Queenscliff to Shelley Beach

love the shadow...'tall at last'

Manly or Noosa? Well after a week in beautiful but rainy Noosa its great to come back home and be reminded that Manly is even better than Noosa. Noosa has a great boardwalk on the beach but the boardwalk from Queenscliff to Manly and onto Shelly Beach is close to perfect and on a glorious sunny winter’s day it is even better. Instead of going through Queenscliff park we started our walk from the high side of Queenscliff on Bridge Street. This road goes down a very steep hill to the bridge across the lagoon then onto the beach boardwalk. From there we walked all the way to Shelley beach and then up through the bush track of Shelley Beach Park to the lookouts at the top. From up here there is a great view of Freshwater Beach and all the way up to the central coast. 

The walk around from Manly Surf Club to Shelley Beach goes alongside the crystal clear waters of the Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve. Every time I walk this track I do wonder why  we wait until we are away on holidays to go snorkelling when here at Manly the water is as clear and clean as anywhere – maybe the coral isn’t up to the standard of the Barrier Reef but there's still beautiful fish and other creatures waiting to be explored. Better put that one on the bucket list!

In Situ Restaurant and Bar

For breakfast this morning we made our way back to the Beachfront. We were going to try Bluewater Café but as usual it was full. That café is always full at breakfast time so I imagine their breakfasts are great - I have only had lunch there and it was delicious. Instead we headed away from the beachfront to In Situ Restaurant on Sydney Road (next to the markets). In Situ is mainly known for its nightlife but by day it doubles as a great café and out the back under the heaters was warm and cosy. The food was absolutely delicious - Shaz and I both had the corn fritters which are served with bacon, a divine roasted tomato and topped with a sprinkling of fetta. The breakfast menu was a great mix of with eggs, muesli, pancakes and omelettes and the the food coming out looked great. The menu recommended  a ‘Bloody Mary’ to go with your meal – we weren’t quite up to that at 9.30 on a Sunday morning, so stuck to a coffee! Maybe I need to get out of my comfort zone and try something new!

Our reviews
Queenscliff to Shelley Beach
difficulty:                        easy
distance:                        9 km return
time taken:                    2.5 hours (including breakfast)                  
parking:                          on street in Hill, Crown, Pavilion or Queenscliff Rd –    can be difficult to find a park
worth doing:                  definitely
dog friendly:                  yes, on leash.

water and toilets available all along the way.
In Situ Restaurant
food:                                great
service:                           great
ambience:                        great
would we go again:         yes definitely

Queenscliff to Shelley Beach

Manly is such a great place and one of my favourite walks has to be from Queenscliff along Manly beachfront to Shelley Beach.  I have walked and run this route so many times over the years and never get tired of it. All your senses come alive – so many sights, sounds and smells from nature, from people and from food.  It never ceases to amaze me how varied the people are that you see along the way. There’s always heaps of fit young things whizzing past, parents with their prams dodging everyone but the ones that I just love are the octaganarians out for their morning exercise.  It always puts a smile on my face to see them shuffling by, still making the most of life.....they are truly inspirational!

We started off on a lovely clear crisp autumn morning from Queenscliff. The track goes through the park by the lagoon, onto the boardwalk by the beach, past the surf clubs, past Bower Cafe and shop and onto to Shelley Beach. By the time we had reached Shelley Beach the weather had changed, it started raining and it felt like winter had arrived. We made a quick dash back along the track to the cover of the Surf Club and then onto the serious business of eating.



Whitewater  Restaruant

As I’m sure you would all know Manly is café central, and on a Sunday morning it is definitely the place to be for breakfast. The hardest part (that reminds me of the Coldplay song with the great video clip of the old lady doing acrobatics)…is choosing somewhere to eat. We wanted to stay close to the ocean so chose Whitewater. The menu was great with most things having an interesting twist on the usual breakfast offerings.  I chose scrambled eggs with chorizo and salsa while Shaz had the toasted muesli with yoghurt and berry coulis. The food was pretty good though we both agreed that it looked better than it tasted. Shaz’s muesli was too sweet and my scrambled eggs were a tiny bit overcooked for my liking. Are we getting fussier or perhaps our expectations are too high??? Regardless, we still enjoyed it and sitting there soaking up the atmosphere is a awesome.

Our reviews

Queenscliff to Shelley Beach
difficulty:                        easy
distance:                        6 km return
time taken:                    2 hours (including breakfast)                  
parking:                          Kierle Park Manly or on street 
worth doing:                  definitely
dog friendly:                  yes, on leash.

water and toilets available at Queenscliff, North Steyne and Manly Surf Clubs
Whitewater
food:                                good
service:                           excellent
ambience:                       excellent
would we go again:        definitely