Join one of our volunteers as she and a friend walk their favourite local trails and highlight their favourite bits along the way.
My friend, Rob and I are regular walkers around his part of Sydney, Vaucluse and Watson’s Bay. I enjoy listening to his stories about how things are today vs when he was a kid, playing with his siblings in the bush. For a POM, these memories are charming and evocative.
Much of the area we walk includes some of the B2M route and vividly remind us that you can do short bits of the B2M route as well as walking its full length. We tend to go out for about an hour to 1.5 hours and although we often do the same walk, we never cease to be surprised by the different things to see and talk about.
This walk started in Clarke Reserve overlooking the cliffs that the Sydney to Hobart yachts rush down after turning right out of Sydney Harbour to head South. Magnificent views out to the horizon, which we scan closely at this time of year, hoping to catch a whale or two frolicking in the ocean. But no luck today.
But we were able to see in the distance (well, if we squinted) some of the colony of seals at the bottom of the cliffs. We have fun stopping to look to see if we can spot any every time we walk past – all made considerably easier, if they decide to go for swim or change their sunbaking position on the rocks.
Onto Christison Park for a wonderfully visually stimulating and easy walk down to Watson’s Bay. Many of the local highlights are flagged on the B2M app, but there’s also a fabulous new sculpture near the Macquarie Lighthouse called ‘Viewfinder’ from a recent Sculptures by the Sea exhibition at Bondi. At first glance it looks like a galvanised metal box stuck on the cliff face, but when Rob told me to walk back across the park and look at it from a distance, I was able to see the waves crashing below. It’s on loan to Woollahra Council and looks very at home in its current position.
The anchor of the Dunbar
You can’t help stopping and thinking about what it must have been like when the Dunbar was wrecked near the entrance to Sydney Harbour in 1857. An event which still ranks as one of the worst maritime disasters in Australia, with 121 lives lost that day.
There are several points of interest relating to the Dunbar on the B2M, including its anchor as you walk along the track down to Watson’s Bay.
Watsons Bay signs
There are many B2M signs on the route, and today our walk finished underneath this one, which is opposite Watson’s Bay park with the ocean glistening in the background and the ferries chugging in and out.
As we were a bit short of time, we joined the old tram line track (currently closed as it is being restored by Woollahra Council) to get back up the hill and the main B2M track back though the park to where we started.
Until next time…
