Cove & Mosman Bay

Harbourside sights #278: Georges Head's arty fortifications

What's at Watsons Bay?

Another pleasant day trip the other day, by ferry from Circular Quay down the Harbour to Watsons Bay.

Watsons Bay beach

The view from Laings Point

The famous Doyles on the Beach seafood restaurant. 

Heading back