Park sights in Pacific
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Flagstaff Gardens
These small gardens with an open lawn are popular with workers taking a lunchtime break. First known as Burial Hill, this is where most of the city's early settlers ended up. The hill once provided one of the best views out to the bay, so a signalling station was set up here; when a ship was sighted arriving from Britain, a flag was raised on the flagstaff to notify the settlers (it was also significant for the Wurundjeri for the same useful vista). The gardens contain trees that are well over 100 years old including Moreton Bay fig trees, and a variety of eucalypts, including spotted and sugar gums and river red gums.
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Birrarung Marr
Featuring grassy knolls, river promenades and a thoughtful planting of indigenous flora, Birrarung Marr is a welcome addition to Melbourne's patchwork of parks and gardens. It houses the sculptural and musical Federation Bells, which ring according to a varying schedule.
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South Bank Parklands
This beautiful smear of green park, skirting the western side of the Brisbane River, is home to cultural attractions, fine eateries, small rainforests, hidden lawns and gorgeous flora. The standout attractions here are Streets Beach, a funky artificial beach resembling a tropical lagoon, and, behind the beach, Stanley Street Plaza, a renovated section of historic Stanley St, with shops, cafes and a tourist information centre.
On the eastern edge of the parklands is the Queensland Maritime Museum, which has a wide-ranging display of maritime adventures (and misadventures) along the coast. It's worth shelling out a little extra to tour the dry dock – the museum highlight is …
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Speakers’ Corner
Recline on a patch of lawn in front of the Art Gallery of NSW and listen to religious zealots, nutters, political extremists, homophobes, hippies and academics express their earnest opinions. Some of them have something interesting to say; most are just plain mad. Either way, it makes for an interesting afternoon. BYO soapbox.
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Botany Bay National Park
The 458-hectare national park straddles the heads of Botany Bay, 15km south of Sydney Harbour. Captain Cook landed here in 1770, naming the bay after the botanical specimens his naturalist Joseph Banks found here. Banks suggested it would be a good place to incarcerate a few crims, but when the First Fleet arrived in summer 18 years later, they weren’t inclined to agree; the scorched vegetation and limited water supplies were a far cry from Banks’ wintry paradise. They soon relocated to Sydney Harbour. Cook’s monument-marked landing place is on the southern side of the park in trailer-trashy Kurnell. The Discovery Centre conveys the impact of European arrival, and h…
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South Head
The narrow peninsula heading out to South Head is one of Sydney’s most sublime spots. Approaching from Bondi, as Old South Head Rd leaves the sheer ocean cliffs to descend to Watsons Bay, the view of Sydney Harbour is breathtaking.
On the harbour side, Watsons Bay was once a small fishing village, evidenced by the tiny heritage cottages that pepper the suburb’s narrow streets (and now cost a fortune). While you’re here, tradition demands that you sit in the beer garden at Watsons Bay Hotel at sunset and watch the sun fall behind the disembodied Harbour Bridge, jutting up above Bradley’s Head.
On the ocean side of the peninsula, opposite Watsons Bay, The Gap is a d…
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The Domain
Administered by the Royal Botanic Gardens, The Domain is a large grassy tract east of Macquarie St, set aside by Governor Phillip in 1788 for public recreation. Phillip’s intent rings true: today’s lunchtime workers use the space to work up a sweat or eat their lunch. Large-scale public events are also held here, including Tropfest film festival. Sculptures dot the park, including a reclining Henry Moore figure and Brett Whiteley’s Almost Once (1991) − two giant matches, one burnt − rising from the ground near the Art Gallery of NSW. The by turns entertaining and enraging Speakers’ Corner happens on the lawns in front of the gallery.
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Herring Island
Once an unloved dumping ground for silt, Herring Island is now a prelapsarian garden that seeks to preserve the original trees, shrubs and grasses of the Yarra and provide a home for indigenous animals such as parrots, possums and lizards, as well as sculptures. Designated picnic areas, with barbecues, make for a rare retreat just 3km from the city centre. The island is theoretically open to visitors all year round, but can only be reached by boat. A Parks Victoria punt operates from Como Landing on Alexandra Ave in South Yarra.
