The Genesis Of Our Scenic Walks
© David Newton
August 16, 2009
When I was growing up I had been with a few social groups that did some walks. These were the well worn kind such as Bush Walks. As you may well know when you’re on a bush walk, hardly anyone talk with anyone else and if you do, you’d be passed by the rest of the group in a blink.
This left me not really being interested in walks at all. But to counter that I did love walking thru the streets of Wagga Wagga and other places like Canberra and Melbourne during my high school years. Some cities had great views and I was taken in by that and that it didn’t require much effort to enjoy such eye candy treats.
New In Sydney
In 1996 a year after I had moved to Sydney the first time, I saw an advert in the paper to go to a walk organized by the lady who runs Lovely Sundays. We went to La Peruse on an August Sunday afternoon. I was living at Willoughby back then and the bus trip to La Peruse was a long one for me.
After meeting the group and walking around we began a long walk around the heads area and ended up at the golf course later for a coffee and tea break. It was a great afternoon out and I didn’t have the right shoes for my first walk as it was. My legs were sore on the Monday – but I met a wonderful lady who chatted with me all during the walk
The walk was scenic and was informative. I was able to learn something from the walk and about Sydney which gave me a good impression compared to other walks, this one was relatable and fun!
My Walking Group Origins In Melbourne
In 2003 I began doing art walks (See how those began) but after time, I branched out to do other walks in 2005. The earliest of my scenic walks were in Melbourne. At this stage I had a full schedule of art gallery tours and wanted to add walks that would be interesting, thus I chose a scenic walk from St Kilda to Brighton which actually included one art gallery enroute. We walked this track down the bayside areas of St Kilda – Elwood, North Brighton and finally concluding our walk at Church St Brighton. The views were great with sea breezes and sandy open beaches, plus stops on the way to admire the views.
It was a great success so I added doing a Garden to Garden walk through the Botanic Gardens to Fitzroy Gardens and ending back at a café at the Domain Shops in South Yarra.
The Sydney Scenic Walks Transition
Within my early beginnings of setting up walks in Sydney (Since February 2007) I’ve put together many walks that have been popular with our walking group. Its true a lot of people who live in Sydney never get to really see their own city.
My dream is that they can and should be able to see the city from a different perspective and with others to enjoy that time out and away from the humdrum of daily life in such a picturesque location.
Most of our scenic walks are about 2 hours with a small few being 3 hours long. The main thing with these walks are to give our group a platform to be a tourist in their own city. Plus the added benefit of making new friends and networking while on an easy going walk during the afternoon.
