Travelling Pathetically - Unfinished Business Edition

 Back in the early mists of time when life was easy and Covid merely a bat sandwich at a Wuhan biological warfare facility I walked around Mosman.  At the time I was intending to walk from the Spit Bridge back along the harbour foreshore and wind up at the Sydney Harbour Bridge.  Sadly my less than robust body failed me and after fourteen kilometres of wandering through the hot sun I limped and staggered to a halt while still in Mosman.  It really is quite a large suburb.  Since that time a sense of incompleteness has nagged at me.  It nagged at me so badly that a mere three years later I decided that the time had come to finish this walk and make my way boldly from Mosman to Milsons Point.

In deference to my habit of wandering around random bits of semi-wilderness I had been given a shirt for Christmas specifically designed for hikers.  It apparently whicked away the sweat that was an inevitable consequence of such activity leaving the walker comfortable and ready to proceed.  The shirt was a miracle, it did indeed whick away the sweat and then deposited it on my body giving me the distinct impression that I was walking in a bath.  I am gradually getting if not more professional then at least more professionally equipped.

Starting from Mosman meant getting to Mosman which, since I was walking along the foreshore, meant taking a ferry.  I turned up at Circular Quay to find my noble (and arguably seaworthy) vessel sheltering in the shadow of the CelebrityEDGE.  The CelebrityEDGE is a gargantuan cruise liner whose name manages to be both flatulent and fatuous at the same time.  If I encounter a celebrity edge I'm likely to push them off.

The CelebrityEDGE. Surely there are better ways to spread disease.

We sailed out of the CelebrityEDGE's long shadow and entered the more picturesque parts of the harbour (ie those bits not occupied by the CelebrityEDGE).  It was a pleasant trip to Manly, the sun was shining and the ferry didn't sink.  Soon I was making my way along a harbourside carpark enroute to a walking track that would take me at least part of the way towards Milsons Point.  I took a photo of Mosman Bay for no better reason than it was the starting point of my walk.

Mosman Bay because it was there and didn't move when I photographed it

Behind Mosman Bay Marina is the path that would take me at least to Cremorne Point.  After that there would be a certain amount of making it up as I went along.  The path followed the shoreline because if it did anything else it would bump into peoples houses.  As with my previous walk in Greenwich the "bush" is essentially a fringe between the shore and the nearest place people could build houses.  To my left the land sloped down to the harbour adorned with trees, plants and all of the usual accoutrements of bushland.  To my right aforementioned houses loomed to basically inform the bush that flat land was off limits.

A path through the bush trying hard to pretend there isn't a house 50 metres away

 

It was hardly plunging through the wilderness, the path was sealed for much of the journey but if you looked left instead of right you saw the harbour peeking through the trees and you could imagine yourself in pristine nature.  At least you could if you imagined that pristine nature could nevertheless provide sealed walking paths and periodic signs imploring you to be kind to the little bit of bushland that was left.

If you looked left...

To the right was evidence of what had happened to the remainder of the bush.  Large, handsome homes that were built at a time when wealth was if not synonymous with good taste then at least synonymous with being prepared to hire good taste.

And on the right.

The paucity of the bushland didn't seem to concern its inhabitants however.  I stepped off the path for a moment to investigate a small dirt trail that actually just circled around a tree and came back and encountered a lizard sunning itself.  It was more than happy to pose for photographs.  Incidentally there was no information as to why this particular tree got a path all to itself.  Possibly its there simply to encourage people to take photos of the lizards.

OK, I seem to be developing a lizard fetish

My unnatural lizard urges temporarily sated I plunged on pausing only to take a shot of the Clare McIntyre memorial fungus (well mushroom really) that popped up out of nowhere.  I should really rename this blog "Shooting Lizards and Fungi".

As far as I'm concerned mushrooms, toadstools and fungi are all pretty much the same

The path widened out into a small park with the occasional bench and tree placed for decorative purposes (as opposed to growing because that's simply what they do).  A couple of people disported themselves on the flattish grass and there was a brush turkey wandering around because of course there was.  I'm starting to suspect that there are only two brush turkeys in Sydney and they just keep following me around.

