The Northern Beaches - Mona Vale, Turimetta, Narrabeeen

The weather gods were on our side again! It was beautiful day – clear blue skies, and lovely sunshine. We had had some unpleasant weather in Sydney in the previous week, so that was a very pleasing surprise.

Our meeting place was about 600m from Mona Vale beach, and we quickly reached the start of the coastal section of the walk. . The beach here has good facilities, including a rock pool, picnic area and playground equipment. Mona Vale is renowned for its good surf.

We walked south, partly on the edge of the golf course, and came to the small Warriewood Beach . We climbed up from there and arrived at Turimetta Head – a delightful spot for morning tea. Looking at the view to the north was amazing – we could see back to Warriewood and Mona Vale, then further north was Newport and in the distance, Avalon.

The next section was up on the cliffs and we soon had Turimetta Beach in view. It is only small – just 350m long, and is backed by high shale cliffs. There are no facilities and the beach is not patrolled. It is known for both good swimming and body surfing - and even on this winter’s day some intrepid surfers, in their wet suits, were enjoying the moment. Annette’s photo,(at the top) looking southwards, captures the scene.

The track then took us on to Narrabeen - the walking was easy, and as often is the way, we met very few others. Before we went down to the camping area, Denise’s photo (on the r.h. side) shows the outstanding view. Then for a short distance, the path was alongside the busy road, skirting Narrabeen Lake.

Our leaders had chosen a pleasant lunch spot in the very large Jamieson Park. Later we made our way to the Narrabeen shops, from we dispersed, in various directions, and by differing means, to make our way home.

P.S. one small disappointment on the day - no whales were sighted - but perhaps we will be lucky another time.