Being confined to the house does make for a pleasant, relaxing break every now and again though, and gives me a chance to catch up on a few things. This afternoon I booked us vegan meals on our Japan flights and then embarked on several hours of note-taking from our Japan guidebooks. My goodness there are so many things I want to see and do! I've only covered the Northern Tokyo areas of Asakusa, Ueno and Yanaka so far and I already have about a month's worth of sightseeing opportunities!
January gave us some changeable weather, regular showers but enough sunny days to make up for it. One of the best days turned out to be the Australia Day public holiday, on Tuesday 26th, so Mark and I headed off for a day out up in the northernmost edge of Sydney.
Our final destination was Palm Beach, the furthest north of Sydney's Northern Beaches suburbs, just over 40km from the city. We made an early start, arriving at Wynyard in good time to board the 9.30am L90 bus. As the bus journey was a long one (over 90 minutes in total), we had decided to get day tickets so we could get on and off the bus to break the journey up a bit.
The L90 meanders up through most of the Northern Beaches and you get some good views of the coastline at Dee Why, Collaroy, Narrabeen and Newport. After a perusal of our guidebooks, we settled on stopping off at Avalon, which is actually the last suburb the bus goes through before Palm Beach itself. Whale Beach actually lies in between the two, but the bus doesn't visit it, sticking to the main road into Palm Beach.
Australia Day events in some areas led to the limited road infrastructure of the more northerly suburbs becoming rather busy, so we ended up being on the bus 90 minutes just to get to Avalon, when it should have been little more than an hour. But oh, it was worth it! We hopped off the bus when we saw a sign for the beach carpark and pootled across the wide uninspiring main road to find the view opening out in front of us into a glorious golden sandy beach bordered by rocky, bush-covered headland.
It had such a different feel to the built-up city beach suburbs. From the beach you can only see a handful of buildings, most of which are just the toilet block and changing rooms. That, coupled with the distinct lack of people when compared to the more central beaches gave it a very tucked away feel and made you feel so lucky to have discovered it.
We had planned to just stop off for 30 minutes or so but we ended up lying under the shade of the trees for over an hour and ate most of our picnic lunch. We then headed back for the next bus to take us the last 20 minutes or so journey into Palm Beach. Palm Beach is basically a slender peninsula, on the eastern side of which lies the ocean, and on the western side is Pittwater and the mouth of the Hawkesbury River. As the bus continued north, the land grew narrower until at some points you could almost see water on both sides.
We hopped off the bus just before it pulled onto the beach road and walked across the park onto the sand. Palm Beach is home to some of Australia's most affluent people and this is very clearly reflected in a lot of the real estate in the area. As we walked onto the beach, you could see why it attracts people. It is absolutely stunning. And huge. I didn't realise what a long beach it was, it goes on for miles!
I didn't end up taking many photos in the end, but you can see some posh houses up on the cliff there!
Palm Beach was a lot busier than Avalon, which makes sense. Palm Beach is quite a tourist attraction due to it doubling up as the fictional Summer Bay, setting of long running soap opera Home & Away. So whereas Avalon was populated mostly with local families, Palm Beach had a greater mix of younger people. I don't think I have ever watched Home & Away in my life, so I can't tell you much in relation to that, although there is apparently some bit of set you can see!
We swam in the sea for a good long while and it was entirely enjoyable. Then we packed up and used our bus passes to hop round to the western, Pittwater side of the peninsula. This side has the Palm Beach ferry wharf, from where you can get ferries to locations around Pittwater, as well as up to Wagstaff and Ettalong to the north of the area.
We decided to take a trip just across to the other side of the water to Great Mackarel Beach, and we had a little walk up and down the wharf side whilst waiting for the boat.
The ferry return trip at about $13 is worth it in itself, even if you don't get off the boat. The views from the boat are spectacular. As you leave Palm Beach's shores behind, you get some great views of Barrenjoey Head and the lighthouse, as well as a good view of the west side of Palm Beach itself.
Across Pittwater are the shores of Kuringai National Park. All the stops on this ferry trip are within the park.
The ferry makes a few stop-offs at some tiny wharves nestled in dense bushland, followed by Currawong Beach and, finally, Great Mackerel Beach, where we get off.
Great Mackerel Beach is a tiny beach on the shores of the National Park, accessible only by boat. It was glorious. Aside from a few rustic looking beachhouses there was nothing there and you just felt so far away from everything, bliss! Steep cliffs on each side were coated in thick, dark bush and the expanse of Pittwater stretched peacefully out in front of you.
There had obviously been a few people over there earlier in the day having Australia Day celebrations, but most people had packed up now so we had the beach practically to ourselves. The only downside was that we could only stay on the beach for an hour as the last ferry service of the day soon came by to collect us and we returned to the mainland.
The sun was going down by now and there were some amazing views in the fading light back across the water.
Unfortunately, we then had to get back on the L90 for an uninspiring and long journey back to the city in the dark. But it was a brilliant day out and I couldn't believe we'd not been up there before. I guess we just didn't really know what was there before I looked into it. Hope we can find time to go back before too long!
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