Date: 15/3/2026
Trip leader: Bruce Stafford
Party: Alexander, Caleb, Dawn, Guo, Jiacheng, Jinghan, Kimberly, Shuoyuan, Siyuan, Suning, Tomas, Victor LE, Yuan, Yutong, Zilong
Taronga (Athol Wharf) to Chinamans Beach, Sunday 15/3/26.
Considering that this day would be rather warm (27C) I decided to choose this walk (coincidentally done exactly one year ago this day), as it offered quite a bit of shade on the tracks. I had considerd doing Pearl Beach and Patonga but that will wait for a more mild day.
So we all met up at Circular Quay Wharf 4 for the 12 minute ferry ride to Taronga (Athol Wharf), with great Harbour views along the way. At Athol Wharf I checked people off my list aand found that there were no “no shows”. Then it was on the first bush track to Bradley’s Head, where there is a memorial to HMAS Sydney. I pointed out the stone walls built in the 1870s that were part of the gun emplacements to keep out the Russians. The grounds were being patrolled by a bush Turkey no doubt looking for handouts (got none from us).
Then we continued along the track (not “trail BTW) that follows the shoreline as far as Chowder Bay, It passes through open woodland with a lot of Angaphoras (AKA “Sydney Red Gum”). On arrival to Chowder Bay a break was requested by a couple of people including Tomas who would like a short swim. So we had a 20 minute breack with many of the group resting under a shade tree in the park. Then when we got ready to resume our walk, we found that two people were missing but their bags were still under the tree. Someone said that they had gone off to take photos but didn’t tell anyone where they had gone. Tomas offered to stay behind to resume the walk when they showed up, but that would not work as after Chowder Bay there is a choice of three different tracks to follow, and Tomas wouldn’t know which one to take. So one of our group went out onto the long wharf to look for them and eventually found them and brought them back. I was greeted by the two offenders with smiles so I told them I was deducting 200 social credit points from them! (I hope they didn’t take any photos of the Navy’s refuelling wharf there [I had warned the others not to do that] because when they eventually go back home and on the way Immigration finds the photos on their mobile phones they will get asked some very awkward questions about why they have them!).
So we continued on through the old historic navy buildings at Chowder Bay and the came to the big brown building at the head of Chowder Bay Road. The information board for “Headland Park” showed te three diffrent tracks: one being the Gubba Gubba Walk to Georges Head (that Tim took on his “nude walk” exactly a year ago), another the Headland Park walking track which most tourists use to get to Balmoral Beach, and a third one which could branch off from that track at “Gunners Barracks” which we took on this same walk exactly a year ago (see https://www.subw.org.au/2025/03/15/taronga-athol-wharf-to-chinamans-beach-replaces-patonga-walk/
A new alternative was also shown on the information board, however, and it was a short track linking to another pathway which would, if taken, shorten the distance somewhat. So after going up the stone steps for 25 metres or so I saw a rather vague overgrwon bush track going left, so I took it, and sure enough after about another 25 metres we came to a concrete path which went rather steeply up hill. I recognised it as a track that we had used on a walk several years ago, but I went downhill on it that time. It looks different going uphill and there are a couple of short side tracks which only lead to fire hydrants (there are two large oil tanks further down). Anyway we continued uphill until reaching the un-named track which goes eventually to Rawson Oval. A couple of others noted a sign stating “Balmoral Beach 1.8km” pointing the other way and said isn’t that the right way, and “Google Maps” on their phone seemed to confirm that for them. I said no, we are going left and its the right way.
(Now at this point I need to mention that the walk description stated clearly that the walk was to Balmoral and Chinamans Beach and that “it does not follow the route shown on many websites. It includes the “mini canyon” (old tram line cutting) at Laurie Plunkett Reserve” Now. both those last two places are clearly shown on both Google and Apple Maps, so it would simply be a matter of using these as waypoints to show that I was going the right way. Looks like there are some people who still do not read the walks description properly. If this was a business trip to Balmoral, then they would be right, but the “B” in SUBW stands for “Bushwalks” not “Business walks”).
Anyway we continued along this track which goes under more of those Angaphoras in shade until reaching an open area and here Tomas saw his first Australian spider (an Australian garden orb weaver spider (Hortophora transmarina) high above the track (and thus doesn’t come out in photos). Then it was on to the edge of Rawson Oval and from there an un-named winding rough track took us through Bradley Bushland Reserve to Middle Head Road. We crossed the road and Tomas said we turn right here now? I said, so, we go left to continue to Gordon Street and turn into it. Halfway down Gordon Street at Wolseley Avenue I stopped to ensure that we hadn’t gone too far down the road as for some reasion it looked different to when I led the walk here last year. (The reason relates to the endless renovating and rebuilding of houses going on in Mosman – the ultra rich have got to do something with their money!). I was annoyed when I pulled up Apple Maps on my iPhone to make sure, and a pop-up asked me “do you want to know where you have been?”. My response was: no, Apple update programming jerks, I want to know where I am now! But at the same time, Tomas had pulled up Google Maps to show that “this” was the right way to go (i.e. go down Plunkett Road), and as the group is aware my annoyance at that clearly showed. (let’s leave it at that). Having confirmed that Drury Lane, my intended left turn, was indeed just ahead, we continued down Gordon Street onto Drury Lane and then right onto Mulbring Street. At the end of this street a dirt track starts which passes the length of Laurie Plunkett Reserve (almost half a kilometre). Near the bottomm of this track thereis nthe tramway cutting with a length of rail line in place. I stopped here to pull out of my iPhone a photo I have which shows this location with a tram when the trams were still runningnhyer. Unfotunately my iPhone let me down again because althoguh I has =d it ready to be available, “photos” pulled up EVERY photo on my phone which made it difficult to find the right one. Meanwhile it was very noticably cool in this little “canyon” which made it a pleasent change in the warm weather. Tomas was in a hurry to get to the beach, however, and we pushed on.
