Walking Manly from the Wharf through Sydney Harbour National
park
On this walk you will see grand views of the ocean harbour and the city skylines from the northern beaches. Along the way browses the free aboriginal art galleries and spend time admiring the unique sculptures along the path to shelly beach the Sculptures in the rocks. This walk starts at the busy suburban Manly enjoy a stroll
through the pedestrian mall until you reach the famous Manly beach then walk
along the ocean seaside to Shelly beach then a slow climb across a huge coastal
cliff that leads to the heart of the Sydney Harbour national park up to North
Head. From North Head, we travel back down into two very small hidden beaches
along the coastline of Manly until we reach Manly wharf back at our starting
destination. Manly
Manly is located at the northern boundary of Sydney Harbour
and bordered by the Pacific Ocean. In 1788, Captain Phillip named it Manly Cove
because he was impressed with the manly appearance of the aboriginals he
discovered on the beach. The increase popularity of Manly as a beach side
Suburb increased after the commencement of a regular ferry service in 1854.
Manly has always attracted visitors due to the surfing beaches the national
park areas and of course the many scenic attractions.
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| Manly Wharf |
Starting our walk From Manly Wharf
Starting and standing in front of the ferry wharf we cross
the road at the set of lights to walk along the pedestrian Mall that leads to
Manly beach. Past the council building, and past a war memorial dedicated to
those soldiers from Manly who served in the armed forces during the Great War. 
On both sides of the pedestrian Mall, there are two little
aboriginal art galleries. If you have time to browse, why not stop and view the
art collection on display.
Manly beach
When we reach Manly beach we turn right and walk along the
esplanade to meet the fence and pathway to Shelly beach. In 1877, Manly council
formed a beautification committee on their recommendations planting of Norfolk
Island pines Moreton Bay fig trees throughout the city of Manly begun. Gilbert
Smith started the planting of the pines and there were over 500 hundred trees
planted growing and thriving until the 1960s when they started to die due to
environmental problems. In 1991, 85 more trees were planted to keep up the
beatification project along the oceanfront.
Volley ball on the beachVolley ball has become a favourite sport and past time
for many Sydney siders.
The waves at Manly
In summer, the waves
at Manly beach considered to be among some of the finest waves in the world.
International surfing Competitions are an annual part of the surfing scene
during summer and attract surfers from all over the globe.
Walk to Shelly Beach
It is a very pleasant walk from Manly beach to shelly beach.
Along the path, we pass a small swimming pool with an artistic sculpture the
shell and the wave sculpture a tribute to the Manly lifesavers from three Manly
beaches that carried out 41000 surf rescues up to and before 1988.
In addition, just before we reach shelly beach we stroll
along looking and admiring the sculptures in the rocks artistic sculptures
embedded in the wall of stone featuring works that encompasses the local
wildlife fauna and activities enjoyed in this little cove. The works of arts
include Weedy sea dragon, gloomy octopus, surfing the bower break, long noise
Bandicoot.
Shelly beach
Shelly beach situated
below a headland that encloses this delightful little bay with its grassy park
towards the back and two little stylish café to the side of the water's edge.
People, come here to use the barbeques have a picnic swim and lap up the sun on
the beautiful yellow sand.
View from Shelly Beach
We walk to the far side of shelly beach and up the stone stairs until we reach a viewing point on top of the headland overlooking Manly beach the first of many magnificent panoramas of this beach we will see before we reach North Head.
After we have finished admiring the view, we turn and start
hiking along the path through the entangled coastal shrub until we reach the
car park above shelly beach along this small stretch of road we can view the
Pacific Ocean never-ending deep blue all the way to the horizon. Holding back
the Pacific Ocean is a massive sandstone cliff we take time out to look and
watch the waves smashing and pounding the rocks below. Be for we start our next
part of the journey.
Need to take care
This next part of the journey can become very difficult for young children and inexperienced walkers. As the path, winds upwards through some large sandstone rocks and more twisted tangled coastline scrub.
At the Top of Shelly beach Headland
As we reach the top of the Headland, we are able to see many
panoramas of the Manly coast and surrounding waters.
We keep walking along the sanded pathway until we meet the
hole in the wall an impressive man-made sandstone wall built-in 1930s to
separate Quarantine station from public open space. We walk through the hole in
the wall crossing a plateau with stunning views of the northern beaches. It is
800 meters from the hole in the wall until we reach Blue Fish visitor centre. Road along the way there is sign posted tracks leading into the bush indicating the existence of disused gun pits. Not long after the signs to the gun pits, we arrive at Blue Fish Road and the entry point into North Head sanctuary. We cross the road collect a visitor's guide, from the sign on the road and start walking along a steel mesh track to the grassy lawns of the former Artillery school, and follow the signs to the gatehouse .
One of the Old Gun Pits
Gunners Walk
With our map from the visitor centre we follow the clearly
sign posted gunners walk a walk that takes you through the former school of the
artillery building other things to see include diverse flora and fauna military
remnants and city harbour ocean views. Unfortunately, we do not have time to do
the whole of gunners walk today to complete the entire walk takes up to two
hours instead we are going to head to the Third Quarantine cemetery and back
again.
The Art Gallery
Our first stop is the art gallery open
free for public
viewing
and you are also able to buy the works
of art that include unique
bronze
sculptures paintings and prints.
The North Head Northern Lookout
We continue our walk along the gunners track toward the
northern look out walking through the Australian coastal bush that includes Old
man Banksia, Heath Banksia, fennel flower, and grass trees.
We stop at the Northern lookout and take in the view of the
headlands along the northern beaches we can see the Manly ferry heading away
from Manly cove and the Sydney harbour bridge peeping over the top of the
headlands. 
Quarantine Cemetery Lookout
We head to our next Stop the third Quarantine Cemetery there
are over 240 burials sites in this cemetery dating from 1881 to 1919. After the
second Quarantine Cemetery became over crowded this third Cemetery was placed a
long distance from the Quarantine station. Most of the residents died from the
bubonic plague and the influenza outbreak after the Great War others fell
victim to scarlet fever and smallpox.
There are bus stops here where
busses leave that will take you back to Manly wharf
if you wish not to continue.
If you wish to continue walking, follow the road
about 200 meters until it meets Collins Beach road
on the right-hand side.
Collins Beach road you walk about 350 meters
before it reaches
Collins Beach this little beach hidden away
from the fast pace of suburban life.
Collins Beach is a lovely little spot to escape and relax
Little Manly Cove
From here we head to
our last and final little beach hideaway Little Manly Cove we cross the beach
pick up the path walking up a steep set of stairs leading up the rock face.
Walk up the Stairs as it winds around the edge of Collins Beach to emerge at a
Cul-de-sac. Cross the road and continue straight ahead to reach Little Manly
Point. We pass a grassy area and a
children playground before heading down into the lovely Little Manly Cove.
Little Manly Cove has a small enclosed Swimming area and a little café on the beach side a good place to stop and have a cold drink before we head back to our starting destination Manly wharf. We walk along Stuart street turn left towards the Yacht club from here we can see Manly Wharf.
Walk at a
glance
Grade- a
medium level of fitness some steep hills to climb
Distance-
Approximately 7.5 kilometres
Conditions- lot of shady areas during this walk especially towards to second half of the walk
Time to
complete- about 4 hours
View map of this walk at the bottom of the page
