HALF DAY GROUP CRUISES

See Sydney’s iconic landmarks and interesting places - up so close you can almost touch them!

Unlike other harbour tours on ferries and cruise boats, our heritage motor launches can take you in close to the shoreline giving you amazing views of some 20 or so Sydney icons, some well-known, some surprises and some controversial. And all this seen from Sydney’s wonderful harbour - itself often referred to as Sydney’s No.1 icon. 

Highlights:

• Hear why a heritage sandstone building was rebuilt stone by stone just 50 metres away.
• Learn how a fort became a tram shed that made way for a UNESCO listed international icon.
•  Why did convicts cut down a huge harbour island, no longer an island and where did the sandstone blocks go?
• See an Adelaide icon that was transported to Sydney and hear about its overseas connections.
• Cruise alongside a controversial but architecturally important Icon, hated by many, but now heritage protected.
• Hear icons named after First Nations people, colonial bureaucrats, governor’s wives and even a trade mark.
• Pass the three remaining islands east of the bridge, discover who Barangaroo was and what Kirribilli means.

 See Jacarandas in bloom where there they are most concentrated, along the shores of the Lane Cove River.

 For a short time every spring, our heritage motor launches voyages across Sydney Harbour to cruise the lower Lane Cove River so that you can view the purple tide of Jacaranda trees blooming in the gardens of Hunters Hill and the North Shore. These gardens seen from the water give you an uninterrupted view of the shoreline as it was envisaged by some of the founding fathers of Hunters Hill, the Jouberts, who handed out trees in the 1860’s for the early inhabitants to plant in their gardens to enhance the new suburb. 

Highlights:

• Discover the hidden winding entrance to the Lane Cove River and the Humbug. 
• We pass Northwood Bay a favourite subject of Lloyd Rees paintings. 
• Hear about Mary Reiby’s Figtree house still standing on the bank of the river. 
• See where ongoing conflict between convict sawmillers and farmers and the Aboriginal resistance fighters occurred.
• We visit Woolwich where the change from a heavily industrialised harbour shoreline to public parks and premier residential areas has left sites such as Mort’s Dock cut into the sandstone cliffs. 
• Jacaranda Cruises are limited to the last week of October and the first three weeks of November - so please book early! 

 Explore Sydney’s northern foreshores where our guides will surprise you with forgotten stories of it

 This cruise focusses on the northern harbour between Bradleys Head and Balls Head, heading deeper into the bays and coves than commercial vessels can manage. Passengers will see the sites and hear the stories of the once extensive boat building and engineering that dominated the northern harbour; former sites of heavy industry that are now public parks and reserves; Aboriginal settlement; colonial defence installations; places of recreation and leisure (old and new), and places that have seen major Australian artistic achievement. 

Highlights:

• See “Once Upon a Time”– the house that crossed the harbour  and hear about the animals that did the same 
• See May Gibbs house, ‘Nutcote”, Brett Whiteley’s house and studio and Wendy’s secret garden. 
• Hear about the colonial enterprises of whaling, wool-scouring and warehousing, and Sydney’s worst maritime disaster. 
• See former waterfront industrial and defence sites now transformed for public access. 

 Cruise with us up close to the seven islands west of the harbour bridge!

We board our heritage motor launches which takes you around Goat and close to Berry islands before a short stop at Cockatoo Island to see the historic docks. West of Cockatoo Island the cruise includes Rodd, Snapper, and Spectacle islands. Our guides will tell you about the various purposes Sydneysiders and some interesting visitors have used these islands for! 

Highlights:

• Cruise from Darling Harbour to the Parramatta River, and Iron Cove bridge.
• Hear stories of gunpowder moving slowly west, see the results of convict labour, water police bases. 
• See a location of bacteriological research, rats and rabbits, and a famous French actress and her dogs. 
• Mid route, we disembark for a short stop to view the docks at Cockatoo island .

 Cruise the Parramatta River to uncover some of its history, and witness its changing uses along the way.

The Parramatta River is intrinsically linked to the life and culture of Aboriginal people and was the highway to nationhood for the early European settlers. We cruise towards Newington, highlighting landmarks along the way, and telling you the stories behind them. 

Highlights:

• See the birthplace of the Green Ban in Australia 
• The childhood home of a famous poet 
•  A little-known monument to a Sydney world champion 
•  Prestige redevelopment of former industrial sites 
• Former boatbuilding sites, large and small, heroic and hopeless, through peace and war 
• The hidden resting place of our best known Aboriginal man 
• The lasting legacy of a great philanthropist 

* We stop for lunch (not included). We recommend BYO food and drink which you can have on board.

* The cruise finishes back at Pyrmont after 2.00 pm depending on river traffic.

Explore the inner bays, islands and coves west of the bridge along the southern shore. 

Sydney Harbour ceased being our major working port when that role was transferred to Botany Bay. Some of this transformation is complete while much is still underway. See the remaining vestiges of the working waterfront alongside modern new construction as we take you deep into the bays and coves, west of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. One of the bays we explore in detail is Rozelle, where we see the SHF workshops, and many historic vessels including those being restored, before moving on through Blackwattle Bay on our return route. 

Highlights:

• Started with a dry dock, but they went on to build warships, pipes and locomotives 
• See where Palmolive and Protex soap was made alongside where our ferries now rest 
• View a heritage listed incinerator by the same designer as our capital city 
• Be visually transported to Scandinavia by multi coloured harbour front workshops 
• Pawnbroker’s three brass balls, or something else? and what does Ultimo mean?
• A bay named after a landowner, who with his wife was hanged for murder
• Circumnavigate an island that housed convicts, water police, gunpowder, harbour masters, the Maritime Service Board and a TV film set.

Experience the magic of cruising under steam aboard the 1902 vessels, Lady Hopetoun or Waratah . This unique Harbour cruise is designed to encourage understanding and appreciation of the history of Sydney Harbour.

Your cruise passes important and interesting sites around the harbour including Goat Island, Garden Island, Mort's Dock, Woolwich Dock, Spectacle, Snapper and Cockatoo Islands. 

An experienced Tour Guide will tell you about their historical significance to Sydney Harbour and the people of Sydney. Guests are invited to bring their own food and beverage for lunch.