​After passing Bradley Bushland Reserve we reached the ‘Hospital on the Hill’ - the old military hospital at Georges Heights that closed in 1921.  One of the buildings was used for massages for injured soldiers during WW1.  Female nurses were conscripted to give the massages – the mind boggles!  The Department of Defence used the facilities until 2001, at which time it was handed to the Harbour Trust who use it for a variety of purposes.

Staying on Middle Head Road, it was downhill to the Headland Park Artists Precinct - the ‘artists were in residence’!  It was fascinating watching them at work – a dab here, a dab there, and Hey Presto, an image appears.  The precinct is certainly worth a special visit, admiring both the many art studios and bold sculptures.

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Then we ambled down Middle Head Road to HMAS Penguin, the Royal Australian Navy base located at Balmoral (a primary naval training establishment and turned south heading towards Obelisk Beach on a newly refurbished boardwalk.  But, before reaching the ‘clothing optional’ beach, we headed towards the many military Batteries built into the headland.  The scenic and hilly walk took us past lookouts and gun emplacements that have guarded Sydney since the 1870s. As luck would have it, a lot of money and effort has recently been expended in upgrading the signage – each attraction had a new pictorial description of the location and history mounted on new sandstone ‘blocks’.

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After a ‘few’ steps and a ‘few’ kilometres, we reached Obelisk Bay (not beach!) where the actual obelisk stands to commemorate the souls that perished when the clipper Dunbar hit the rocks in 1857 – our worst shipwreck in NSW ever.  For more detail on this fascinating story, Dunbar shipwreck | The Dictionary of Sydney.

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Further along we reached the 1801 Battery where 2 12-pounders were installed in 1801.  This was a great defensive position, beaten only by termites eating up the gun carriages!

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Then on to Outer Middle Head and more gun emplacements.  The views looking out from Balmoral Beach in the north, past Manly, past the heads, and then to Watson’s Bay was impressive.  After further clambering up and down the emplacements, it was time for lunch in the Sydney Harbour National Park, after which, a bus to Mosman from outside HMAS Penguin, and a return home after a fabulous day.