Silli Lilli Pilli

My Sutherland escapades continue as I delve deeper into Sydney's south.

Lilli Pilli

Lilli Pilli is another small waterside suburb sitting immediately west of Port Hacking.

After my great disappointment trying to go to a bakery in Woolooware, I was hoping that this block of stores immediately over the border from Port Hacking would be able to sort me out with a meal.

Closed.

Apart from the bottle-o, "Perfecto" pizzeria was the only open store today. Technically this pizza place is back over the Port Hacking border rather than sitting in Lilli Pilli, but I was hungry so sue me.

It didn't look too inviting from outside,

but thankfully they were able to sort me out with a fantastic small prawn pizza.

Revitalised, I was now at liberty to explore this suburb. I turned onto Lilli Pilli Point Road - the suburb's main artery.

Walking down the street I noticed that this is clearly a place of culture.

Seriously though, Lilli Pilli does have a nice feel, with more of the pretty wood panelled houses which have proven to be very common down in The Shire.

As I continued along, the road opened up to give another lovely view of the water surrounding the suburb.

On the map, I saw "Lilli Pilli Point Reserve" which appeared to be a waterside park. Naturally, I set it as my next waypoint, turning off the main road.

This is apparently the reserve. Hmm - that's not what it looks like on Google...

I saw a few concerning things here. Firstly, this fencing closing what is apparently a track,

and secondly, this tree which looks like an animal's face.

I tried following what looked to be a path onwards,

and ended up here.

Confused and not wanting to just walk straight into the bush, I decided to abandon ship in favour of another waterside point at Lilli Pilli - the Lilli Pilli Baths.

Although this is on "the other side" of the peninsula, in practice that's quite a short distance once I backtracked out of the reserve.

Along the way, Lilli Pilli decided to get fancier, with bigger and much more "beachy" looking houses.

This one looks funny.

There's no missing that this suburb is surrounded by water from all sides, with gorgeous views opening up to me as I walked.

To get to the baths, you have to go down a narrow set of stairs away from the houses.

The stairs lead down to the water.

Lovely.

Here there is a netted area for swimming, a small pier and just enough space to sit to the side and sunbathe.

Just next door to the baths was a squad of divers. I'm not sure if there's anything to see underwater here or if this is just for dive training.

Sadly, it was time to leave Lovely Pilli so I backtracked and made my way to the bus stop for my final Shire suburb for the meantime.

Bonus cockatoo.

Lilli Pilli: You treated me to a nice pizza and nice baths. What more can a kid ask for?