A Lazy Sunday in Sydney

The Gap Park

Sunday noon’s can be quite lazy and this one in particular was! However, we felt it was time to get ourselves moving to learn more about this beautiful city of Sydney. So, we set out to the Southern Headland near Watson’s Bay, our first halt being “The Gap”.

The Gap which lies on the cliffs of the Watson’s Bay has quite some history to it, ranging from being a signaling station to give warning of an approaching ship towards the Headland to becoming a military garrison while later being used as a gunnery school by the fledgling Royal Australian Navy.
The walk along the cliffs and the views from it were breathtaking. The cold wind hitting onto our bodies made walking even harder.

We didn’t do the entire stretch, however, we did walk up to the point where the anchor of the ship “Dunbar” was displayed. The Dunbar was a vessel trading between London and Australia. In 1857, during very bad weather, the ship wrecked at the foot of The Gap; the possible cause attributed to the erroneous judgement of the Captain who either could have mistaken The Gap to be the port’s entrance or misjudged to have crossed the southern Headland. Only one crew member survived the wreck.

Macquarie Lighthouse

Our next stop was at another place which is steeped in history, the Macquarie Lighthouse.
The structure of the lighthouse that currently stands there is the second lighthouse of Australia that was constructed in 1883, however, it was the first one to be lit for navigational purposes.

The first lighthouse of Australia was constructed in 1818, about four meters away from the present structure, but it crumbled down within a few years.

As the lighthouse was closed to visitors on a Sunday, we didn’t get to see the inside. Nevertheless, it felt good to be part of such great history.

It was truly nice observing the kind of efforts that both the people and the Government make in preserving their history! We sincerely hope that our countrymen too, value and preserve the monuments and structures that form part of our rich Indian history, and not resort to make themselves infamous through their scribbles on the walls of these structures, thereby defacing them!

Christison Park

From Macquarie Lighthouse, we walked towards this park, a space created for both the two and four legged friends to exercise and take in some fresh air together. Being on a cliff, it not only provided lovely views of the ocean but also, soothing wind, as the force of the wind was greatly reduced by the tree breaks.

It was thrilling to see so many breeds of dogs at one place. Most of them were free and running around, while a few of them were walking to heel and still fewer were on the lead.
Some of the dogs were very friendly and walked right up to us with their Masters following closely behind; there were still other dogs who looked very very very ferocious and kept good distance from both people and the dogs.

It was great watching everyone exercising with their most loyal friends and companions. It did make me go weak in my knees, hoping to own a dog that I had always desired for since I was a little girl!

Above : A view of the bay from the park.