Fine and Sandy: Greenhills Beach and Kurnell

Here's some more Shire adventuring with a two-for-one. 

One suburb you may want to visit, one you probably won't. 

Greenhills Beach

Just across the border from neighbouring Cronulla is a peculiar residential suburb named Greenhills Beach. It mostly looks like this. 

A lot of the houses are really fancy (don't worry, it was Halloween, not a murder). 

And they're all new. 

Some are so new that they're not even one yet. 

But with a name like Greenhills Beach, at least there must be a beach here - right? 

The answer is only sort of. You see, you can park your car and take yourself through paths like this towards a beach of the same name as this suburb. 

But doing so takes you to another suburb.

Greenhills Beach: False advertising.

Kurnell

So head up those stairs, and you actually enter neighbouring Kurnell. 

In this bit of Kurnell, you're on an impressively long walking path along some typically beachside shrubbage. 

You can head into the shrubbage to get to the real Greenhills Beach.

I didn't do this, so here's a photosphere from Google Maps instead. 

But honestly, even this path itself is actually pretty impressive. 

Head to the end, and you get to the very impressive Cronulla Sand Dunes... is what I would say if I didn't get tired and half-arse this instead. Can I interest you in a photosphere?

One thing that's actually quite interesting about this place is how on one side, you feel like you're in a national park or somewhere quite remote,

but turn your head just 90 degrees and bam - you're in Schofields.

From here, I actually ducked back into Greenhills Beach (the suburb) to head back to the car,

and explore more of Kurnell.

You see, Kurnell is actually a huge peninsular suburb on Sydney's southeast extremity, but it has it's own little suburban centre around 7km from here.

I pretty much drove straight there, making a single pit stop at Sydney's desalination plant. You always look very dodgy taking pictures of sights like this so I kept moving lest ASIO come looking. 

The drive left me at Kurnell's northern edge. 

Along some very beachy units and houses, 

and a coast with one of the finest collections of sail boats.

As people were wheeling their boats off the beach and to their trailers, I didn't want to get in the way, so I headed a bit up the shore to a more human-friendly beach.

This one's gorgeous, and actually allows off-leash dogs too. 

Facing north, you can see the city in the distance. Neat. 

This side of Kurnell being the epicentre, I decided to slowly make my way down the street parallel to the beach. 

This meant more beach houses,

wonderfully white sands,

with industrial vibes.

I'm not sure how I've never made it here before, it's wonderful. 

Highlights on the street-side include the Comic Sans general store,

a pretty but understated church, 

and a house with one single, aggresive plant. 

I continued on, eventually reaching the end of the street. 

Where I was able to head into Kamay Botany Bay National Park.

This national park is massive, and as such I'll only be taking a small nibble today. 

Here, the beach continues along a footpath.

Other than the wonderful nature, the most notable thing here are a series of sculptures and monuments to some of this land's history. 

This monument marks the landing spot of the First Fleet. 

Honestly, I was fully expecting this to be a whitewashed view of colonial history, but it does seem to be better than that. This plaque under the monument tells the story of the colonists clashing with some local men almost immediately, including firing their guns at them. 

Nearby is a sculpture.

This sculpture is apparently both the hull of a ship and the ribs of a whale. 

It's supposed to represent the different perspectives of this place's history. 

Also here is this house (I did not notice anything explaining it), 

some fantastic coastal views, 

that you can walk along,

a missing sock, 

and plenty of room to sit about, if that's what you feel like doing today. 

At the end of this bit of the grass is a rocky shoreline, 

where you can go whalewatching. 

And that's all I covered for this national park. As mentioned earlier, this park is far bigger than what I've covered. If you're in the area, you may be keen on checking it out for a coastal walk, or to visit some of the monuments and sculptures yourself. 

But with Kurnell adequately enjoyed, I headed back to the car to start on my trip home.

Kurnell: Sydney's very own beach town.