The Lifestyler: An iconic walk with a waiter-less lunch

No matter if you live in Sydney or visit Sydney, you must do one of Sydney’s iconic walks. There is much debate as to which trail is the most iconic.  The LifeStyler will narrow it down to 2:

• Spit to Manly Walk – 4 hours 10km
• Bondi to Coogee Walk – 2-3 hrs 6km

The views are amazing on both with the Bondi walk really being about people watching, and yes there is the beautiful houses and of course beaches and ocean.  However, my favourite is the Manly walk.

The Manly to Spit walk can be done in either direction. Still, the real benefit of finishing in Manly is you have so many restaurants and bars to reward yourself gilt free after burning all those calories.

The walk starts at the eastern end of the Spit Bridge and finishes at the Iconic Manly Wharf so you will need to leave a car at each end or use some form of public transport.

This harbourside trail is mostly done in bushland, which is fantastic given you are in the middle of suburbia. Along the way, you can visit aboriginal carvings, glimpse historical fisherman shacks with million-dollar views but most importantly take in spectacular views of Sydney harbour the heads and the city of Sydney itself.

Note this walk has many uneven steps, but you can stop at any time to just enjoy Sydney’s harbour.  During the summer months take your swimmers and cool off at one of the many beaches along the way. Take a hat sunscreen and some water with you. Ow and don’t worry about toilets as I was amazed at how many were along the way given the bush environment.

Now I did mention a beer as a reward, and that is precisely what we did. Manly is the spiritual home of the 4 Pines brewing company, and I can highly recommend a Pale Ale or Pacific Ale as a refreshing end of the walk.  They do have a Brew Pub in Manly, but we chose to eat at a restaurant on Manly wharf.

Now, this restaurant had incorporated contactless ordering and paying.  A Bluetooth beacon or Q code was available on each table which you sat yourself down at.  After tapping your phone, the menu comes up, you pick then pay all from your smartphone and then wait for your meal.  To be honest, I missed the interaction with the waiter asking what is good, but that is another example of accelerated change from COVID.  What I found interesting is up to the point of receiving our meal, we had only one physical interaction which was when our meal arrived.  What undid it for me is the wait staff then returned to our table 6 more times for 4 people to collect our plates and glasses which really ruins the whole contactless concept.

You can see more information on these walks online as well as 12 other walks to do in Sydney many a lot shorter for those who kids may not be up to the longer distances.

The LifeStyler high recommends taking any visitors to Sydney on this walk as it will really show them what they are missing out on. We picked the coldest day of the year, but in the sun, it was glorious. Cheers!