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Green Park
Once the residence of Alexander Green, hangman of Darlinghurst Gaol, Green Park is a cheery space during the day, but as the many syringe-disposal bins attest, it’s best avoided nocturnally. At the top of the slope, the inverted pink triangular prism backed by black pillars is the Gay & Lesbian Holocaust Memorial. It was founded by the late Dr Kitty Fischer, who as a young Jewish girl in Auschwitz was kept alive by food smuggled to her by a gay inmate forced to wear the pink triangle. In a lower corner of the park is the Victor Chang Memorial – before he was murdered in 1991, he was a famed heart surgeon who worked at neighbouring St Vincent’s Hospital.
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Yurulbin Point
At the end of Louisa Rd on the northern tip of the Balmain peninsula (technically Birchgrove), this narrow point stretches to within 300m of the North Shore. Once called Long Nose Point, it was a shipyard until 1971, when it became a public park, reverting to its indigenous name (meaning ‘swift running water’) in 1994. It was originally inhabited by the Wangal clan, of which Bennelong is thought to have been a member. These days fishers dangle lines from the pier, and there are wicked views up the harbour towards the bridge (good for watching fireworks). Louisa Rd is one of Sydney’s priciest streets: the houses aren’t huge but they’re right on the water.
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Centennial Park
Scratched out of the dirt in 1888 in grand Victorian style, Sydney’s biggest park is a rambling 189-hectare expanse full of kids, horse riders, joggers, cyclists and in-line skaters. Explore the wide formal avenues, ponds, statues and Federation Pavilion – the spot where Australia was officially proclaimed a nation (on 1 January 1901). During summer, Moonlight Cinema and ear-splitting rock concerts attract the crowds. At the southern edge of the park is Royal Randwick Racecourse, while on its eastern edge it joins QueensPark and continues for another 26 hectares.
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Fitzroy Gardens
It’s testimony to the ‘cleaning up’ of the Cross that this once-dodgy park is now a reasonably safe place to hang out (probably helped by the austere police station housed in the corner). It still feels seedy, though: malnourished seagulls compete for scraps with pigeons who look like Keith Richards, while groaning, bearded homeless guys compile cigarettes from discarded butts. Known locally as the ‘Elephant Douche’, the dandelion-esque El Alamein Fountain (1961) sends waves of chlorinated spray across the open space. On Sundays a little flea market sets up in the plaza.
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Hyde Park
It sounds like a cliché, but Hyde Park really is the city’s lungs. It’s a formal park with manicured gardens, ibises probing the undergrowth, homeless hombres sleeping on benches and a giant chess set attracting nods and whispers from spectators. The tree-formed tunnel running down its spine looks particularly cool at night, illuminated by fairy lights. The park’s northern end is crowned by the richly symbolic art-deco Archibald Memorial Fountain, featuring Greek mythological figures. At the southern end, the shallow Pool of Reflection fronts the Anzac Memorial.
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Balls Head Reserve
Scruffy, bushy Balls Head Reserve not only has great views of the harbour, the city skyline and the industrial relics on Goat Island, but also a wiggly waterline and inland paths, ancient Aboriginal rock paintings and carvings (although they’re not easily discernible), and barbecue facilities. Like Manly Scenic Walkway, it’s easy to shut yourself off among the sandstone and scrub and imagine how Sydney must have been before European settlement. From Waverton Station turn left and follow Bay Rd, which becomes Balls Head Rd. It’s a 10-minute walk.
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North Head
About 3km south of Manly, spectacular, chunky North Head offers dramatic cliffs, lookouts and sweeping views of the ocean, the harbour and the city; hire a bike and go exploring. The area is believed to have been used as a ceremonial site by the native Camaraigal people. These days, most of the headland is part of Sydney Harbour National Park. Also here is the Manly Quarantine Station and North Fort for the military minded – tunnels, guns and the Royal Australian Artillery National Museum.
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Jubilee & Bicentennial Parks
At the northern end of Glebe Point Rd on soupy Rozelle Bay, these two rolling, grassy parks merge together and offer some tasty views across the water to Rozelle and of both the Anzac and Harbour Bridges. Massive fig and palm trees dot the landscape; mums and dads amble along with the kids. There’s also a new (ish) pathway from here along the shoreline to Blackwattle Bay, passing the Victorian Italianate Bellevue Cottage (1896) and a park around the temple-like ruins of an industrial incinerator.
