Exploring Australia
It may be the middle of winter, but the day we visit Palm Beach the weather couldn’t be better.
Unless you live in Sydney you may not be familiar with the Northern Beaches suburb of Palm Beach. But if you’re a fan of Australian television soap operas you’ll definitely have heard of its alter ego, Summer Bay. Palm Beach is the setting for the outdoor scenes of the TV show, Home and Away.
Located on a narrow peninsula, Palm Beach is almost completely surrounded by water. On the eastern side is the famous beach featured on television, a 2.3 kilometre stretch of white sand edged by the Pacific Ocean. North of the peninsula is the wide expanse of Broken Bay while on the west is Pittwater, a deep and wide river estuary .
We’re staying in Gosford on the northern side of Broken Bay, and the best way to travel to Palm Beach is on the local ferry.
From the terminal at Ettalong, the ferry sails into the open waters of Broken Bay. The half hour journey follows a clearly marked route between Box Head and Barrenjoey Headland. Even from a distance the Barrenjoey Lighthouse stands out high above the water on the headland.
At Palm Beach the ferry docks at the pier alongside Pittwater Park. We’ve already decided to avoid the busy beach area popular with fans of the TV show; instead we stay on the quieter Pittwater side.
With freshly cooked fish and chips for lunch, we settle ourselves near the water’s edge. Children paddle in the shallows, sailboats at anchor gently rock in the tidal current and we just sit, enjoying the beautiful scenery.
It’s the perfect way to spend a winter’s day.
It looks like you had a nicer day than when I went in October 2007!
https://sydneyscribbler.blogspot.com/2007/10/palm-beach-281007.html
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Oh dear, you really missed the great weather that day.
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🙂 wonderfull! I miss going on Holiday! Between COVID and now the racist mayhem going on in ‘yankey doodle’ land & the rest of the world it is hard to enjoy anything 😦
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Yes, we’re looking forward to being able to travel within Australia again soon.
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The view in the first photo looks gorgeous – I could easily live right there 🙂
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Wouldn’t that be lovely. This area of Sydney has some of the most expensive real estate in the country which is not surprising when you look at those views. 😁
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What an amazing time away. I can’t even imagine the thrill of being able to not only enjoy the lovely surroundings but also be able to travel around freely like that. We’re definitely not there yet so I will certainly enjoy your adventures from afar. 🙂
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Don’t get too excited Judy, this trip was last year. 😊 We are allowed to travel within our state but we’ve decided to stay put for a while longer yet. I’m finding nice Australian places from the archives to share in the meantime.
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Okay. We can move about somewhat, but I can’t say we have the desire right now. Well, we may have the emotional desire for sure, but the practical side says no way. 🙂
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We’re a bit the same. We have a brand new caravan which we only used for two nights before restrictions were set in place and we’d love to get it out of storage and go on a road trip. But we’re happy to wait a while to see what happens.
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They opened our campgrounds at 50%, but you can’t leave your site once you get there or have anyone visit. Hmm. Might as well stay at home, I’m thinking.
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That doesn’t sound like fun at all. Much better at home where you can do things.
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Palm Beach is one of my favourite parts of Greater Sydney – wish I could afford a house there lol.
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This real estate is well out of our reach too, but it was lovely to visit.
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As soon as I got the part where you wrote ‘Home and Away’ I was singing along with the tune automatically 🙂
It’s nice to see that stone (sandstone?) and the greenery – just my cup of tea.
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I knew someone would know the tune, David. Yes, these cliffs are sandstone.
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Ah, I was hoping you would say you’d visited the lighthouse. When I walked up in 2014 it was closed. My second visit to Palm Beach and I have not found the beach side busy on either occasion. It is glorious up those northern suburbs, but oh, so expensive to buy or rent property. But the fish and chips from the Boathouse were not very good (and not cheap). Sounds like yours were much better!
https://traveltalk.me.uk/2014/12/02/home-and-away/
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Sadly not on this visit Jude. This was last year when I was in a moon boot and on crutches so walking anywhere much was out of the question. I was content to sit on a park bench and wait for the others to do what they wanted. Yes, real estate in this area is very expensive. We got our fish and chips from the local fish shop right on the water and it was so tasty.
