So, not the NSW Central Coast, I know, but tell me – who wouldn’t want to paddle their kayak past the iconic Sydney Opera House and under the world famous Sydney Harbour Bridge?
It’s been over two years (and four months and three weeks – but who’s counting?!) since I’d last paddled Sydney Harbour, and back then I was still exploring the waters of NSW on sit-on-tops. I was keen to get back, this time in a sea kayak, and keen to share the experience with a new kayaking partner – so last Sunday, that’s what I did!
We may be up on the NSW Central Coast, but kayak put-in points on Sydney Harbour are little over an hour’s drive and so are easily within reach for a day’s paddling – just make sure to double-up in the car to save on fuel and parking, and aim to arrive early enough to ensure you can park close to the water.
Chinamans Beach, accessed via Rosherville Reserve in Sydney’s Mosman suburb, is a fantastic place to start any trip out on Sydney Harbour. Centrally located close to Middle Head, you’re in easy reach of everything the big end of the Parramatta River has to offer.
The reserve itself is huge – and you could be forgiven for forgetting you were nestled in one of the most expensive suburbs in one of the most well known cities in the world. The adjacent Chinamans Beach has fine and golden sand, and waters that are beautifully calm, amazingly clear and a breath-taking green/blue in colour.
With the start of winter just a few days away, the air was crisp and fresh, but the rising Australian sun soon began to cast its warmth so, on the basis that the forecast wind would fight a losing battle with the clear sunny skies, it was off with the jackets!
Leaving Chinamans Beach and following the shoreline around, the route took us past Balmoral Beach which, even at 7.30am, was bustling with all manner of people making the most of a beautiful Sunday morning: kayakers and sea-swimmers were out in large numbers, whilst on the shore, joggers, runners, people fishing and families taking a leisurely stroll were everywhere! The place was alive!
Passing Balmoral, and then the naval base at HMAS Penguin, we rounded Middle Head and got our first proper views of the harbour heading up towards the city proper, with the Eastern Suburbs in the distance and closer, Vaucluse, Watsons Bay, Shark Island – and the Manly Ferry!
Mindful of the swell reverberating off the rocky shore at the base of the cliffs on this section of coastline, we continued on to our first stop at Chowder Bay where a delightful little ‘hole in the wall’ cafe served us up hot coffee and a fine salmon bagel and muffin.
And whilst we enjoyed this fine breakfast back on the beach, we got talking to the owners of three amazing, handmade wooden sea kayaks. Beautiful to look at, we were amazed at how such things could be made by hand, yet achieve the necessary water-dynamics for tracking, balance and manoeuvrability. These local kayakers also shared with us their views on the weather that threatened to come on later – and on the basis of which we decided to amend our plans from having an open channel crossing between the harbour’s Heads on the way home. Not wishing to be out in the open with moderate to fresh breezes, we re-planned to instead take a shorter and more protected route back on our final leg.
Leaving Chowder Bay we next headed along the shoreline for Bradley’s Head and past that, the famous Taronga Zoo – where we had our first of the day (and definitely not last) close encounter with one of the Harbour Ferries. Here, also, we were afforded our first view of that classic and unmistakable city sky line – the Westfield Eye, Opera House and Harbour Bridge all seemingly beckoning for us to come much, much closer.
At about this time the clouds had started to roll in, and the forecast wind started to step up to its commitment to making our day a whole lot more challenging. The harbour is open and exposed to the wind and the 16kt westerly coming straight at us from under the Harbour Bridge itself used the long ‘fetch’ to create some small whitecaps that combined with the wash of many large boats to give us a bumpy ride in to our mid-point destination.
Passing through the Sydney Harbour Bridge Transit Zone we were mindful not to ‘…exceed 15kts, anchor or drift.’! The predictable chop and swell created by the many boats and vertical harbour walls kept our minds sharply focused on a safe transit!
Blues Point had been the destination for lunch, but on closer inspection of this headland we determined that there were no places suitable for a safe landing, and heading instead to nearby Lavender Bay we were rewarded with the perfect strip of beach to land on, the perfect piece of grassy area to stretch out for lunch on – and a fantastic view of one of our national treasures.
Refreshed with lunch – a highlight of my day – we headed back out under the Harbour Bridge, retracing our inbound route staying on the Kirribilli (north) side, away from the busy ferry traffic entering and leaving the Circular Quay ferry terminals. Once under the bridge, however, we headed south-east across the busy shipping channel to square-off face-to-face with the Sydney Opera House, so impressive up close and from the water. From the Opera house we tracked across the front of Garden Island naval dock yards, keeping the requisite 60m from the massive Canberra-class landing helicopter dock ship, HMAS Adelaide (L01), the largest naval vessel ever built for Australia.
Staying in the open channel from Garden Island, we dodged the many sail boats and yachts that had turned out to make the most of the afternoon winds, following a route to Clarke Island, then Shark Island and then up to Watson’s Bay for our final stop of the afternoon – and another coffee.
Overall, the tracked route matched our planned route (incl. for distance, about 35km), except for the shoreline route around Taronga and Neutral Bay that was in lieu of the planned final run back to the put-in point from South Head – we instead turned for home at Watsons Bay.
That Heads crossing I’d been looking forward to would now have to wait for our next trip on these waters, which I hope we’ll be back to do soon.
As the afternoon slowly drew to a close, the cloud had cleared, the wind had dropped and the day showed signs of finishing much like it had started – cool, clean and peaceful – accentuating the beauty of this fine harbour’s scenery.
Sydney is just a fantastic place to visit, no matter your mode of transport. But viewing its amazing harbour from the unique vantage point afforded by a sea kayak – and sharing that experience with someone – well, that’s next level in my book!
Get Kayaking on the Central Coast 