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Elkington Park
If Balmain’s endless photogenia doesn’t float your boat, head to Elkington Park, named in 1883 after a local politician. At the bottom of the escarpment, the magnificently restored late-Victorian (1884) timber enclosure at the tidal Dawn Fraser Baths picturesquely protects swimmers from underwater undesirables. Australia’s all-conquering 1956–1964 Olympian Dawn Fraser sacrificed her youth here swimming laps. Live jazz is your belly-smacker soundtrack on summer weekends.
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Cremorne Point
Cremorne Point (technically Robertsons Point, and Woolwarra-jurng to the Eora people) is a beaut spot for a picnic on grassy Cremorne Reserve or a swim in the free saltwater MacCallum Pool. The harbour views from here are downright delicious (especially when the New Year’s Eve fireworks are erupting). Ferries chug past, newspaper readers flip pages, and there’s a coffee shop in the ferry terminal – pretty darn chilled out.
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Everglades Garden
Leura, 3km east of Katoomba, is a gracious, affluent town, fashioned around undulating streets, unparalleled gardens and sweeping Victorian verandahs. in town is the National Trust–owned Everglades Garden, a magnificent 1930s garden created by Danish ‘master gardener’ Paul Sorenson. Fountains, waterfalls, terraced lawns, freestone walls, a museum, an art gallery and tearooms – Everglades is a must for green thumbs.
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Nielsen Park
If in need of a swim, Will Wentworth would no doubt have strolled down to Shark Beach in Nielsen Park, once part of the then 206-hectare Vaucluse House estate. Today the park and nearby Greycliffe House, a beautiful 1851 Gothic sandstone pile (not open to visitors), are surrounded by a section of the Sydney Harbour National Park. Visit on a weekday when it’s not too busy: just mums, kids, oldies and people throwing sickies from work.
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Tumbalong Park
Flanked by the new Darling Walk development, this grassy circle on Darling Harbour’s southern rump is refreshingly devoid of showy pretence. Sunbakers and frisbee-throwers occupy the lawns; tourists dunk their feet in fountains on hot summer afternoons. There’s also an excellent children’s playground with a rubber floor (kids don’t bounce), and a dinky ‘people mover’ train doing the rounds.
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Victoria Park
The green gateway to the Inner West and the University of Sydney, Victoria Park is a 9-hectare grassy wedge revolving around pondlike Lake Northam and Victoria Park Pool. In February 75,000 people descend on the park for the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Fair Day : dog shows, live performances and the ‘Miss Fair Day’ drag competition (no, it doesn’t involve car racing).
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Mt Wellington
Cloaked in winter snow,Mt Wellington peaks at 1270m, towering above Hobart like a benevolent overlord. The citizens find reassurance in its constant, solid presence, while outdoors types find the space to hike and bike on its leafy flanks. And the view from the top is unbelievable! Don't be deterred if the sky is overcast – often the peak rises above cloud level and looks out over a magic carpet of cotton-topped clouds.
Hacked out of the mountainside during the Great Depression, the 22km road to the top winds up from the city through thick temperate forest, opening out to lunar rockscapes at the summit. If you don't have wheels, local buses 48 and 49 stop at Fern Tree ha…
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Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens
Between Bilpin and Bell, Mt Tomah Botanic Gardens is the cool-climate sibling of Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens. Native plants cuddle up next to exotic species, including magnificent rhododendron displays. There’s a decent cafe here, and many areas are wheelchair accessible; a people mover circles on the hour. You can also buy your own piece of botanical history – Wollemi pine cuttings!
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Bellevue Park
This quiet suburban park has killer views over Bondi and all the heads: North, South and Middle. Early Irish convicts named it Vinegar Hill, after a battle in the 1798 Irish Rebellion, but Governor Macquarie pooh-poohed the idea and renamed it Bellevue Hill. The surrounding streets are home to a large Jewish community and some of Sydney’s rich-and-famous, including the Packer media tribe and actress Toni Collette.
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