Galavanting in the Eastern Suburbs

Easter in Australia is a 4 day weekend and since we didn't have the money to leave Sydney, and since Jeremy's birthday was on Monday, we decided to spend the weekend in Sydney--as tourists! First stop: South Head!

South Head is the southern end of the Sydney Harbour mouth where it opens up to the Pacific Ocean and along the cliffs are numerous parks, trails and lighthouses. Now, if you remember, we attempted South Head once before but gave up in the face of 40C weather and on account of being lost (of course, this time around, we had no problem finding the very large sign marking the trail head) and so we felt it appropriate to give South Head "another go" as the Aussie's say! We even decided to tack on an extra lighthouse I read about on Wikipedia: Macquarie Lighthouse.

So, kicking off the trip at Macquarie Lighthouse, just above Watson's Bay, we settled in for a tasty picnic of goat cheese, wine, grapes and chicken sandwiches with avacado!

It was such a beautiful day! Not hot, not cold, a light breeze and a few clouds! For the first time in a long time Jeremy's head didn't get burnt when we went out!

Macquarie Lighthouse was the first one built in NSW. Before it's construction, the only guidance sailors had towards the harbour's mouth was a pile of burning wood! Unfortunately, many people died because of that pile of wood--one ship wrecked on the rocks just below the cliff killing more than a hundred people. The lone survivor went on to be the lighthouse keeper at Hornby Lighthouse (on the edge of South Head) where he later helped save several other people in a situation very much like his own.

Isn't it a lovely lighthouse? I just love the brilliant white! Makes me think of Greece.

From Macquarie Lighthouse, we walked down to Watson's Bay for some ice cream and then continued on to Camp Cove and the trail head for South Head and the Hornby Lighthouse. Along the way, we had many beautiful views of Sydney Harbour with the city in the distance.

We also found this crazy big cannon along the trail which was shipped here from Britain to help defend South Head against the Americans and the French. And here is Jeremy riding that rather large cannon like Dr. Strange Love.

It wasn't a very long walk from Camp Cove to Hornby Lighthouse (maybe just 20 minutes or so) but should you make the journey yourself, I should warn you in advance that you pass by a nude beach called Lady Bay Beach which is rather well known destination for old gay men looking for a one night stand. It's definitely not your European nude beach... You have been forewarned.

Hornby Lighthouse is absolutely breathtaking though and will quickly make you forget the anatomical tragedies you just witnessed. It pretty much has all the drama a girl could dream off: stripes, sheer cliffs, jagged rocks, thundering waves, green grass, a covered look out, and ocean as far as you can see. It's no wonder we saw so many couples making out!

But South Head has more than just a lighthouse. There used to be a large fort here once upon a time (hence the cannon) and many of the old trenches and artillery rounds are still accessible. In some places the tunnels even go under ground though never very far as they've all been sealed up. But it makes for some interesting adventures in between the major sights!

So we had some good times just lazing around in the sun. We drank a little more wine, rolled in the grass, talked and talked, and watched the sun go down. It was perfect and I couldn't have asked for a more lovely day out!

Six months ago it was my birthday and this super cute, infinitely sweet guy did everything he could to make that birthday special. So I tried my hardest to return the favor.

We both had a lot of fun that day out on South Head but the birthday/Easter adventure weekend wasn't over yet!

So we took the ferry back to Circular Quay and I started planning day two! For more pictures of our day at South Head, click here.