Waterview Wharf Workshops, Balmain

Waterview is the 19th century name for Mort Bay, around which nestles the inner-city, trendified suburb of Balmain. The workshops are privately owned, and restored, but have been listed by The National Trust. Full details are available at their web-site. I love the texture of the water in this first image.

This is very close to the city, although it may not appear so. Just around the Balmain peninsula, and to the right ... The bridge is softened, once again, by Goat Island and its old ship maintenance workshops. This is a wonderful ferry ride, showing a working harbour.

Turn left down the harbour ...

Where are we going today, Mr. Nicholson? Where is the going to be? Don't turn left, turn right down the harbour And out to the open sea. This is the refrain to Bernard Bolan's "Rose Bay Ferry", but it is applicable to nigh every vessel that plies its trade on Sydney Harbour. Except, from Greenwich Point Wharf, one turns left to head for the open sea.

The first two images are turning left (east) and show the skyline, and the obscured bridge. Goat Island has a fairly okay location! The next two photos, after the shot of the basic Greenwich Point Wharf, are looking across to Cockatoo Island, which was a convict island, and then a ship-building island.

Greenwich Point Baths

It is very small. a handkerchief, as the saying goes. These photos were taken early, before the body count built up. It pays to get there early. The access is steep, the roads winding. and the parking negligible.

One has to pay for entry. However, for us (2 adults + 2 children), it was only $11. We always take our own food, to reduce both sugars and fats. But, the coffee was very good. And brought to me on the sand!

However, it is on the harbour. And the harbour is dotted with ferry wharves. Indeed, there was a walking track across the point to Greenwich Point ferry, and a short trip to Circular Quay. Tell you about it in my next post.

Sydney Ferries - More First Fleet Class

During summer, there is a different passenger liner docked at the Overseas Terminal in Sydney Cove, every week. It is great fun to watch the small, working boats reverse out of Circular Quay (CQ), chuck-a-uie, then head out into the harbour past this massive looming hulk. I watched as the "Charlotte chugged out into the harbour, passing the "Friendship" coming in to dock.

As I noted in my previous post, the Sydney Ferry network has 28 vessels, covering six classes of ferry. With nine vessels, the First Fleet class is the largest in numner, if not displacement. All Sydney Ferries depart from a wharf at Circular Quay, which has six double-sided wharves. Turnaround is quite speedy. In the ferry network, there are seven routes: F1 Manly (light blue) F2 Taronga Zoo (dark blue) F3 Parramatta (yellow) F4 Darling Harbour & Balmain East (purple) F5 Neutral Bay (red) F6 Mosman Bay (lime green) F7 Eastern Suburbs (jade green)

Sydney Ferries - First Fleet Class

There is a host of ferries that ply their trade on the harbour. But, when anyone mentions a ferry, I immediately think of the gree/gold state government owned ferries. Sydney Ferries' fleet consists of 28 vessels. The fleet is divided into six vessel classes: Freshwater Class (4 vessels) Lady Class (2 vessels) First Fleet Class (9 vessels) RiverCats (7 vessels) HarbourCats (2 vessels) SuperCats (4 vessels) During January, I will cover each of these classes. The First Fleet Class catamarans are named after nine of the eleven vessels in the First Fleet. They primarily operate on inner harbour routes, meaning they do not go to Parramatta, neither across to Manly. They are: Supply Sirius Alexander Borrowdale Charlotte Fishburn Friendship Golden Grove, and Scarborough The two members of the original First Fleet (1788) that missed out having a ferry named after them are: the Lady Penrhyn, and the Prince of Wales.

Could this be Scuffy?

I tracked this little tug coming in to help. It choofed from under the harbour bridge, into Sydney Cove, and right-angled the store-boat alongside the "Rhapsody of the Seas". I might have made up that florid name, but it was something like that. It was a busy stretch of water that morning.

Hardly a slimy pit, just muck and mire

The time difference between these two shots was about 5 hours: the bottom image taken on the ferry to Manly at 10am; the top shot, the return trip to Circular Quay about 3pm. My, how the muck'n'mire of our mighty city sometimes just hovers to remind us of that which we do.

Sydney Ferries 1 - Manly

There are a number of privately owned ferry companies that ply Sydney Harbour. However, the iconic ferries, the green'n'golds, are part of the state owned public transport system. Still owned by the state, just last month their operations were contracted our to a private consortium. There will be changes, but in the future, and small, and dare I say, sneaky.


There are 8 routes that Sydney Ferries ply: Darling Harbour, Parramatta River, Woolwich, Neutral Bay, Mosman, Eastern Suburbs, Manly, and Taronga Zoo. Each of these routes has a number of wharves at which the ferry stops, making it an excellent way to see our city.

The Manly route takes about 30 minutes and is serviced by four ferries: the 'Freshwater', the 'Queenscliff', the 'Narrabeen', and the 'Collaroy'. It is one of the few non-stop routes; your journey starts at Circular Quay, and the ferry does not stop until it docks at Manly wharf.


The views on the journey are to die for. I have cranked up the contrast and the saturation in some of these, but my head was seeing the landscape this vividly. The swell can get a bit 'whoofy' as you cross the open water between the Heads, but the views are more than mere consolation.

This is the first of my posts about Sydney's ferry network. By the end of 2012, I will have journeyed all eight routes.