Day 88 - Manly to Spit Bridge Scenic Walkway, Sydney, NSW, Australia

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Friday 14th February, 2014. Manly to Spit Bridge Scenic Walkway, Sydney, NSW, Australia

After breakfast we made our way to Circular Quay. We were planning to go to the zoo but as we had just missed the ferry we had a change of heart and went to Manly. D decided that as the rain was holding off we should do the walk to the Spit Bridge that Rachel had recommended. The only problem was that M was wearing Rach's sandals (thought we were going to the zoo!) so she found a charity shop and as luck would have it they had a pair of baseball boots in her size for $8 (4 quid).

Now appropriately kitted out we were able start the walk. One of Sydney’s best known tracks, the Manly to Spit Scenic Walk offers 10km of unspoilt bushland and amazing harbour views. The tourist office reckoned it would take 3 hours (one way) to do the entire walk. This section is just one of many sectors that make up a track that goes all the way through the Sydney Harbour NP. The walk started with the Manly Pathway of the Olympians which celebrates more than 100 Manly residents who represented Australia in the Olympic Games. There are more than 80 commemorative plaques on this first section of the walk and the path is updated after every Olympic Games.


The walkway was opened in 1988 and it gave us magnificent panoramic views of the majestic entrance to Sydney Harbour and swathes of bushland, We were able to contrast the old and new Australia as we passed by modern harbour-side suburbs juxtaposed with Aboriginal sites, native coastal heath and pockets of sub-tropical rainforest. We climbed up and down over headlands taking in the Dobroyd Track from Forty Baskets Beach, and the Castle Rock Track to Washaway Beach and Grotto Point in the Sydney Harbour National Park. The walk is a classic bushwalk and the track is well-maintained and provides beautiful views over Middle Harbour. Forty Baskets beach is named after a catch of 40 baskets of fish that were sent to a contingent of Sudanese Troops of the North Head Quarantine Station in 1885. The views from this beach across to Manly were really lovely. The walk offers a number of detours for those looking to get off the “beaten track. We took one of the detours up to Tania Park (named after a Manly Girl who was crowned Miss Australia in 1961) which is a large playing field. Across from Tania Park was the Crater Cove Lookout - We had great views from up there. Some of the track is covered at high tide but this din't affect us at all as the tide was low.


The original inhabitants of the area covered by the walk were Aboriginal people, who were nomadic. They maintained a sophisticated network of walking tracks that crisis-crossed the land from the sea to the Blue Mountains and beyond. Many of these hiking tracks are still followed today by bushwalking fans including the Manly to Spit Bridge walk. We came across some Aboriginal Rock Engravings about two thirds of the way along the walk. Several engravings are readily accessible just 20 metres off the main track. We could just about make out boomerangs, fish and giant wallabies but all in all we thought they were a bit disappointing. We reached the Spit Bridge and caught a bus back into the city and then another back to Rozelle.

In the evening D treated M to a Vietnamese Meal as it was Valentines Day - how romantic!

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Photos

17. M on Manly to Spit Walk
M Sporting Her Charity Shop Baseball Boots