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North Head Quarantine Station

The North Head Quarantine Station used to be a place where immigrants are quarantined from 1832 to 1984. It was used to make sure diseases are not spread to the rest of Australia. Fortunately after many years and great advancement in medicine and science, there is no need for this and the place is now a heritage listed tourist attraction to show people a part of Australia's history. The Quarantine Station now has a hotel, museum, cafe, several nearby beaches and bush walks.

I went to Quarantine Station mainly for the Les Sculptures Refusees. This was the first time this event was held and it aims to feature sculptures that were not chosen for the more famous Sculptures by the Sea in Bondi. This year the event in Bondi did not push through so I think these sculptures were from the previous years.

To get to Quarantine Station, I took a ferry from Circular Quay to Manly then hopped on bus 135 to the entrance of Quarantine Station. A couple of weekends before I visited, there was a bush fire from a fire hazard reduction at North Head. Because of the fire damage, some areas at North Head are closed, the bus terminates at Q Station, and walks to Fairfax Lookout are not accessible.

Walking around the Q Station and back to the bus takes about 2km. This can be combined with other North Head bush walks. I did the Shelly Beach Walking Track to Manly after exploring Q Station. More details of this walk can be found here: Shelly Beach Walking Track

Once you get to the entrace of Q Station, go through the small visitor information center.



Right beside the entrance of Q Station is one of the sculptures.


From the entrance, I just walked along the path towards Quarantine Beach. There were some signs along the way. The path is shared with cars. Inside the Q Station area, there is a shuttle, which I assume are for hotel guests use, that goes around the area regularly. 




I thought the rest of sculptures were along the walk but I was wrong, the rest are near the Quarantine Beach and around Q Station. 

Along the way I saw a kookaburra, the very first one I have ever seen! It is a bit sad to see the trees it was perched on damaged by the recent bush fire.

    
A closer look at the Kookaburra

Take Wharf Rd on the right


Take the path on the right again

You will see the Quarantine Hotel on the right.





Take the Funicular Stairway to get down to the beach. This stairs has 234 steps. It feels more going back up.


Down the steps is a cafe and buildings used during the quarantine. 


One of the buildings was open and has some displays about the quarantine.


The other buildings seem to be only for guided or ghost tours. I had a glimpse of the old haunted bathroom while there was a tour group inside.
 


Near the beach is another cafe and a museum. Along the Quarantine beach are several of the sculptures. 




Quarantine Beach

   I like this one. It is called A Terrible Beauty and you can walk through it

That is the ferry wharf on the right. There is usually a fast ferry that operates to this wharf but the services are cancelled because of Covid


    Another view of the Quarantine Beach



On this wall are markings made my immigrants through the years

This seems to be the winner of the sculpture competition


A man who I saw at the bus told me that there was a big snake ahead so I skipped going up Hospital Road. I did not know I would miss a few of the sculptures that were displayed there.

I think the path on the right will also lead to the higher area of Q station

Here is a Google Maps of the track I took:




Here is a 5-min video of the walk. The video includes a part of the Shelly Beach Walking Track.



Here is a full video of the walk:



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