This urban circuit around Rozelle and Blackwattle Bays offers a fantastic mix of sweeping harbour views, modern architectural landmarks, and expansive new green spaces. Kicking off at Federal Park, the route follows the foreshore past Wentworth Park to the impressive new Sydney Fish Market. From there, the trail heads up and over the Anzac Bridge before descending into the recently completed Rozelle Parklands, providing a peaceful, leafy finish to a genuinely varied inner-city loop.
Blackwattle Bay, Anzac Bridge & Rozelle Parklands
📍 SYDNEY AND SURROUNDS
Distance7.2 km
Duration01:49 hrs
Elev Gain+75 m
Elev Lost-71 m
Date
11 July 2026
Starting Point
Federal Park
Difficulty
Easy
Pace / Gear
4.4 km/h — Water
Highlights
Sydney Fish Market, Anzac Bridge, Rozelle Parklands
🗺️ Interactive Route MapPinch or use wheel to zoom
Tucked away in the inner harbour, Rozelle Bay and Blackwattle Bay offer a quieter, yet equally scenic, alternative to the bustling Iron Cove Bay Run. Walking the circuit between the two takes you directly across the Anzac Bridge. Though it often plays second fiddle to the Harbour Bridge, walking beneath the towering cables of this concrete giant is spectacular in its own right. Better yet, the route stitches together a brilliant mix of old and new Sydney, serving as the perfect gateway to explore the city's latest harbour-side developments: the newly built Sydney Fish Market and the sprawling green space of Rozelle Parklands.
Federal Park
We started our walk from Federal Park, situated along the Glebe foreshore. It forms part of a superb continuous green corridor—linking seamlessly with Jubilee, Bicentennial, and Blackwattle Bay Parks—to create 17 hectares of open parkland and sports facilities right in the heart of Sydney. The area is looking especially good lately with the finished wetland rehabilitation project at Johnstons Creek settling into the landscape. Almost immediately after leaving the car, the foreshore serves up a fantastic vantage point, offering uninterrupted views across the water to the Anzac Bridge and the CBD skyline.
After passing through Federal Park, we crossed Johnstons Creek via the timber footbridge. The creek has recently undergone a semi-naturalisation project to reintroduce vital ecosystems to the waterway. While sections of the original concrete channel remain, the naturalised banks have successfully restored the surrounding saltmarshes and added six hectares of rejuvenated parkland along the shore.
Johnstons Creek
Jubilee Park
Crossing the Allan Truss Bridge, we moved into Jubilee Park, which merges seamlessly into neighbouring Bicentennial Park. The two areas essentially function as one massive green space, with the foreshore path tracing the water’s edge through the latter. Bicentennial Park was established in 1988 to mark the bicentenary of European settlement in Australia, following a dedicated fifteen-year campaign by the Glebe Society. Interestingly, a public wharf and ferry service operated from Glebe Point here in the early twentieth century—and prior to the park's creation in 1988, that small historical reserve was the only point of public waterfront access on Rozelle Bay.
Johnstons Creek
Anzac Bridge from Glebe point
Glebe Foreshore
At the northern end of the park stand two majestic Moreton Bay fig trees, which are illuminated at twilight as part of a 2008 City of Sydney public art commission. These iconic trees are famous for their sweeping buttress roots and towering, cathedral-like canopies. From here, the path continues to Glebe Point, marking the official boundary between Rozelle Bay to the west and Blackwattle Bay to the east, and offering a spectacular vantage point directly beneath the Anzac Bridge.
Rounding the point, a short flight of steps leads down to a stone-flagged waterfront terrace backed by an old stone retaining wall. This historical section forms the earliest part of Blackwattle Bay Park and serves up magnificent views of the city skyline. Across the water, Pyrmont Point peeks out from behind the Anzac Bridge pylons—an area once dominated by the Colonial Sugar Refinery (CSR) distillery, now transformed into modern high-rise apartments.
Scanning the Sydney skyline from left to right, you can easily pick out several major landmarks: the iconic spire of Sydney Tower on Market Street, the prominent World Square Tower at Liverpool Street, the high-rises towering over Paddy’s Market, and the unmistakable brutalist block of the UTS (University of Technology Sydney) Tower on Broadway.
Blackwattle Bay
Following the foreshore path, the route passes the site of the old municipal incinerator—now cleverly converted into waterfront apartments—before reaching Bridge Road. Just across the street lies Wentworth Park. Reclaimed from the muddy reaches of Blackwattle Swamp between 1880 and 1882, and named in honour of William Charles Wentworth, this expansive green space actually predates Centennial Park. While it was once an elaborately landscaped Victorian pleasure garden, today the park is primarily a hub for local social sports and weekend recreation.
The old Walter Burley Griffin incinerator
Sydney Fish Market
The impressive new Sydney Fish Market now anchors the waterfront on this side of Blackwattle Bay. Designed by architectural firm 3XN, the facility features a striking wave-like timber canopy floating above expansive public boardwalks and terraced wooden seating that steps right down to the water. After navigating past the lively outdoor dining plazas and the open wholesale market floor, we left the bay behind and continued through the cavernous concrete underbelly of the A4 Western Distributor. From there, we picked up the curving, elevated shared path at Saunders Street, which leads directly onto the Anzac Bridge.
Sydney
Sydney Fish Market
Sydney Fish Market
Anzac Bridge
The old Sydney Fish Market is tiny in comparison
Saunders Street bike path
Anzac Bridge
Anzac Bridge
A combined pedestrian and cycle path runs along the northern side of the bridge, though admittedly, the immediate scenery here leaves a little to be desired. Looking out over Johnstons Bay reveals a somewhat stark landscape of industrial concrete docks and working port facilities. However, the Anzac Bridge itself is an impressive piece of modern engineering, originally opening to traffic on 3 December 1995 as the new Glebe Island Bridge.
Anzac Bridge
A peak at Sydney Harbour Bridge through the railings
Anzac Bridge
The bridge received its current name on Remembrance Day in 1998, rededicated to honour the soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served in World War I. Reflecting this shared heritage, an Australian flag flies atop the eastern pylon, mirrored by a New Zealand flag on the western tower. At the western end of the walkway stands a striking bronze memorial statue, unveiled on Anzac Day in 2000, depicting an Australian Digger resting on his Lee–Enfield rifle in the solemn "rest on arms reverse" position.
The Anzac solider statue
Rozelle Parklands
Leaving the Anzac Bridge behind, the final leg of the circuit delivers you directly into the newly transformed Rozelle Parklands. Built over the old Rozelle Railyards and sitting atop a massive underground motorway interchange, this 10-hectare green space has completely revitalized the western approach to the bridge. Where there was once a drab, industrial wasteland of disused rail lines and concrete, a broad network of shared paths now meanders past constructed wetlands, a newly planted urban forest, and raised timber boardwalks.
Rozelle Parklands - the three towers are ventilation stacks for the motorway tunnel buried beneath
Rozelle Wetlands
Rozelle Wetlands
Rozelle Parklands
Following the winding trails through the parklands provides a much-needed green buffer from the surrounding arterial roads. Crossing back towards Lilyfield Road and the head of Rozelle Bay, the track links smoothly into the greenways and waterfront reserves to bring you right back to the start at Federal Park. It makes for a far more rewarding finish than the old industrial slog, turning what was once a slightly disjointed urban loop into a genuinely varied harbour circuit.
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