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Ah, yes. The foot. How is it now? I doubt I will return to Sydney now the family are in Brisbane, but you never know, they could move again!
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The foot is still very painful at times and may never be 100% ever again. But it is still improving slowly. Hopefully when COVID is a thing of the past you’ll be able to come to Brisbane.
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I really hope so, but there’s no way I am flying for 24 hours wearing a mask!
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No, that would be ghastly. Anyway, at this stage we’re not accepting international travellers. Hopefully when all this is under control you’ll be back.
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Sigh… I wish we weren’t either but our government just bows to pressure from the airlines and Tory sponsors so everything will be wide open soon and then we will wonder why we bothered with lockdown in the first place!
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We see on the news what is happening in other countries and just shake our heads in disbelief.
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I’ve practically given up watching the news. And now with all these mass protests going on I just thing the world has gone to hell in a handcart!
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Glorious! *Sigh*
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It really was glorious. Our winters are becoming more mild every year.
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In one way that’s a good thing. In another – worrying.
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Yes. There was a report at the end of our summer earlier in the year that said Australia tends to have three months of winter and nine months of summer now. Our winters are always temperate anyway and very mild, but the southern states are still having very cold weather, with lots of snow in the mountains.
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😕
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I did wonder why you weren’t taking me for a walk till I read your conversation with Jude. 🙂 🙂 Happy to sit with you, Carol.
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Yes, I’m not taking any long walks just yet Jo. I might have a short one for you soon though. 🙂
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No hurry, Carol. I’m still kind of in limbo with the Monday walks 🙂 🙂
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I hope they keep going in some form Jo.
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Palm Beach looks idyllic, what a perfect place to walk and relax. I love a long walk on the beach with boats and activity to look at, always interesting. Lovely photos.
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Thanks Jonno. Unfortunately when we visited I was in a moon boot and on crutches so there was no long beach walk for me, but I enjoyed looking at the view and doing some people watching while the others went for a walk.
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It looks absolutely wonderful. We have visited Sydney but didn’t get to this spot. Hard to imagine that we would ever get on a plane to fly that kind of distance again but time will tell.
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Yes, international travel is definitely not on our agenda at the moment but I do hope we are able to safely travel again one day.
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How lovely… it would be nice to be there now, enjoying some watery views. 🙂
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Yes, and Sydney has been enjoying some more lovely winter weather so it would be quite beautiful.
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Glorious, oh so envious. I never got here when I had a mini stay in Sydney, just so many bays to explore
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Love Palm Beach and used to visit relatives at Ingleside. Also sailed around Pittwater a lot so familiar with that beautiful region. Gorgeous photos Carol.
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We really enjoyed our ferry ride across the bay. The views were amazing.
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I miss sailing around that area, there’s always a quite and secluded spot to anchor. 😉
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Hello. What a lovely post with wonderful photos. To me, who lives in the north, winter sounds odd. We have summer at its best. Temperature is about 30 Centigrade and sun is shining all the night in the north. No nights!!! Can you imagine it?
Have a wonderful day!
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I can’t imagine the sun shining all day and all night. Here, even in mid summer, the sun sets by 7.30pm at the latest.
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It is a great expeience for us also.
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Looks absolutely gorgeous and there’s nothing quite like travelling by ferry, especially on a sunny day. Happy Thursday Carol. 🙂
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It’s far nicer than driving all the way round, that’s for sure.
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Had not heard of that beach. Looks beautful and I love ferry rides. Thanks for showing me a new beach.
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This ferry ride lasted for more than half an hour so it was good value too.
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Ahh so nice to see you here! Palm Beach is so pretty on a sunny day 😀
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It was pretty and I enjoyed just sitting for a while and watching the world go by.
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It’s not like you to sit and watch the world go by. Isn’t you foot getting better? Your pictures are stunning, especially of the boats on the placid waters and the beautiful reflections. The clouds look like a painting. 🙂 Get better soon.
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This was last year when I was wearing the moon boot and on crutches. Not going anywhere fast. 🙂 All good now.
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