Brett Whiteley painting of Lavender Bay
Lavender Bay is a funky little suburb tucked in under the north western side of Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge. It’s bounded by Milsons Point and McMahons Point which has a thriving cafe, restaurant and bookshop scene. It’s a short (but steep) 10 minute walk up the road to the business hub of North Sydney. Walking tracks also abound which are lined with some beautiful native plants.
Grevillea
Bottle Brush and Harbour Bridge
Dianella
Lavender Bay is just 3kms by road from the CBD but are separated by a small stretch of water across the harbour, only 900 metres wide. The views up and down the harbour are stunning and you’ll quite often find gaggles of photographers wandering the foreshore trying to capture the perfect photo.
Luna Park Carousel
Steel on Steel
Sydney Harbour ferry
Which is exactly what my son Angus and I did on Saturday; snapping away with a loan camera thanks to Canon Australia and their cool initiative ~ Canon Collective. I encourage you to check it out. Each of the photos (bar the Whiteley image) in this post were taken using a Canon 60D.
A non-scary clown
Under Luna Park
Interesting facts about Lavender Bay:
- Don Bradman, Australia’s most famous cricketer and artists Norman Lindsay and Brett Whiteley all lived for a period of time in Lavender Bay.
- It was named after George Lavender a boatswain on the prison hulk “Phoenix” which was moored off the foreshore for many years in the 1800s. Larrikin ex-convict William Blue, better known as Billy Blue also lived in Lavender Bay.
- Its most famous landmarks are Luna Park and North Sydney Olympic Pool.
- I would like to live there but this would involve winning Tattslotto; with average median prices for houses in the suburb sitting at around $3,000,000.
Raindrops on a gum leaf
Raindrops on grass
Angus and I drove down there in the spunky little Ford Eco Sport that we’ve been given to test run for six weeks. More on this ace little car at another time. However, I couldn’t resist and, ignoring all parking signs and warnings drove down to the very mouth of Luna Park and took a snap. Angus was mortified, several tourists bewildered and I was exultant that I managed to get as far as I did.
Ford Eco Sport
Do you have a favourite suburb in your city?
* This is NOT a sponsored post but it should be don’t you think? 😉
It looks like a Wonderful spot! And You are so fortunate to be able to try out new products and vehicles!
My favorite spot in this area is split between two areas that are both in the West end of Hamilton. Not suburbs really, but neighborhoods. Westdale boasts one of the most Beautiful spots for Hiking, The Westdale Woods. Nestled in the Village of Westdale off of Marion St. it is filled with wetlands, marshes, hiking trails, and borders the Bay. I spent eons roaming these trails over My lifetime. A Great place to experience the outdoors, nature, and hiking….It is ideal for photo ops! And then there is the Bruce Trail…. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_Trail
This also cuts through the entire City of Hamilton, to the west end extending thru Dundas and well beyond. I grew up in the west end. And I still Love to visit friends who stayed in the neighborhood. While there, I can walk the rail trail, or veer off on one of the many forested ravine trails, looking for Great nature shots! In fact, Most of My Instagram pics yesterday, were taken there! I am Very Grateful to live in a City like Hamilton, (Which is also the Waterfall Capital of the World), en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_waterfalls_in_Hamilton,_Ontario
where there is Always an escape from City life, within the City!