OK Shooting Lizards, Fungi and Brush Turkeys

I was now walking through or at least adjacent to the Lex & Ruby Graham Gardens.  In case you hadn't worked it out the likelihood of a strip of bushland along the shore being left untouched for the last two hundred years is pretty low.  The bush that grows there now is primarily what started growing after we stopped killing everything in sight.  A lot of the escarpment was used in the traditional manner, ie we tossed our rubbish there and generally it looks a lot better now that it probably did a hundred years ago.  Part of the reason for this is Lex & Ruby Graham.  Lex Graham was bathing in the harbour when a bulb floated by.  On a whim he plucked it out of the sea and planted it in a convenient bit of dirt.  To his amazement the thing took root and started to grow.  Inspired, Lex and his wife Ruby started cleaning up the escarpment in the immediate vicinity (thousands of bricks, a washing machine and tons of other crap) and planting other things in the hopes they would follow the bulbs example.  They did and in the process the Grahams transformed what was essentially a rubbish tip into a bit of bushland.  Not likely to be the original plants occupying the area but I think we can agree that any plants are probably an improvement over bricks and a washing machine.  A path leads through the garden down to the shore where there is a small rock pool where Lex was disporting himself when the critical bulb made its appearance.

I took this path myself and got almost to the water's edge but was prevented from getting any further by the back of another individual sitting gazing out at the water.  The reason for his obstructionism became plain when his (wife, partner, former primary school teacher) hauled herself naked from the water.  At that point I got a phone call from my parents because the situation couldn't get any more awkward so why not. At least I was able to concentrate of the phone call while she got dressed and they made their departure.  I ran into them a couple more times over the course of my walk but we didn't stop and reminisce. 

On a slightly more suitable for work note I took a photo of a small but handsome sandstone cliff I passed by on my way to not actually seeing the rock pool.  I made my way along it for a bit but the path petered out so I returned to the more established route.

A small overhang

   

Random garden photo #1

Random garden photo #2

Setting back out along the path I came across Cremorne Reserve, a parklike area (ok, its a park) where all pretense of bushland peters out.  Instead I walked along beside sculpted grass adorned with people picnicking and doing all of the other things people do for recreation at the seaside.  I walked to the end of Cremorne Reserve and with that the walking trail I had been following came to an end.  The remainder of my journey would be suburban with brief intervals where parks had intruded into the wealthy's grasp of the foreshore.

I was essentially doing a point to point.  From Cremorne Point I made my way to Kurraba Point.  Once at Kurraba Point Neutral Bay and Kirribilli Point exercised their siren song on me.  Panting in the heat I stumbled down suburban streets (and frequently up suburban streets when I realised I had been reading the map upside down) snatching rare opportunities to reintroduce myself to the coast line and the occasional piece of well disciplined greenery.

This is either Kurraba or Kirribilli Point, they were all starting to blur together by this stage

I saw Admiralty House which is the Sydney residence of the Governor General and Kirribilli House which is the Sydney residence of the Prime Minister.  Despite these handsome dwellings both are forced to spend a lot of their time in Canberra.  I imagine each of them sitting in their respective offices in our nation's capital staring at photos of Admiralty and Kirribilli Houses and weeping gently to themselves.  I was tempted to take photos but decided I didn't want to explain myself to the AFP so you're going to have to google them like ordinary people.

I did wander down to Kirribilli ferry wharf to take a photo of such of the shoreline as presented itself to me.  Then I wandered away again because there was one more point on my agenda.

The shoreline at Kirribilli.

The harbour bridge had been an increasingly intrusive presence as I headed towards it.  Now I could hardly avoid it because I was walking straight towards it.  Milsons Point my final destination loomed and the bridge showed me the way.

Getting closer

Finally I stumbled into Milsons Point, the shade of the bridge above me.  I gazed across the harbour and got definite confirmation that my journey was over.  Yes, there it was the damned CelebrityEDGE.  A photo of its rear seemed an appropriate bookend to my walk and the sight of it's rear is reassuring because it gives the impression it might be leaving.

Please go away

With a little time before my ferry I wandered around Luna Park (because it was there and so was I).  People were dragging kids around and sweating in the sun pretending they were having a good time.  Or possibly they were having a good time and it was the heat exhaustion making me cynical.  Either way Luna Park has one thing going for it.  You can't see the CelebrityEDGE from there.