Mona Vale to North Narrabeen

Warriewood Headland looking over Warriewood beach

One of our favourite walks has to be from South Mona Vale headland (Robert Dunn Reserve) and today, we headed south towards Narrabeen. One of the beauties of this walk is that you can go on a marked path across the clifftops with views of the sea and coastline to your left, while still walking through the bush and enjoying the flora and fauna. We walked south along Narrabeen Park Parade and headed down the steps to Warriewood Beach to the start of the track. The track goes up to Warriewood headland then past Turimetta Beach, then around to the infamous Narrabeen steps at North Narrabeen beach. The track ends here so we joined the road and headed up over the bridge to our breakfast stop at Lifesaver Café opposite the North Narrabeen beach carpark. About 100 metres before the steps there is a great lookout over the entrance to Narrabeen Lagoon.

the entrance to Narrabeen lagoon

This walk is always a busy thoroughfare with runners and walkers old and young some with children and some with dogs but if you go early, it is not too busy. It is also a very social walk and everybody greets you with a happy smile and a g’day.

After breakfast we headed back to Mona Vale retracing our steps with a detour down to the North Narrabeen rock pool to check out the activity. Being a Sunday there was quite a few people about and Nippers were going full steam at the Northern end of the beach and in the lagoon. So back we headed up the Narrabeen steps and onto the track northwards. Those steps are a beauty….probably 60 steps in all and they really make you feel like you have done some work. If you are keen why not do a couple of sets …or try to run a few laps….I know it’s a favourite with many of the local fitness trainers.

We usually see at least one memorable sight on our walk. Today it was a seemingly abandoned esky at the top of Narrabeen steps with a half full bottle of coke along side it……..just when we thought we would have to toss a coin to decide who was going to take the esky home we found the esky’s owners…….down the bottom of the stairs asleep on the newly constructed council benches. All rugged up in their sleeping bags with rucksacks at their sides, 2 maybe 3 youths..…couldn’t quite tell……it was just a mound of bodies and sleeping bags…..Anyway, now I wish I had a photo to show you and ask if any of you recognised your son?

Lifesaver Café

Shaz's small breakfast bruschetta

The breakfast menu is fairly basic with the usual brekkie standards of a variety of bacon with eggs and hash browns and vegetarian options of mushrooms, eggs and avocado. Shaz’s meal of avocado, omelette and tomato on toast with balsamic glaze was lovely but the small serving was a surprise. Jude chose the vegetarian meal with scrambled eggs, mushrooms and roast vegies on sourdough. It was delicious and the serving size was normal. There is both an inside an outside seating area in this café. The outside area is great with lots of shade for those sunny mornings. Sitting here you really feel like you are at the beach with the Norfolk Pines of Narrabeen right across the road. We chose to sit inside today as the weather was a bit dodgy.



Our Reviews

South Mona Vale to North Narrabeen

difficulty:                                 easy to moderate

distance:                                 6km return (from Mona Vale)

parking:                                   on street parking in marked bays for 4 hours

worth doing:                           yes

dog friendly:                           no as dogs are not permitted through headland area (though some people take dogs anyway)

Water and toilets are available at Warriewood and North Narrabeen Beach.

Lifesaver Café

Food:                                       good

Service:                                  good

Ambience:                              okay

Would we go again:              yes