South Cronulla Beach

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Gerrale Street, Sydney, Australia 2230+61 (0)2 9527 0828 (

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Beaches
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Beach culture

by MagdaDH_AlexH

Perth, Scotland, United Kingdom

November 11, 2010

Best of IgoUgo We spent most of our time in Sydney in the centre of the city, staying in the Annandale suburb of Inner West and sightseeing in and around the so called CBD or Central Business District, with a few trips to other attractions. It's possible that we ...Read more We spent most of our time in Sydney in the centre of the city, staying in the Annandale suburb of Inner West and sightseeing in and around the so called CBD or Central Business District, with a few trips to other attractions. It's possible that we were one of the very rare visitors who, despite being in the city for over two weeks never made it to the Bondi Beach!

But we did, in addition to the obligatory Manly Ferry, get out of the inner Sydney and braved the true suburbs one weekend, spending couple of days in and around Cronulla, a beach suburb par excellence located twenty miles south of the Sydney's main core, past the industrial and historic area of Botany Bay and bordered by the next inlet of Port Hacking.

Cronulla is located in an interesting area of the city, virtually bordered to the north by the Botany Bay National Park (the southern part of it which is on Kurnell peninsula) and to the south, just across Port Hacking inlet, by the Royal National Park. The suburb itself is, however, all about the beach: and the Cronulla Beach is truly magnificent, possibly the best and certainly the biggest of the Sydney beaches, a magnificent sweep of five kilometres (over three miles), technically divided into several individual beaches, the most central being the North Cronulla and the South Cronulla beaches, separated by a bit of a promenade (sadly in the winter, but luckily in the summer, shaded by the tall buildings above it) from which one can access seawater rockpools that provide safer swimming than the ocean just outside them.

South Cronulla seemed more family-friendly of the two beaches, with children doing bodyboarding and a playground on the sloping park just above the beach. North Cronulla, accessed straight from the main drag of Kingsway, was more of an adult and teenager area, even in the winter full of swaggering types of both sexes strutting their stuff (whatever their stuff might be).

In fact, if Cronulla gives one a good focus on the Aussie beach culture, and the importance the beach and all beach associated activities play in the national mythology, from the cool surf dudes to Baywatch and beyond, then Aussie beach culture is not a particularly pleasant phenomenon. It's hard to think of an European equivalent, but the closest match for the people one can see surfing, swimming, strutting, drinking and pulling in Cronulla is an Essex boy made good, although a better looking and more physically fit one: and that is just the girls.

Swaggering beach bums or not, the seaside at Cronulla is very beautiful, with great surf (surfing has always been big in Cronulla and some great names hail from here), lovely curve of the beaches and some great nearby walks around the Bass & Flinders Point, with views to Shark Island and Port Hacking.

Cronulla is the only Southern Sydney beach easily accessible by train, being a few stops short of terminus on the Illawarra line, and the combination of beach and nearby National Parks makes it for a rewarding weekend destination, especially if you are after sand, sun, ocean and associated activities. Close

From journal Sydney environs: out of the CBD

South Cronulla Beach

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Beach culture