Northbridge Baths 2010

It's after Easter, the weather is getting colder, but you can still swim in Sydney. At Northbridge Baths (Willoughby Council, Middle Harbour) the water was a bit freezey on entry, but as everyone always says, 'in a minute you'll be fine'. It was a strange llittle beach, a bit like Greenwich Baths, but very quiet. Partly because it is getting colder, I suppose. These paid baths are apparently open all year round (!), and also hire out kayaks.

There was a a small triangle of sand, a grassy area, and also a hidden waterfall that the children found. The pier around the water was nice and high, which made a good jumping-off zone. We've all gotten very into jumping. Also a good swimming area, with 8 lanes for laps.

At one point, Toby & Bea made friends with another family. Bea and the 3 other children were throwing bread into the water from the high pier for the fish. Toby was down in the water leaping about trying to catch one - at one point he chortled madly and shouted out, "I'm having fish tonight!".

Bea also found a treasure, 3 hidden golden Easter eggs in the wet sand. Even though she understood she shouldn't eat them, she carried them around for about an hour, as they were so precious.

There are some other beautiful areas near by, neighbouring sandy coves, all almost empty at this time of year. What a lovely spot - we'd never have found it if wasn't for this beach quest.

Greenwich Baths 2010

Here it is next year, as it happens, and we have come to our first paid beach! Which is unexpected, but turns out very well. We're on the north side of the harbour, and the teensy Greenwhich Baths are next in line. And luckily we can pay with eftpos, as we always try not to carry much cash to the beach, and we are a dollar short of the entrance price.

The views are good; we can see the city, and the beach is lovely and clean. There are also a couple of swimming lanes, complete with turning boards at each end. The crowd is mostly families with young children, so it is pretty suitable. And although it is late March, the water's fine.

We finish our visit with a trip to the outdoor cafe on one end of the tiny beach, and all enjoy a pleasant and easy lunch.

The 4th Beach - Redleaf Pool

Date
All these harbor beaches seem to have an attractive way in - through gardens, scenie views, overhanging trees... uniformly lovely entrances.

Redleaf Pool did - through a pretty garden, but it is also different again - it was very Monte Carlo-ish, and was surrounded by city views. I kept waiting for Grace Kelly & Cary Grant to turn up. They didn't, but heaps of teenagers did. Definitely the beach of young people. Youth, 12-16s, actually out on their own, not in front of their tellys and computer games - it was very refreshing. It is also a beach that people can actually walk to - lots of people there, but not many cars. A local beach for local people.

And even though it is called Redleaf Pool, it is
clearly not a pool. It is a lovely little beach,
and as you can see it even has a little pontoon,
which was very fun. Stuie played SuperDad, and managed to swim both chlldren out there, although we had forgotten their floaties.
And speaking of forgetting, the year has clearly turned. We had forgotten the sunscreen, but happily, none of us burnt. ... It was nice to see a well-used little beach. Hurray for Sydney.

The Third Beach: Nielsen Park

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21st March 2009

Lots of people around, but as we arrived the Perfect Parking Spot opened up, so that was a very good start. Nielsen Park has an avenue of magnificent mature trees behind the beach, as you can see here. It also has historic changing rooms from the 1920s. They were indeed very nice.




The beach itself is pretty, and lots of sailboats went by. It seemed like an enclave of privilege, and in fact there were more women in bikinis than I have ever seen before. Anyway, it was a glorious little beach, and fun to swim from one side to the other.

The Second Beach: Parsley Bay

The dawning reality

It's been almost a month since we were at Watson's Bay - no way will we be able to go to all 26 beaches before winter sets in. The reality is that the mighty Sydney Harbour Beach Quest will take 2 years - or more.

Parsley Bay

But there are worse things to do on a Sydney Saturday, so here we are at Parsley Bay; one of the harbour's best family beaches, and great for swimming as well. The sweetly-named Parsley Bay has a long finger of calm water, a clean sandy beach and fun footbridge across the narrow bay. To continue the kiddie joy, there's even a playground at the back of beach. Parsley Bay cannot be beat.

The First Beach: Watson's Bay

The challenge

To visit all of Sydney's glorious harbour beaches, in order, starting from the 1st one on the south side of the harbour, and working our way around clock-wise until we get to the last one on the north side.

There are 26 harbour beaches in all, same as the letters in the alphabet (someone's already asked me if we are doing it in alphabetical order, but, sadly, this would be way too complex...).

Our first stop

The first beach, which we visited one Sunday morning in February 2009, was Watson's Bay Baths.

Lovely clear blue water and shark-nets all around. We all enjoyed leaping off the side into the water and swimming back to the beach. The only drama is parking, so go early and beat the sun and the crowds.