A Month of Beaches Part 7: Watsons Bay

We're getting close to the pointy end of our month of beaches now. We've shifted Sydney regions once more to find ourselves in the well travelled

Watsons Bay

Watsons Bay is one of those places in many a tourist's guidebook. Being the domestic tourist that I am, I joined all of the other tourists on the ferry from Circular Quay.

This particular Sydney Harbour cruise takes 23 minutes to dock.

The ferry station is at a busy end of the suburb, marked by our first beach for the day,

the bustling "Beach Club" bar and restaurant,

and Robertson Park, a patch of grass with a significant footprint.

None of that was what brought me here though. The suburb's real touristy bit is up north, so I turned up what is apparently called Marine Parade (a walkway along the sand) to get started.

This first beach does boast a pretty ripper view of the city,

but it's more of a boat carpark (boatpark?) than a real Sydney-grade beach.

At the end of the beach, I took this set of stairs and continued on, aiming to head to Watson Bay's next beach.

This landed me in a residential pocket of the suburb, where I liked the look of these white terraces.

Other interesting houses were these two "post-modern" options.

These streets led to a path away from suburbia,

and to our second beach.


This is Camp Cove Beach, and is a much better bet than the one we just left,

albeit without the city view.

If you continue to the end of the beach, you get to this shed in the ocean,

but more importantly, you get to this set of stairs leading into Sydney Harbour National Park.

This bit of Sydney Harbour National Park is interesting.

It's interesting not because of the untouched nature that most national parks enjoy, but due to the colonial-era military artefacts lying around, from cannons,

to hidey-holes (technical term) where you can stick your guns out in case of invasion,

Being up on the cliffs of the harbour, you also get some pretty great views,

as well as this entirely Australian sign, warning of a $150 fine if you jump off the cliff.

The park's not missing nature though, as you might see some cockatoos,

or adorable tiny, bright-blue birds.

Speaking of nature, continue your way up the path and you get to a set of stairs leading to Watsons Bay's final beach. This is Lady Bay beach, most notable for being a nude beach. I did poke my head down the stairs to see if the beach itself was nice, but I started seeing penises so I decided to abort mission.

Here's the sea instead.

The final "bit" of the national park is further along the path,

and is the South Head Heritage Trail.

This is a short loop with more old things, such as these sandstone houses,

some military holes in the ground,

and most notably, the Hornby Lighthouse.

Hehe.

On the nature front, the trail also takes you by some more cliffage,

and this plant with elephantiasis,

before taking you past some actual military stuff,

and landing you back where you started.

I'd now seen what most tourists come here to see, so I backtracked to Camp Cove Beach,

before cutting through the suburb,

past this house's fancy address,

the entrance to the "military stuff" we saw before,

and this kookaburra.

This led me back to Robertson Park, the park we first met at the start of Watsons Bay.

Now I didn't mention this before, but I had dragged along a travel companion with me today, and we were quite hungry for dinner. Initially, we scoped out the beach club, but it was far too happening for us (and rather pricey too).

Instead, we cut through Robertson Park to see if there was anywhere else in town.

Crossing the park leads to a small and fairly quiet commercial area,

with a smattering of heritage,

and, surprisingly, an open cafe.

Bay Cafe turned out to be exactly what we were after, and everybody else seemed to think so too, as the cafe was packed.

We were happy to sit and order things like fish and chips (tasty, albeit a little small),

and a prawn pizza (great crust, good ingredients, but a little salty).

The place was good value, with our meal coming out to something like $35. Not bad for the Eastern Suburbs!

After dinner, we headed to check out one final Watsons Bay destination before calling it a day. Back by Robertson Park are some stairs to a lookout.

This is The Gap, a lookout facing the ocean to the east, and somewhere where you can watch the waves crash against the dramatic cliffs.

Sadly, The Gap is better known as a spot where many have chosen to take their own lives. An emergency phone has been installed as a result.

On that decidedly down note, it was time head off.

We passed this building that looks like a face,

cut back through Robertson Park,

and made it to the ferry for our evening cruise home.

Watsons Bay: From beaches, to birds, to nudists, this one's got it all.