We walked alon the promenade of Balmoral Beach and came to its northern end (actually called here”Edwards Beach”). Then up a rough track to Burran avenue and Hopetoun Avenue, passing by some of te most expensive houses in Australia. Then down to Rosherville Reserve and Chinamans Beach. I had estimated we would get here at 1pm, and that’s exactly when we got there! Then I found a shady spot under a tree with some stones for seats. Tomas however decided to go out onto the beach strand and find a spot there and about 5 people went with him. I hoped that they didn’t get sunburnt as later I told the group about the song written by English playright Noel Coward when he was in Vietnam in the 1930s: “Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun!”. When you go to the beach you may notice that quite a few people will leave around 11am and come back aound 2 or 3pm. They will be locals who obey Noel Coward’s wise words about sun exposure in our climate; most of the others will be tourists!
So we had lunch and I am pleased to report that more than the usual number of people opted to go swimming (see photos). After staying until about 2.30pm it was time to go back and get a bus from Balmoral to the ferry wharf. Tomas opted to stay as he was meeting friends there, and eralier a couple more had left earlier to get buses from Military Road at Spit Junction. I Recommended that if they were going back to Sydney CBD they were better off getting the bus to the ferry and then the ferry back to Circular Quay, but they insisted on going to Military Road. I did warn them that it looks nice and flat on Google Maps but in reality it was a walk of over 600 metres up a fairly steep hill in the hot sun. Also the published bus timetables along Military Road to the City can be a work of fiction during periods of heavy traffic. (It’s one of the reasons why many locals gave up using public transport when the trams were replaced by buses).
As for the rest of us, on reaching Hopetoun Avenue I led them on a short but steep and shady path to the top of the hill at Fairfax Road which is just about the highest point in Mosman and has great views over North and South Heads. After a photostop we continued down another path to Burran Avenue where I was disappointed to find tht the direct track from there to the beach was closed. So we had to go back another 100m and back down the track we had earlier used. On the way we passed a bus stop which attracted several people’s attention and I let them find out that it is a weekly peak period only bus stop – nothing on weekends,
So from there it was back down to Balmoral beach and then I led the group to the “tram shed” bus waiting shed on the Esplanade, or so I thought. With 4 minutes until bus time, I suddenly found that no one was following me! The others shortly turned up snd about 4 of them headed for a bus stop on the corner of Mandalong Road. I told them that that wasn’t the right bus stop, but they then said that they weren’t catching the bus back to the ferry. (In fact buses at that Mandolong Road stop also start “officially” at the tram shed bus stop which has seats and a shelter; probably why very few locals get the bus at the Mandolong Road stop: Google won’t tell you that).
As it turned out, the remaining few of the group decided to stay at Balmoral Beach for more swimming and I ended up going back to the farry wharf on my own.
When uploding my photos here I found that they looked a bit odd; they had the appearance of Impressionist paintings ofthe late 19th centuery, rather grainy looking. I decided to check the settings on my SLR camera and found that I had forgetten to change it from 56200 ISO from the last time I was taking star photos! Fixed it back to 400 ISO now.
There are some points to be emphasised about this trip:
1. GOOGLE MAPS IS NOT YOUR TRIP LEADER! Trip leaders usually research their intended walk beforehand and know where they are going. The Club also likes to encourage newer members to lead walks, and yes, sometimes they might make a few planning errors maybe because they have used an inaccurate website as their guide, for example (some walks on “Alltrails come to mind – see just below). Such problems generally get fixed before the actual walk, however, and interfering by pulling out “Google Maps” can discourage newer members from running walks. So, don’t do it!
2. Trip leaders have a duty of care towards walk members and thus need to know where you are are AT ALL TIMES and also need to know in advance if you want to leave the group early, or go on separate transport at the end. It’s just good manners anyway to tell the trip leader of your intentions.
3. Please respect the work that trip leaders (and SUBW) put into planning these walks. You are getting for almost free a walk that would cost you $120-$150 on a guided walk! SUBW is a club organised by students like you who volunteer their time to give you a good outdoors experience. It’s not a tour company (I was amused when someone a few years ago asked where the SUBW “office” was! There’s no such thing).
Speaking of “Alltrails”, it is a pay site based in the U.S. which relies entirely on local people to “moderate” their “trail” descriptions, and unfortunately those descriptions can be inaccurate sometimes. There’s plenty of accurate and FREE walks websites around so make use of them.
Here is a link to Noel Coward’s song “Mad dogs and Englishmen”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Dogs_and_Englishmen_(song) There are YouTube videos of it as well but be aware that he sings quite fast in a 1930’s English accent which can be hard to understand, even for a native English speaker.
Apologies for any spelling typos that might have gone undetected by me.
Bruce Stafford.
