Travelogue: Australia – Weekend Side Trip: Sydney 5) At The Headlands

The walk seems a bit longer than it looked on the map. But it was well worth it! This place is lovely and even with the low cloud deck, the view of Sydney is breathtaking from here!

 

Sunrise looks promising, but the ominous look of the sky actually adds to the atmosphere. The sea is not exactly rough, but it was certainly unquiet! The waves crashing at the base of the cliffs are clearly audible even from up here on the path!

The Sydney Harbour National Park is such a lovely place! If you can ignore, for the moment, that you’re at least a hundred feet or so up off the wake, the looks of the park is similar to what you might see in Florida along the beaches. But be sure that you remember where you are and stay in the posted areas – it is a long way down to the beach which is far more like what you’d see in Northern California than in Florida!

There were lots of people out even at this early time of day, there were boats on the water, there were bikers on the roads, and there were runners on the paths. Where I had thought I would have the park to myself, it seems there were lots of people who must have had the same idea.

I have to assume that these were all locals, because the ferry was incredibly empty. There were perhaps a half-dozen people on the first trip, the three women who and obviously been over to party last evening, a couple families dragging luggage, and a group of guys who also look worse for the where. As a matter of fact, there is nobody besides the crew (and me) who actually look ready – let alone happy – to be up at this ungodly hour.

I spend about an hour-and-a-half walking around the park and decided that the day was not getting any better. There were moments when the sun looked like it was trying to break through the cloud cover, but around eight, I decided that this was a front and that it was not going to break-up as the day went on. I decided to head back to the hotel and try to change my return train to the earlier one.

This, it would turn-out, was the right call! By the time the train left the station we were driving through a pretty serious thunderstorm. The train plunged on through the rain, thunder, and lightning all the way out of the city. The storm broke-up soon after and as we made our way back into the ACT, the weather was much cheerier. I had almost decided that I had made mistake until I got home and saw that there were reported tornadoes spawned by that storm and that it had been so severe to leave homes without power.

But, hey, I did what I wanted to do; I got to take a train trip, spend some more time in Sydney, and got the chance to get some more pictures of this amazing place! It was a great weekend get-away!

 

Wherever you are this morning I hope that you have had an adventure this weekend!

Don Bergquist – 13 April 2012 – Canberra, ACT, Australia