Archive for the ‘Sydney Harbour’ Category

Beautiful Sydney weather (25 or more in Sydney only 2 weeks out from the start of Winter. Winter seems a long way off) so we headed out late Sunday afternoon for a wander around Hunters Hill.

Our daughters went to school nearby, but once again we were surprised to find ourselves traipsing along parts of the Parramatta River we have never seen before.

Some spectacular houses along here, with a real mix of old, 60s and 70s and modern. People own the waterfront, so it’s hard to walk along the water’s edge 😦

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Beautiful homes on the waterfront - these at Alexandra St Wharf (which we didn't even know existed!)

Beautiful homes on the waterfront – these at Alexandra St Wharf (which we didn’t even know existed!)

 

Beautiful homes on the waterfront - these at Alexandra St Wharf (which we didn't even know existed!)

Beautiful homes on the waterfront – these at Alexandra St Wharf (which we didn’t even know existed!)

 

There's a good number of historic houses in the area - many would have been very simple worker's cottages back in the day.

There’s a good number of historic houses in the area – many would have been very simple worker’s cottages back in the day.

 

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At the foot of Mount St, just near Hunters Hill High School. There used to be fairgrounds here, and a dance hall, with picnickers arriving by ferry.

At the foot of Mount St, just near Hunters Hill High School.
There used to be fairgrounds here, and a dance hall, with picnickers arriving by ferry.

 

At the foot of Mount St, just near Hunters Hill High School. There used to be fairgrounds here, and a dance hall, with picnickers arriving by ferry.

At the foot of Mount St, just near Hunters Hill High School.
There used to be fairgrounds here, and a dance hall, with picnickers arriving by ferry.

After a couple of weeks off with Robyn overseas, we picked up again this weekend to walk from the end of Darling St west to Birchgrove.

Views across just 500m of harbour to the new Barangaroo site from the southern side of Darling St, beautiful waterfront parkland and renovated historic factory buildings and industrial waterfront.

All in all, a great walk.

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The city is just a stone’s throw away across the entrance to Darling Harbour

 

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Barangaroo from East Balmain

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Cool. Art on the side of a house at Duke St

 

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The old Colgate Factory, now factory apartments.

 

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Ferry workshops near the Colgate factory

 

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Didn’t know that Mort Bay was named after a person and not anything to do with Death as such. Nor did we know that WWII vessels were manufactured in Balmain.

 

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Australia’s oldest dry dock here at Mort Bay

 

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Mort Bay

 

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Ballast Point Park, Birchgrove. Worth a visit.

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Ballast Point Park, Birchgrove.

A beautiful afternoon for a bay-side walk.

Today, Easter Friday, we walked from Canada Bay along the waterfont, through Cabarita to Mortlake, near the car ferry across the river to Putney.

We love walking through areas where the home owners don’t own the water; makes for a much nicer walk 🙂

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A beautiful path virtually the whole way.

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The end of Durham St, Canada Bay. The start of today’s path

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Bayview Park, near Massey Park Golf Course

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Looking west towards Breakfast Point

We started with breakfast at The Coal Loader Cafe. in Balls Head Rd at Waverton, where we were a few weeks ago. Beautiful spot – have to remember this as a venue for a 60th or similar.

From there we headed west, making our way around Balls Head Bay and Oyster Cove, around Berry Island Reserve and on towards Greenwich above the fuel tanks at Gore Cove, some of which have been removed, but some are still in use today, pumping fuel from here to Clyde near Parramatta.

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Coal Loader Cafe to Greenwich Rd

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Coal Loader Cafe. Lovely.

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Coal Loader Cafe

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Old wharf fallen into disrepair at Waverton below the Coal Loader Cafe

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Old street signs art installation below the Coal Loader Cafe

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Looking west towards Wondakiah Dr

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Tunnel under the old Coal Loader site

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Oyster Cove at the end of Wondakiah Dr at Waverton. Dense housing around, but lots of parkland maintained. Nice!

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Remnant of the old gasworks at Oyster Cove at the end of Wondakiah Dr at Waverton. Dense housing around, but lots of parkland maintained

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Berry Island – the point where land was filled to connect it to the mainland and make it no longer an island as such,

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Berry Island

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Berry Island

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Looking back towards the Coal Loader

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At the point off Berry Island

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Along the path between Berry Island and Greenwich

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Along the path between Berry Island and Greenwich

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Hollaway Park

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Hollaway Park, at the end of Vista St. Beautiful little park with a view

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Vista St Greenwich

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THE spot to watch the fireworks in Sydney! Greenwich Rd, above Gore Cove.

Parts of Longueville are beautiful!

We had a great walk around the streets as close to the waterfront as we possibly could – sadly, the absolute waterfront is owned by the private residences leading down to that water. Beautiful houses on big blocks of land, some nice local parks and walkways too.

