Point 2 Point

Some of the biggest fish you’re likely to land in Sydney Harbour are found round here. Apparently the upstream side of Pickering Point is a great king, jew and big flattie spot. So no surprise to frighten up six fishermen about the swimming enclosure (that has seen better days).

Not much of a point otherwise, although it does have good views of Middle Harbour, Seaforth Bluff, Castle Cove, Explosives Reserve and Bantry Bay.

Named after George Pickering, one of the first European settlers in the area, who it is recorded resided in Manly in the year 1814.

Parked at the end of Killarney Drive (after a whistle stop tour of Ireland recalled in the local street names – Shamrock Pde, Donegal Rd, Clare Pl, Blarney and Connemara Ave, etc) and walked down the Flat Rock Track.

Inauspicious start with lots of weeds but it soon cleared to a fine fern and angophora forest with several precipitous rock faces above and below for good measure.

Made it to the base of the point but soon realised it was private property when we called out to a man working in the garden to ask if we could get out to the point and he replied “it’s private property.” There was a dog too. Woof. The whole place had the wife flashing back to images from a Jonestown documentary.

So retracing our steps we found another stairway leading up the steep hillside to Killarney Drive, where we were rewarded with a good view of the point and Middle Harbour.

We have since learnt (a.k.a. Googled up) that the building at Killarney Point was once a dance hall (late 1800s) and that there were other pleasure grounds around the corner in Bantry Bay that were set up by an Irishman who called the area the ‘Killarney of Australia.’ To be sure, to be sure, to be sure…

Great spot for photos of the Harbour Bridge and Opera House, popular with sightseers and fishermen and obviously well-used after dark. From the basic playground and grassy reserve, the path around the point is towered over by sandstone walls, fig trees and the brutalist apartment block of Harry Seidler.

The point is named for the Jamaican Billy Blue, a well-known character in early Sydney. The Blues Point Tower stands on the site where his house once stood.

The Aboriginal place name is Warung áréá.

Small but lovely picnic area filled with Boxing Day revellers but otherwise a slightly lacklustre point when you get down to the beach.

Named after one of the first European farms (Echo Farm) on the shores of Middle Harbour.

Didn’t want to risk life, limb or child scrambling down to the actual point so we stuck to the path – a classic she-oak needle-strewn forest loop invitingly called the Explosives Reserve Walking Track.

No dancing through landmines here – the area was just a buffer zone when munitions were stored across the water in Bantry Bay.

The reserve looks to have had little or no development since European settlement which may explain why it’s such a lovely walk with great trees and lots of wild flowers. But water views are few and far between and there are no tracks down to the Harbour (or at least none that we could find).

Still, husband thinks it’s one of the better bush walks in the city. Wife likes the rocks, he likes the trees.