Under the Cliffs of North Head – 25 May 2017

This was an interesting and quite challenging walk. A few year back I had read two SUBW walks reports that described trips under the cliffs of North Head. The two walks were led by Paul Hatton. On the first trip, the party had gone part of the way, but then they had to turn back by high tides and a high swell. They late returned and went all the way. It seemed an interesting walk. I had mentioned it to Bob as a possible future trip, and eventually it became time to do it. The tides were right – a low tide in the middle of the day, and also another friend, Norm was in town, and could join us.

The walk starts near Shelly Beach and then follows under the cliffs (most of the way) to below Fairfax Lookout. To continue you need to climb some very scary and quite dangerous old fisherman’s ladders that partly scale the cliffs. More on those later. I don’t think you can continue around to the Quarantine Station – I think the cliffs go straight to the sea in some places.

We parked at the carpark for the Barracks on North Head and then walked down the track to Shelly Beach. Just before the beach, at the carpark, we climbed down a gully to below the cliffs. We then boulder hopped towards Blue Fish Point. On the way we passed several groups of rock fishermen.

Some parts were easy going along rock platforms, but mostly it was boulders. But ahead the cliffs went straight down to the sea. We saw a few rusty old spikes and bits of tacky rope hanging down – but the rock looked wet and slippery and we were very reluctant to continue that way. So we back tracked a little and scrambled up a slope and eventually reached a fence near the Sydney Water Plant. We next followed the outside of the fence towards Blue Fish Point. This was mainly easy going – but in some parts we had to hold onto the fence wire to continue. Near the point we found more old fishermen’s tracks and followed one to an old WWII observation post. Here there were great views of the rock platforms – but they were a long way down. But following the track we reached some old bits of chain – and we used them to descend. It was easy going to the bottom.

Once down, we found ourselves on a big area of rock platform. Ahead looked easy. It was, but not for long. We soon reached another section where the cliffs went all the way to the sea. But on the cliffs were some old bits of rope hanging down. Wind had swept them out of reach, but Bob scrambled up a bit and was able to grab one (the poorer one of the two) and using that he could ascend and reach the better rope and flick it across to me and Norm.

Once up, we found ourselves on an easy ledge and again made good progress. It didn’t look too bad to continue on – but it would be slow going – mainly on boulders.

We reached the boulders, and continued on carefully. Some were slippery and some were moveable. But were made reasonable progress and eventually could see a lookout above. Not far now….. perhaps.

We reached a big rock platform, and stopped for lunch. Looking up, as well as the lookout, we could see two concrete structures. Each was about half way up the cliffs. We wondered what they were for. They seemed too hard to get to to be machine gun pillboxes.

After lunch we continued on. We expected the ladders to be nearby. They were. But they didn’t look too substantial, and they only seemed to go up the lower parts of the quite high cliffs. As well as providing access to fishermen, they were once used by rock climbers to get to the base of  climbs such as “The Fear”. Climbing has been banned on those cliffs for many years, and the ladders seem to have fallen into disrepair. Part of the high lower steel ladder has rusted away and been replaced with an aluminium ladder. It is held in place with plastic tie clips. The steel upper part has rungs almost rusted through. When we climbed, we tried to keep our feet close to the ends of each rung. The next ladder was in better condition but was in a much more exposed situation. Then a dodgy traverse using a rope tied to old spikes led to the next ladder – even more exposed. This took us to a small ledge – about half way up. Above was a chimney – it looked tricky to climb. Look to the left – nothing. Look to the right – possible, but you would have to go around a point with no spikes or rope left in place. And very exposed!

So it was up the chimney. I went up first. No room for a daypack. I took it off and squirmed up as best as I could. Part way up was a metal box anchored to the rock, and this was a good foothold (the only foothold), and then up the next part. I could then gain the top. Once up, there were more old steel spikes and I could see the route continued up another weakness. More scrambling.

Packs were then passed up and Norm and Bob climbed to the higher ledge while I explored the next bit. It was much easier – with holds cut in the rock. I was soon up on top of the cliffs.

For bushwalkers, it was quite serious way up. Quite dangerous – tricky and scary. I would not like to go down that way, nor ascend again without using rope and belaying.

At the top, we could enjoy the view. Looking down, we could see some whale boats. They had converged on a point in the sea. Yes – between them we could see whale. But it was shy and did not breach.

We then walked the short distance back to the Barracks and to the car.

More photos from this walk are online on my website here.