One thing I was concerned about when moving to Neutral Bay was that I’ll be further away from the larger beaches in the east – namely Bondi and Coogee. When I mentioned this to my workmate Barry, he told me that I won’t miss any of those, since I have Balmoral Beach nearby. I asked “What’s Balmoral Beach?” and he just sniggered “What’s Balmoral Beach she says”. Then he pulled out his phone and showed me some pictures – and I was instantly taken. Thanks to Balmoral as well as the other northern beaches, I haven’t spent another day in Bondi ever since I moved to the north shore.
Balmoral Beach
Bondi is a vast stretch of beach and the neighbourhood as well as the beach itself is hugely popular for it’s scene and surf. It has gotten even more famous through the TV show “Bondi Rescue”. Balmoral is also large but a lot less busy then Bondi, and it feels more like an accumulation of many small bays (rather than one large stretch).
The bay features many rocky outlets and some reefs which make it the perfect spot for a little bit of snorkling. It’s not as good a snorkling spot as the reef nearby Manly Beach but I loved that I could just swim of the beach a little and find myself in a colourful school of fish. I didn’t have proper snorkel gear, just the goggles, but I did entertain myself the entire day alternating between going in for a swim and a bit of underwater life action as well as lazing at the beach and reading a book. This beautiful spot is a mere half an hour from my house on the bus.
Manly Beach
Manly is another one of the northern beaches and a very popular spot for people working in the CBD. It feels very remote (so much so that my friends Marieke and Scott, who live there, often refer to it as the “Manly Bubble”) yet you can commute to the CBD via ferry within 20-30 minutes. It’s very laid back and features two beach sides, one next to the wharf and one on the other side of town, a mere 10-minute (if that) walk from the wharf. From this beach, it’s possible to swim to Shelley Beach and to see a lot of sea life along the way. Manly is also the end of the Spit to Manly walk – which has recently been extended to a 4-day hike all the way long the coast: The 80 km Bondi to Manly walk.
I’ve dedicated this post to some of my favourite features of Manly, check it out!
Dee Why and Curl Curl Beach
A couple of weeks ago, I finally signed up to a meetup hike again. I used to do a load of these hikes in the UK to meet people and have a great day out at the same time, but with the fires and everything that’s been going on, I haven’t gotten around to it here just yet. So one beautiful Sunday I was going to go on this hike – which was actually a part of the Bondi to Manly hike I mentioned above – but then my friend Am who I know from London told me she was taking the bus to this place called Curl Curl Beach, and of course I couldn’t say no!
We took the B-line – a fast bus with only few stops along the northern beaches – from Neutral Bay Junction to Dee Why (which is only just over 20 minutes) and spent some time at Dee Why beach first. These beaches feel really far out of town but with the bus, it really isn’t a mission at all. After a couple of dips and some sunbathing at this lovely spot, we went on a little 30-minute hike over to Curl Curl Beach.
It was a really hot day so I was very glad that I didn’t opt for the 20k meet up hike. The track is leading back south, past the lovely rock pool in Dee Why and featuring stunning views over the ocean and the entire beach. It’s a boardwalk in most places, sometimes it’s just rock. Many salamanders whizzed off into the bushland as we walked past. After a while, Curl Curl beach unfolded wide in front of us, and we couldn’t wait to get into the water.
Curl Curl Beach has a very strong current, so we didn’t dare swimming far out – but I’ve got to say, this beach has the most beautiful and clear water I have ever seen. Of all the beautiful northern beaches, I’d probably have to say that this is my favourite.
Pearl Beach, Avoca Beach & Palm Beach
If you fancy a trip even further north of Sydney (but it’s best to rent a car for this), you don’t want to miss Pearl Beach and Palm Beach – check out my other blog posts for more:
- Read here about Pearl Beach & Avoca Beach here
- Read more about Palm Beach here
