North Head.

I'm afraid just more cycling adventures around Sydney for now. More exciting things to come later on at the beginning of next month when I have a plan to go away for a long weekend.

My plan was to head out towards Manly Beach today to go for another swim and spend some time on the sand. However I wanted to visit North Head which is next to Manly before hitting the beach.

When I got to North Head I was very distracted by the magnificent views so decided to stay there for my packed lunch and spend the afternoon there and save Manly for another weekend.

The cycle to North Head takes about an hour or so from my place. It took me about two hours thanks to getting lost quite a bit and also detours to here and there.

The first photo here is of North Head looking south towards the Central Business District of Sydney. You can just about see the entire Sydney Harbor from here and it's an amazing view.

To the left of the photo is the opening of the harbor and essentially the Pacific ocean. To the right of the photo are the north Sydney suburbs.

I got someone else to take the next photo for that tourist shot and also just to prove that I really am here and seeing these amazing views. Just to the right of my head is the very north end of Watsons Bay which I went to a few weeks ago.

There were plenty of sailing boats in the harbor and also this great traditional sailing boat. Unfortunately its sails were all folded up, I wonder where it had been to.

With views like this I can well understand why people would want to live out here on a permanent basis. There have been very few dull days since I've been here. Like any big city in the world Sydney has its fair share of dodgy and rundown areas but it also has many places with magnificent views like this.

There were very few people around North Head which I really liked, unlike Manly which was quite busy when I cycled through it to get here.

This next shot is of an old lookout post that was still standing here. It was used during the second world war to look out for enemy Japanese ships and submarines that might have been tempted to try to invade Sydney.

I could just imagine people in this lookout post with equipment to watch for the enemy during war time. I suspect they would have been bored with the scenery in no time though unlike me!

Apparently here was an incident of a Japanese midget submarine that managed to get into the harbor and the people manning this observation post totally missed it as it crept into the harbor. I'm not sure of the facts here so don't quote me. I'll have to look them up later and find out about it.

The final shot here is of the eastern coastline looking north towards Blue Fish Pt. There were some great rock colours on the cliff edge. Even out here looking east towards nothing but the Pacific Ocean it wasn't that windy at all. It must have been a very calm day today.

After finishing my tour of North Head I cycled back down to Manly and then decided to catch the ferry back to Circular Quay which is only a five minute bike ride to my home. I just didn't have the heart to cycle all the way back again. It was quite hilly on the way here and I did cycle down quite a few hills as well.

I like the fact that it doesn't cost any more money to take a bike onto the ferry and it was very pleasant to be able to take a ferry back after such a great day out and about.