Vaucluse is about 8km from the Sydney CBD. It is on the southern end of the headlands that form the entrance to Sydney Harbour. It is a beautiful area of Sydney, with views on the western side towards the Harbour Bridge with the eastern side looking out over the Tasman Sea. The houses here are VERY posh, with lots of little beaches and places to swim.
Maquarie Lighthouse, Vaucluse
The path we followed started at the lovely and historic Maquarie Lighthouse, built in the 1880s. There has been a lighthouse in this place almost since Sydney was founded. This lighthouse, replacing the original, was erected in the 1880s and is still functioning today!
The walk took us all along the coast line which, while breath-taking, is extremely treacherous and it is in this area that the worst non-wartime accident in Australia occured. The ship Dunbar crashed against the rocks here in a storm in 1857 and only one person out of 122 people survived.
Vaucluse Coastline
Vaucluse Coastline
This is an older part of Sydney and there are lots of beautiful parks and viewpoints throughout the entire walk. We were even lucky enough to walk past a nudist beach with one extremely un-shy man, more than happy to look up at everyone on the pathway above him. He was clearly not concerned about sun exposure!
The coastline had beautiful views but the wind was constantly howling (as one would expect at this time of year and right on the water) so we were pretty happy that the last part of our walk took us to a little inlet called Parlsey Bay. It was a lovely little beach (although there was a rather disconcerting shark net), surrounded by beautiful houses, with beautiful clear water and not a breath of wind. It was a wonderful way to spend Boxing Day and it is a walk that we will definitely do again.
Parsley Bay
No comments:
Post a Comment