Looking for the ultimate harbour loop? This 11 km circuit from Manly Wharf to the rugged cliffs of North Head delivers a spectacular mix of pristine beaches, rich military history, and world-class ocean panoramas. Winding past the secluded shores of Collins Flat Beach, the loop climbs into the historic North Head Sanctuary to trace the spectacular clifftop lookouts of the Fairfax Walk before dropping down to the vibrant marine reserve at Shelly Beach.
North Head from Manly
📍 SYDNEY AND SURROUNDS
Distance
10.7 km
Duration
02:45 hrs
Elev Gain
+226 m
Elev Lost
-221 m
| Date | 01 April 2024 |
| Starting Point | Manly Wharf |
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Pace / Gear | 4.5 km/h — Light day pack |
| Highlights | Barracks Precinct, Fairfax Walk, Shelly Headland |
Located near Manly and part of Sydney Harbour National Park, North Head is the perfect destination for some hiking. Along with some beautiful bushland, the headland has some of the best harbour views from the stunning lookouts along the Fairfax Walk. The hike is best accessed using the Manly ferry from Circular Quay — which has the added bonus of being the best and cheapest way to see the sights of Sydney. The F1 Manly ferry runs continuously between 06:00 and midnight, so there's plenty of time to explore North Head.
I began my hike from the wharf in Manly, having arrived on one of the morning ferries. It was a glorious day, far nicer than the last time I did this hike, when Sydney was smothered beneath a thick blanket of bushfire smoke. The ferry wharf sits in Manly Cove, splitting the beach between the East and West Esplanade.
A path curves around East Esplanade Park to the Manly Yacht Club and Stuart Street, which, in turn, takes you to Little Manly Beach. The path continues to the promontory of Little Manly Point, originally known as Manly Gasworks. The small headland was cleaned up a few years ago and converted into a beautiful little park with enjoyable views of the nearby bays.
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| Little Manly Cove |
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| The impressive Australian Institute of Police Management |
Just beyond Little Manly Point is Skinner's Reserve and Collins Flat Beach, practically empty as we head into autumn in Sydney. If you're lucky, a visit to Collins Flat Beach might even come with a sighting of the little penguins that live in the area, the only known colony of penguins on the NSW mainland. Collins Flat Beach is part of the Sydney Harbour National Park, so no dogs, unfortunately.
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| Collins Flat Beach |
On the opposite side of the small beach is a path leading to a car park at the entrance to the Australian Police Institute of Police Management. On the other side of the car park is another path into the bush that leads towards the barracks precinct on North Head, allowing you to avoid hiking up Collins Flat Road while taking you up to North Head Sanctuary.
North Head Sanctuary is formed of the former school and parts of Sydney Harbour National Park. The site was one of Sydney’s most heavily fortified military sites and played a significant role in the national chain of coastal defence, with a large network of underground tunnels and a series of military buildings and gun emplacements.
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| A path runs alongside the boundary wall |
The relative isolation and prominence of North Head heavily influenced its use. In the 1930s, events in Europe led the Federal Government to construct the North Fort and the associated Barracks. The Barracks complex contains a collection of art-deco buildings, a parade ground, service areas and sheds, as well as a large area of remnant bushland. The Harbour Trust took over the management of North Head Sanctuary in 2001, remediated the site and opened it to the public in 2007.
The boundary wall path emerges at the Qstation car park to the rear of North Fort where I picked up another path snaking into the Banksia bushland along a boardwalk. There are some superb viewpoints along this path, looking across Manly and Sydney Harbour. The path merges from the bush at the Quarantine Station cemetery, overlooking the harbour. North Head was chosen to house a quarantine station due to its proximity to the entrance of Sydney Harbour but also its relative isolation, being distant by land and even water from the early settlement of Sydney.
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| Heading into the North Head Sanctuary |
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| Northern Lookout has a view towards Manly |
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| Sydney Harbour |
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| Middle Head |
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| Third Quarantine Station Cemetery |
Upon reaching the North Fort car park, I followed the road south to the Fairfax Walking Track, a short circuit that connects two refurbished lookouts along the coastal fringe of North Head. The two lookouts, Burragula and Yiningma, provide sensational views of the entrance to Sydney Harbour and the cliffs along North Head.
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| Burragula Lookout |
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| The entrance to Sydney Harbour |
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| South Head and Sydney |
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| Quarantine Head and North Harbour |
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| Sydney Harbour |
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| Fairfax Walking Track |
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| The cliffs of North Head |
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| Bluefish Point |
The Fairfax loop returns to the car park, where you'll find an old road that joins the Memorial Walk and the Avenue of Honour, a brick pathway created as a memorial to local soldiers killed in all theatres of war. Along the road are several grand sandstone monuments inscribed with hundreds of names, one for each major theatre of conflict.
The Avenue passes some remaining gun emplacements which once defended Sydney's harbour from the sea and the air. The Avenue of Honour continues along the eastern side of North Head, with a board-walked detour around a notable hanging swamp. Water does not easily seep into the sandstone rock of North Head, and, after rain, water remains for a short time, creating shallow wetlands.
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| Heading to the Avenue of Honour |
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| World War I memorial |
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| Names along the Avenue of Honour |
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| A preserved gun barrel |
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| Gun emplacement |
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| A metal pathway skirts the North Head hanging swamp |
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| The hanging swamp |
After an easy walk along the rest of the Avenue of Honour, I decided to have a quick look around the old military site before continuing onto the Blue Fish Track, a narrow path that leads to the cliffs of Blue Fish Wall. The path takes you to a stone wall with a small hole cut through it (part of the old military base's outer wall). Despite the warning signs, the path is publicly accessible and perfectly safe. Beyond the wall, the path descends to the lookouts along the Shelly Headland.
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| Entering the barracks precinct |
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| The parade ground |
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| The visitor centre |
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| Entrance to the military complex |
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| Blue Fish Track |
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| Shelly Headland |
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| Views from the Shelly Headland |
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| The hole in the outer precinct wall |
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| Blue Fish Track |
I reached Shelly Beach in the afternoon, and the locals were still out in force. Shelly Beach forms part of Cabbage Tree Bay, a protected marine reserve that lies adjacent to North Head and Fairy Bower. With a maximum depth of around 12 metres, Shelly Beach has become popular with scuba divers and snorkellers alike, with a large variety of marine life that can be viewed in relatively shallow water — including turtles.
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| Shelly Headland |
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| Shelly Headland |
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| Manly Beach |
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| Cabbage Tree Bay |
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| Cabbage Tree Bay |
Marine Parade leads along the shore to the huge, sweeping beach at Manly. Manly was named by Captain Arthur Phillip for the indigenous people living there, stating that "their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place". While scouting for fresh water in the area, Phillip encountered members of the clan, and after a misunderstanding, he was speared in the shoulder by one of the clan; to his lasting credit, the progressively minded Phillip ordered his men not to retaliate.
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| Manly Beach |
Now, Manly is a popular tourist destination and is the location of the world's first surfing contest, held in 1964. This makes it one of Australia's most famous beaches, along with Bondi. The iconic beach curves from South Steyne to North Steyne and Queenscliff, where a submerged reef, or bombora, creates the waves that inspire the world's best surfers to travel to Australia.
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| Warm days invariably bring people to the beach |
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| Manly Beach |
The narrow strip of land separating the Pacific from Sydney Harbour is linked by the Corso, a wide pedestrian street that forms the heart of Manly's commercial centre. It also leads directly to the ferry wharf, where you can catch a ride back to Sydney.
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