Walking the foreshore

Last week I took a day off work. The weather was perfectly spring-y and I'd been working too much. So I decided it was time to charge up the batteries a little bit.

I did some chores first off in the morning and then decided to go for a ramble across the bridge and along the foreshore toward the harbor heads. I didn't make it all the way to the heads, but I did make it about halfway in three hours, which included fun stops to check things out.

One sure sign that summer is here? Cruise ships are in the Quay way more often. They still dock occasionally during the winter, but during the summer there is often a different one in the evening from the one there in the morning.

My plan for the walk was to stick to the foreshore as close to the water as I could since that would take me by some places I've never seen before. But I did take a detour through the paths of the Botanic Gardens. I was pretty happy with that choice, since it was in full bloom!

Then I came to the Woolloomoolloo part of the walk. When we first got here, I thought that was the funniest name. It's still not the most natural thing to say!

Woolloomoolloo has a super long wharf that juts out in the water. It obviously used to be a pretty important shipping wharf, but now it has a hotel, restaurants, and apartments. It's an amazingly long building. 

After this part of the walk, I had to cut inland a bit. That's because an Australia Naval base is alongside the water on the other side of Woolloomooloo. But on the other side of that point is Rushcutters Bay, which has a lovely park and a little cafe on the water. Seems like a pretty good place for a coffee!

The rest of the walk was weaving through neighborhoods and down through water-side parks. I ended at Elizabeth Bay, which has a long, wide park with plenty of shade and spots for hanging out by the water. 

I had a sandwich here and hung out for a while in the shade. 

It was a really lovely walk, and it was a great way to see new places in the city.