Thought of taking the family in to watch the start of the Sydney-Hobart. Does it get excessively crowded along the shoreline? What would be the best location?
North Head is exceptional Paul as you can see the boats fly up the harbour, past the critical markers and head down the coast.
Just in front of the Bella Vista Cafe is the spot. Check it out on Maps.
Go early and walk up from Manly (closed to cars) , even take a ferry ride over and make a day of it.
^^^ perhaps not the best place to see racing, but definitely the best place for post-race partying... taste ofTasmania etc etc.
A lot of the viewing area at North Head is now closed due to huge rock slides. A massive amount went awhile back the NWPS has closed off most of the rest. The viewing areas looking down the harbour are still open.
Decided to go to south head, as it seemed a little more scenic, and a much shorter walk than north head.
Caught the train to Circular Quay and was greeted by the world's longest ever queue to get on a ferry to Watson's Bay. Thought we'd be stuck there for hours and miss the race, but Sydney Ferries was running a special shuttle service directly between Circular Quay and Watson's Bay all day, so the line moved pretty quickly and we didn't wait too long at all.
The walk to south head from Watson's Bay is quite short and picturesque, and there are plenty of options for places to watch the race. Either stay adjacent to Camp Cove and see more of the starting action, or take the short walk to south head and watch the start from a little further away, but see them round the buoys and head out to sea. (Or you could do both if you moved quickly after the start).
There was a reasonable crowd, but no real need to get there early. If you turned up at 12:30pm, you'd get almost as good a view as anyone who turned up much earlier (We got there at 11:30am and had a leisurely picnic of Xmas leftovers). Also watched a sea-do jet boat get swamped outside, which was subsequently towed back submerged, to the amusement of the crowd.
Not quite as exciting as I'd maybe expected, but certainly worth doing at least once. My wife and kids that have no interest in sailing all enjoyed it, and are now a lot more interested in following the race coverage.
In the end, I'd say south head would be a better option because of the shorter walk, closer to the action, and nicer surrounds at Watson's Bay. Enjoyed a nice swim at Camp Cove beach on the way back.
