Watsons Bay to Vaucluse

And on the tenth day the rain drops finally stopped falling from the sky.  To celebrate the first day in what seemed like forever without an umbrella we took the 324 from Circular Quay to the Macquarie Lighthouse, the first stop on our five mile walk.  This lighthouse is a replica of the original lighthouse that was first built in 1818. 
Throughout the walk we saw a variety of ocean and harbourside terrain and views.   We continued the walk along the coast which is part of Sydney Harbour National Park. 






This walk was a little more adventurous than the Bondi walk because at times the path was non existent and we were climbing up make shift steps from rocks or walking through the brush pushing aside branches to avoid the large rain puddles left in the middle of the road by the week plus of rain. 




As we continued along through Gap Park we reached Dunbar's anchor.  The anchor marks the location of Australia's worst maritime disaster.  The Dunbar ship crashed into the rocks and there was only one survivor.

 As we continued on we reached Watsons Bay.  In the summer Watsons Bay would be filled with sunbathers and boaters.  Since it is still winter all the boats were docked and there were just a few brave scuba divers in full wetsuits.  The most adventurous part of the Watsons Bay portion of our walk was the sprint across the beach.  High tide was in full effect as we set foot on what little sand remained on the far right of the beach.  Timing the waves we walked at a fast pace to try and reach the curve which signified the end at which point we would rejoin the wooden path alongside the cliffs leading to Lady Bay Beach and Hornby Lighthouse.

However, about half way through the tide and waves were inching closer to our toes.  At this point the running began.  Two of the girls made it safely to the other side because they had a head start in the beginning.  The rest of us got a later start (due to photography) and the running was not timed very well with  the ever approaching tide.  Lucky for us this was the part of the beach where there was a raised wooden ledge and fence.  Two of us made the jump fast enough to climb along the side and escape the water but one ended up with a wet left foot and calf.

  But by the end of the five miles waiting at a bus stop on a dark curvy road which felt like the middle of no where all were dry and just hungry for dinner. 

The next stop was the Hornby Lighthouse which marks the entrance to the harbour.  

We then ventured toward Vaucluse which brought us through an exclusive neighborhood.  We wandered along the curvy streets and admired all of the beautiful multi million dollar homes that were behind locked gates with access by keypad.  It was a very quiet and beautiful neighborhood. 

As dusk was nearing we finally reached the long awaited Vaucluse House which was surrounded by very beautiful gardens. 

Two guided walks down and two to go from the Sydney guidebook.