Given the the tide was well out, we did try to walk around some of the foreshore, however the mangrove mud was VERY soft!

Northwood appears to be a locality inside Longueville – I only mention it in the title as this is the ferry wharf you would go to to explore this neck of the woods.

Looking forward to exploring a bit more of this area in the weeks ahead.

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This week’s progress

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Dubois St Longuville. Beautiful homes fronting the river

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The sand was a little soft! And got a LOT softer!

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Arabella St Longuville. Views to the city 🙂

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Arabella St Longuville. Views to the city 🙂

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Northwood Road

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Looking across the bay to Woolwich (Marist Sisters College)

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Lovely park near Kelly’s Esplanade, near Northwood Ferry wharf

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Spectacular views to the city from Arabella St (and very cool front and garage doors!)

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Spectacular views to the city from Arabella St

The Swans v Giants pre-season footy match was on Friday night so we parked the car near Drummoyne Oval a little beforehand and headed east towards the city. Some beautiful water-front real estate, a few hidden parks. Nice 🙂

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Rea Reserve, Drummoyne Ave

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Rea Reserve, Drummoyne Ave

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Some beautiful waterfront real estate with views east to the harbour bridge. Some places make it easier to sticky-beak than others!

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From Drummoyne ferry wharf

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Lovely little park at the end of Lyons Rd

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Private beach and a dog park opposite Spectacle Island

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Private beach and a dog park opposite Spectacle Island

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Drummoyne Oval

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Drummoyne Oval. Swans | Giants pre-season. Cheap entry 😉

Italian

Posted: March 1, 2016 in Bars, Cafe, Sydney Harbour

https://sothisweekendwe.com/food/

Our mission to try every single country on the planet’s cuisine over the next few years.

Have to start somewhere! There was an Italian Riviera festival at The Opera House over the weekend.
A break in the weather and we were able to get there without too much trouble.

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Just like the Italian Riviera!!

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On a beautiful, last day of summer day in Sydney, we parked the car at Waverton Station and walked south, down the hill past a small cafe towards the water.

There’s a road that makes its way around Balls Head, but the bush track below the road takes you past a remnant of (recent) old Sydney, the Coal Loader. It’s a beautiful,easy path with beautiful views of the city. Quite the spot for the New Year’s Eve fireworks.

Some beautiful waterfront along Waverton Peninsular Reserve and Waverton Oval to Sawmillers Reserve (which sadly doesn’t go right through to Blues Point.

Wander along the path near Wendy’s Secret Garden to Luna Park and the Harbour Bridge.

A fabulous walk of about 6 or 7 kilometres. Catch the train back to Waverton Station from Milsons Point Station – just 2 stops.

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Beautiful Harbour views along the path at Balls Head Reserve

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Berry’s Bay

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Beautiful Harbour views along the path at Balls Head Reserve

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Beautiful Harbour views along the path at Balls Head Reserve

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Remnants of the old BP storage facility. Lots of round tank holes hewn into the rock.

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Sawmillers Reserve

 

The Goods Line is a shared pedestrian and cycle path and green public space, connecting Ultimo with Darling Harbour.

The line provides a pedestraian and cycle path from Central Station to Darling Harbour, with mixed-use spaces to enjoy – dining tables, grassy spaces, table tennis tables, study pods amongst the trees and a children’s water play area with a sand pit shaded by trees.

A fabulous re-use of what was a busy industrial railway line.

http://www.shfa.nsw.gov.au/sydney-Our_places_and_projects-Our_projects-The_Goods_Line.htm

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Only a short walk, but so well done

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Past the iconic Dr Chau Chak Wing Building (designed by Frank Gehry – The “Paper Bag building”)

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Past the iconic Dr Chau Chak Wing Building (designed by Frank Gehry – The “Paper Bag building”)

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Back from our holiday to India and so ready to resume normal weekend service!

Our plan this year? We enjoyed walking the beaches and coast so much in 2014 that we decided to do the same this year, except we will hug the inland waterways. Late Sunday afternoon we headed out to Parramatta Ferry Wharf to begin walking East along the southern shore.

We parked the car at Parramatta wharf and walked towards Rosehill racecourse along the Harris Park Heritage Walk, a really nice path along the (pretty murky this far up stream) Parramatta River with terrific signposting advising various historical sites that used to be there

It’s well done; love wandering along bits of Sydney we’ve never seen before.

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Had to start the year somewhere, so we chose Parramatta Wharf

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The stern of the last HMAS Parramatta

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NIce work along the path

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Robyn has taught at two schools with Ellengowan in their name. This is the original site of Tara Anglican School at North Parramatta.

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About 200 km to go! 🙂