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Image via Tom Häkkinen
The beginning (or the end) of the Coastal Cliffwalk at
Diamond Bay in Vaucluse. |
Along Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs coastline, between the South Head and Bondi Beach, rises a curtain wall of cliffs locked in eternal struggle with the Tasman Sea. It’s not a straight wall of cliffs, but one potted with bays and inlets, a curtain wall with bastions and bulwarks; faces, flanks and gorges. And since 2004, a coastal cliff-top walk where you can go for a wander and if you’re brave take a voyeuristic peep at the raging battle of the elements taking place down below.
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Image via Tom Häkkinen
A long drop into the swirling maelstrom below. |
When I prepared to leave the house yesterday, camera in hand, to go for a walk along the cliffs, it was a hot and sunny summer’s day (albeit uncomfortably humid). But by the time I’d made my way up to the cliff-walk, brooding and stormy clouds had rolled-in from the Pacific Ocean, perhaps colouring my impressions with the notion of a war between the elements: an unholy alliance of Wind and Water against the resolute and defiant Earth. Hence the fortification and war metaphors.
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Image via Tom Häkkinen
Brooding clouds overhead and raging
seas below. |
I think that it would be reasonable to surmise that the suburb of Dover Heights gets its name from these lofty cliffs. Although, in all honesty, the comparison with the white cliffs of Dover seems a little insincere. The grey-brown cliffs of Sydney can be stunningly beautiful riddled as they are with vegetation clinging to the most unlikely of perches and especially on a sunny day when overlooking the serene calm of the blue waters that give the Pacific Ocean its name. But they don’t look like the chalk cliffs of Dover and I don’t think these cliffs gain anything by such a comparison. Still, the next suburb over is the pretentiously named Vaucluse, making it possible to walk from the coast of England to Provençal France in 15 minutes.
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Image via Tom Häkkinen
A precarious staircase down to the base of the cliffs;
used by fisherman and lunatics. |
When researching for this blog I also discovered that apparently there are some indigenous rock carvings amongst some of the cliffs. I wonder what names the Eora people gave to these cliffs - we can at least be sure their name wouldn’t have tried to draw a superficial comparison with Southern England or Provençe. In any case, I’ve determined that I’m going to have to go and investigate with my camera on the next sunny day.
