South Head, Vaucluse & the Hermitage Foreshore (the Vaucluse Loop)

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Route: Towns Road, Oceanview Avenue, Ray Street, Diamond Bay Cliffwalk, Rosa Gully, Chris Bang Crescent, Clarke Reserve, Christison Park, Macquarie Lighthouse, Signal Hill, Old South Head Road, Gap Park, The Gap, Gap Bluff, Cliff Street, South Head Heritage Trail, Hornby Lighthouse, Camp Cove, Green Point, Pacific Street, Marine Parade, Watsons Bay, Gibsons Beach, Hopetoun Avenue, The Crescent, Parsley Bay, Vaucluse House, Coolong Road, Shark Beach, Nielson Park, Hermitage Foreshore, Milk Beach, Hermit Beach, Queens Beach, Bayview Hill Road

Date: 26/03/2022
From: Vaucluse

Parking: Vaucluse
Start Point: Diamond Bay
Finish Point: Queens Beach
Region: Sydney

Route length: 13.7km
Time taken: 03:02
Average speed: 4.8km/h
Ascent: 362m
Descent: 369m

Points of Interest: Diamond Bay, The Gap, South Head, Hermitage Foreshore

I was back hiking in Sydney this weekend, largely due to the fact that the weather has been pretty poor of late and I was lacking the motivation to drive any further afield. I decided to make my way to one of Sydney's best hiking areas - South Head to revisit some parts of the Bondi to Manly track - the 80km route that links two of Sydney's most famous beaches. Specifically, one of the early sections between Diamond Bay and the Hermitage Foreshore, including South Head.

I parked the car at the bottom of Towns Road, a steep street that climbs into the heart of Vaucluse, proving a stiff warm-up to the day. A few pedestrian crossings and suburban streets later and I was at the entrance to Diamond Bay on the east side of the Vaucluse peninsula.

The craggy bay is surrounded by a reserve that shares the same name, home to Rosa Gully where you can find a small bushland remnant.

The rugged Diamond Bay

The path skirts the top of Rosa Gully and then heads along a road back towards the cliff edge. I followed the streets until I reached Clarke Reserve and Christison Park, home to the Macquarie Lighthouse, the first in Australia, and the longest-serving. North of the lighthouse is the remaining foundations of the Signal Hill Battery - a gun emplacement intended to defend Sydney from bombardment by an enemy vessel standing off the coast.

Diamond Bay

The entrance to Rosa Gully

Diamond Bay

Sydney viewed from the football stand in Christison Park

Macquarie Lighthouse

Macquarie Lighthouse

Signal Hill Battery

From the battery site, Old South Head Road squeezes the path onto the pavement for a short distance until you reach the entrance to Gap Park, an area of recreation ground that extends from The Gap to the tip of South Head. The park was dedicated as a public recreation reserve in 1887. Now, thanks to the nearby car park and superb views, the small lookout at The Gap attracts a multitude of phone-wielding tourists.

North Head viewed across the harbour entrance

Overlooking Sydney Harbour

The Gap

Aside from the view, the lookout is home to a memorial to the "Dunbar", a ship that was wrecked on the cliffs in 1857 with the loss of all but one of her 122 passengers and crew. The tragedy highlighted the need to more clearly define the entry to the harbour, showing deficiencies of the Macquarie Lighthouse, as it appeared that The Gap may have been mistaken for the harbour entry. As a consequence, the Hornby light was constructed at the extreme northerly end of South Head. This would be my next destination.

The recovered anchor from the Dunbar

The Gap

Gap Bluff Walking Track

From The Gap, the route takes a slightly circuitous route along the Gap Bluff Walking Track, around the existing naval base at HMAS Watson and down to Camp Cove, one of Sydney's idyllic harbour bays. The South Head Heritage Trail leaves from the north end of the beach and makes a short, 2km circuit of the headland, visiting Hornby Lighthouse before returning back to the beach.

Camp Cove

A replica cannon sits on the South Head walking track

South Head Battery

Hornby Lighthouse at South Head

Looking across the harbour entrance to North Head

Yachts in Middle Harbour

Sydney Harbour

Green Point at the south end of Camp Cove

Camp Cove

At the southern end of Camp Cove is Green Point Reserve, a small open area that covers a peninsula, jutting out into the harbour. The Bondi - Manly route follows the exposed rocks along the shore. This passes a stone obelisk and concrete pad marking the remains of a winch house. The building used to serve a WW2 anti-torpedo net which was strung 1.5km across the harbour (the obelisk was a navigational aid built some 90 years earlier).

Camp Cove

Green Point

Once around Green Point, the route heads east to Watson's Bay, before turning south through the fringe of Robertson Park until it reaches the Vaucluse Yacht Club in the suburb of Vaucluse, one of the most affluent areas in Sydney, along with Point Piper. The properties in these neighbourhoods exchange hands for millions of dollars.

Marine Parade at Watsons Bay

Watsons Bay

Watsons Bay Beach

The path follows the shore to Gibson Beach where it is forced onto one of the leafy residential streets, Hopetoun Avenue and The Crescent. While not unpleasant, suburban streets don't make for particularly impressive photos. After following The Crescent for some 700m, I reached the footbridge over Parsley Bay.

The 1910 suspension bridge is the focal point of the wider Parsley Bay reserve, a tiny but beautiful bay that has long been one of Sydney’s favourite harbour-side places, and since 1906 has been officially reserved for the enjoyment of the public.

The bridge over Parsley Bay

Parsley Bay

From Parsley Bay, I made my way through more suburbs, towards the promontory of Steele Point which is comprised of Shark Bay and Vaucluse Bay. The route took me past Vaucluse House, one of Sydney's C19th mansions now home to the Living Museum. It is one of the few C19th houses on Sydney Harbour retaining a significant part of its original estate setting.

Vaucluse House

Vaucluse House

Like many coastal areas around Sydney, Steele Point is home to a former gun battery tasked with defending the entrance to the harbour. Perhaps more interestingly, Steele Point was home to a naval degaussing station, which helped to protect ships from magnetic sea mines.

Nielson Park

Just off Steele Point Road is the first access to the Hermitage Foreshore, one of Sydney's most popular tracks. The area was established as a reserve in 1912 as part of the Foreshore Resumption Scheme though the land wasn't declared public until the 1960s.

The beginning of the Hermitage Foreshore Track at Shark Point

Rose Bay

The area was largely left in its natural state so that the 3km of rock and beach along the foreshore is mostly untouched by urban development and is fully accessible to the public. The tracks and facilities were upgraded in the 1990s and are now one of the best short walks in the city.

Milk Beach

The two icons of Sydney

Just after Milk Beach, the foreshore track skirts the grounds of Strickland House, a largely intact 1850s villa. Its location on a rise overlooking the harbour represents the picturesque aspirations of wealthy mid-nineteenth-century society. The grounds now form one of the best harbourside parks in Sydney.

Milk Beach

Strickland House

As it makes its way south along the shore, the path gets squeezed between the waters of Sydney Harbour and the high retaining walls of the various mansions which line Carrara Road above - one of the most expensive areas of property in the city. One of the properties offered short-term leases for A-listers such as Elton John and Brad Pitt before being sold.

Below the mansions of Vaucluse

Hermit Beach

Hermit Beach

The foreshore walking track

The Hermitage Foreshore track leads to the small Hermit Bay with its beach and boat ramp before continuing along the shore to Queens Beach and finishing at Bayview Hill Road. For me, this marked the end of the circuit as Bayview Hill Road ultimately leads back to Towns Road where I had parked the car. 

The commanding Kincoppal-Rose Bay School

Sydney Harbour