We walked from The Spit to Balmoral on Sunday. Sort of. We walked it… just not along the coast. Ok, so maybe I should have read the instructions more thoroughly. Or maybe they should just write “YOU CAN’T DO THIS WALK AT HIGH TIDE” in huge letters across every page of the walk guide.
Ben and I packed a nice picnic and took the epic hour-long journey to The Spit. Once there, we had the same problem as we did the first time we started a walk from there. No signs. No indicators. No idea. How hard could it be? Just hug the coastline, right?
Not really. The first thing along the coastline was a boatclub, then private properties. We took a road heading up, with a view over the excessive wealth of north Sydney. Eventually we noticed some pretty young things and hep young cats in towels and sunglasses heading down a steep road. I asked if we could get to Balmoral from there. They said this road would lead to Chinaman’s Beach, but walking to Balmoral was a bit of a risk at high tide unless you wanted an adventure. We’d have to cling to cliff faces and stumble over rocks with water up over our ankles. I wasn’t prepared to physically hug the coastline. The book hadn’t said anything about that.
So instead, we went down to Chinaman’s Beach, walked along it, and up a path at the other side. We ended up back on a main road, and had no choice but to follow it all the way to Balmoral. It was a stinking hot day and the walk hadn’t been very pleasant. Fortunately Balmoral Beach is a bit lovely and we pulled up some blanket under the shade of a fig tree on the promenade for a good spot of dog watching. We tag teamed at swimming. My first ocean dip of the summer: brisk and seaweed-y.
In short, apparently this walk works a lot better if you start at Balmoral, and don’t go at high tide.
The next leg will probably take us all the way to Taronga Zoo. Let’s just hope we get a couple of cooler days at the start of new years (not likely, but a girl can dream).
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