Walking Sydney’s Coast…and beyond

JZ and I recently stumbled upon a rather significant accomplishment. Our achievement took many hours and weekends, and we almost missed it entirely.

A couple of months ago, JZ and I perused a Sydney Walks guidebook looking for new, exciting coastal hikes. We flipped through the pages together, commenting on the different walks, “did this one, yep, completed that one last summer, oh, we could do that one again…, oooh here’s a new one!” Looking through the guidebook together, we realized almost walked the entire Sydney coastline!

For the most part, we trekked along the coast to experience new areas in Sydney while enjoying the epic ocean views. However, now we want to finish off the entire Sydney area coast – at least across the Seacliff Bridge! Currently, we doubled down on our coastal walks schedule, and hope to cover as much ground as possible between now and October. We relish the warmer spring weather, and hope to finish before the intense summer heat drives us to relaxing on the many beaches.

Summer is not the best time for long walks for several reasons, the heat only being one. As we mentioned, water on the trails can be an issue – and our Lifestraw bottles only purify freshwater. Additionally, our glorious December to March summer attracts Northern Hemisphere dwellers in droves, clogging public transport, and creating practically impassable beaches.

That said, many of the of the tracks closer to the inner city do have water, even if the public transport is packed. And better still, we learned which ways directions to travel to ensure a smoother public transit experience. Are you interested in walking Sydney’s Coast with your family? Our guides below offer itineraries, tips, and detailed directions.

 The Living EZ Guide to Walking Sydney’s Coast

1. La Perouse to Malabar Beach
2. Malabar to Maroubra Beach
3. Maroubra to Coogee Beach
4. Coogee to Bondi Beach
5. Bondi to Watson’s Bay
6. Watson’s Bay and South Head
7. Spit Bridge to Manly

Walking Sydney’s Coast – What’s Next?

As you can see, we have covered off the better part of the central Sydney coastline, but zoom out and see all that we have to explore! Time to connect with the New South Wales central coast.

On the North side, we have yet to circumnavigate the Manly peninsula. In the past, we explored North Head, Quarantine Station, and Sydney Harbour National Park, but without a clear agenda. Once we finish off that peninsula, we will continue up the coast.

We recently biked from Manly to Narrabeen, and I would love to amble along coastal trails for more scenic and less lung-busting routes (the Northern beaches are seriously hilly). Even further North lays the Sydney’s reputed equivalent to the Hamptons, Palm Beach. This stunning beach town has several walks to admire the spectacular views of Pittwater and the ocean. Palm Beach is also one of the only places we know of where you can stand on a hill essentially see three beaches at once. Two gorgeous, sandy beaches back up to each other on either side of the peninsula, with maybe 3 athletic fields distance between them!

South of Sydney, we barely scratched the surface of trails covering Royal National Park. Thus far, we completed the Jibbons Head and Marley Beach tracks, which is less than half the 26km Coastal Walk. Twenty-six km is quite a trek for a day trip, but I think we could pull it off. Many people take camping gear and enjoy the journey over two days. However, we debate if this strategy would be any easier for us. JZ carries CZ on the majority of our hikes, leaving all the gear, water, etc in my pack. Plus, we don’t own any camping gear so everything would need to be rented or purchased. If anyone has experience or opinions, please use the comments section below to weigh in!

Views from Malabar

Only two more posts, until we have the whole of the Sydney coast covered, and then we have the tough decision, north or south?