PALM BEACH BARRENJOEY - FERRY, HIKE, BREAKFAST - 20 JANUARY 2016

A big day out today.

Jacinta and I were up early to get a ferry from Ettalong to Palm Beach.



We missed the 7am ferry by 2 minutes. The next ferry was at 8am. We drove and had a short wander around Pearl Beach.

We were back with time to spare for the ferry. It is such a great ferry ride especially at $22.50 return. The seats were comfortable and on boarding we made our way to the top open deck.

We cruised along the shores of Ettalong and out through the narrow channel from Brisbane Water to Broken Bay. It is amazing how close to the barnacled rocks and the shallow sand banks the large ferry maneuvers.

Out on the open water of Broken Bay and top speed to Palm Beach passing by Lion Island and into Freshwater.

We disembarked at the wharf on the Freshwater side of Palm Beach and walked up the hill and amazingly, there was no footpath so the traffic was very close as we trudged between the guard rails and the cars.

We followed the beach till we reached the path leading up to Barrenjoey Lighthouse.

It was a steep hike and the day was already very hot so we were drenched in sweat by the time we reached the summit.

The lighthouse was impressive and there was a track leading out along and down the ridge towards the point of Barrenjoey. It was very dry and the vegetation still showed the effects of the last bush fire in this area - few large trees, burnt trunks with blackened skeleton branches and metre high regrowth. Walking along the track was fun with rocks to drop across and down. The views were superb both north and south.

We quickly reached the bottom by retracing our steps and stopped at the Boat Shed for breakfast. This restaurant was such a nice setup - cool, breezy, great views, good service and good food.

We continued walking to Palm Beach. The water looked inviting but there was no shade and we were overdosed already from the sun and heat. So we walked back to the ferry, cooled off on the seabreeze once underway, bounced a little with the swells of Broken Bay and landed back at Ettalong.

We decided it was too early to head home so we drove to Pearl beach for a cooling swim in the ocean.

A nice day. :)