Circular Quay & Finger Wharf

We got to Circular Quay around 10 and walked all the way around the harbour to Woolloomooloo. It took us about three hours with all our stops, and we finished by walking back up through the Domain to the city.

Circular Quay is the busiest part of the harbour. Ferries come and go, buskers play, and everyone has a camera pointed at the Opera House or the Harbour Bridge.

From there it is a fairly easy walk to the Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo, and the further you go the quieter it gets. You walk through gardens and along the water, and there is a famous pie cart near the end.

About the route

Circular Quay is the city’s main ferry hub, between the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It is busy, but very handy if you are getting around Sydney by public transport.

From the quay you walk past the Opera House and into the Royal Botanic Garden, then follow the harbour around to Mrs Macquarie’s Chair and on to Woolloomooloo. The Finger Wharf is a long old timber wharf that now has restaurants, apartments and a hotel on it, and it still looks like a working wharf.

It has quite a history. The Sydney Harbour Trust started building it in 1910, and it was mostly finished by 1913. For about 70 years it was mainly used to ship out wool. In both World Wars, troops boarded converted passenger liners here, and many new migrants first stepped onto Australian soil here too. The state planned to demolish it in 1987, but when work was due to start in January 1991, locals blocked the site and a union Green Ban stopped the crews. It was turned into apartments, a hotel and a marina, and that work was finished in 1999. It is around 400 m long and is said to be the largest timber pile wharf left in the world.

Close by is Harry’s Café de Wheels, a pie cart that has been in Woolloomooloo for generations.

Getting there

Circular Quay is one of the easiest places in Sydney to get to. Trains, light rail, buses and ferries all stop there, and you can pay with an Opal card or contactless. If you are coming from another harbour suburb, take the ferry. It’s the nicest way in.

Walk the rest of the way to Woolloomooloo. It is not hard, but it is a fair distance, and there are a few gentle hills depending on which path you take. Have a map handy, especially for finding the right Botanic Garden exit and the streets down to the wharf.

To get home, you can walk back the same way, keep going to Potts Point, or catch public transport from nearby.

What to see along the way

The first part is around the Opera House, with ferries crossing the quay and the bridge behind you. It gets crowded and people walk into each other’s photos.

From the Opera House we followed the sea wall around Farm Cove, with the Opera House behind us the whole way. Inside the Botanic Garden there is a huge old fig tree with its roots spread out over the grass, and of course we stopped for photos 😊

The big old fig tree in the Botanic Garden.

Once you are in the Royal Botanic Garden it is much quieter. It is the oldest botanic garden in Australia. Governor Phillip first set the land aside for the colony’s first farm, but the crop failed because of poor soil, a bad season and rats. Now there are paths through the lawns and trees, harbour lookouts and lots of places to stop.

The harbour from the Royal Botanic Garden.

Pink everlasting daisies in the Botanic Garden, with the Opera House and the bridge behind.

There is a big bed of pink everlasting daisies with the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge right behind them. It’s a good spot for a picnic or just to hang out for a while.

In summer, Mrs Macquarie’s Point is home to the Westpac OpenAir cinema. At dusk a giant screen is raised three storeys high over the harbour, with the Opera House and the bridge behind it. The season runs for about six weeks, from early January to mid-February.

Near Mrs Macquarie’s Point we took turns taking photos of each other with the bridge and the Opera House across the water. Then we stopped at a little coffee and soft serve van under the trees for something cold.

The coffee and soft serve van at Mrs Macquarie’s Point.

Mrs Macquarie’s Chair is a lookout where you can see the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge together. Convicts carved it out of a sandstone ledge in 1810, on Governor Macquarie’s orders, for his wife Elizabeth, who loved this spot.

Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, carved right into the rock.

After Mrs Macquarie’s Chair the path follows the water past the big navy ships at Garden Island and the Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool. Down at Woolloomooloo there are sculptures all along the waterfront before you reach the Finger Wharf.

Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool, right on the harbour.

One of the sculptures on the Woolloomooloo waterfront.

From there the path goes on to Woolloomooloo, where the Finger Wharf sticks out into the water. It is a really big timber structure, and with the marina around it the area is much calmer than Circular Quay. Across the road there are old pubs and the Artspace galleries in the Gunnery.

The Finger Wharf, stretching out into Woolloomooloo Bay.

From the wharf we walked back up past the Art Gallery of NSW and through the Domain to the city.

The Art Gallery of NSW, on the way back through the Domain.

Good to know

• Check the Botanic Garden opening times if you are walking early or late in the day.
• Dogs are not allowed in the Royal Botanic Garden. With a dog, go around through the Domain, where dogs on a lead are fine.
• Wear comfortable shoes. The walk is easy but longer than it looks.
• Take sunscreen, as some parts along the harbour have no shade.
• Circular Quay is busiest on weekends, holidays and during big events.
• There is food all along the way, from snacks to waterfront restaurants.

Sources: Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf, NSW State Heritage Register, Mural 1: History of the Waterfront, City of Sydney, Potts Point & Woolloomooloo, Destination NSW, Mrs Macquarie’s Chair, Destination NSW, Digging into our history: 1800s, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Westpac OpenAir, Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, Westpac OpenAir, sydney.com.

We still haven’t had a pie at Harry’s, because we filled up on ice cream from the soft serve van instead 😄 So we have a good excuse to do this walk again.

Enjoyed reading this? Like, Comment and Share. 😊