Sydney Harbour National Park

There is no better way to get to know the many harbourside bays and inlets and their surrounding suburbs than by exploring the multi-sectioned Sydney Harbour National Park.

Sydney Harbour National Park, which protects several islands and foreshore areas around Sydney Harbour, contains remnants of bushland common before white settlement, and many cultural and heritage attractions. You can visit convict-built buildings, historic maritime and military installations, and recreational islands. The Quarantine Station (>101) at North Head, which isolated new arrivals with infectious diseases from Sydneysiders, has night-time ghost walks. At Middle Head are the remains of a network of forts that were built around the harbour for protection from, among others, the Russians in the nineteenth century, and the Japanese in the 1940s.

Other park highlights include ferry tours to the tiny colonial penal relic, Fort Denison, Australia’s only Martello Tower. Here an audio-visual presentation highlights its history, including its time as a high security prison. Enjoy a relaxing ferry trip to tiny Shark Island, spectacularly set in the middle of Sydney Harbour. This is the perfect destination for a picnic, with its shady trees and picnic shelters – there is even a small beach where you can enjoy a harbour swim. There are many harbour walks, including the Manly Scenic Walkway, with its native coastal heath and subtropical rainforest remnants. On the south side of the harbour, the 1.5 km, easy Hermitage Foreshore Track starts in Nielsen Park at Vaucluse and takes you through a strip of protected bushland, winding along the western edge of Vaucluse and finishing at Bayview Hill Road. A swim at Nielsen Park beach is a welcome treat on a summer’s day. The harbourside suburb of Watsons Bay was a fishing hamlet and naval base. Today this charming suburb retains its village atmosphere and you can swim at Camp Cove or explore South Head National Park.