Fairlight, New South Wales

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Fairlight is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Fairlight, postcode 2094, is a small suburb between Balgowlah and Manly. It lies on both sides of Sydney Road which is one of the gateways into the Northern Beaches. It also is home to Manly golf club, a cemetery and Manly West Public school (but see below). Probably Fairlight's most notable attraction is Fairlight Beach. Fairlight Beach is located on the popular Manly Scenic Pathway in Sydney Harbour, which can be followed for some kilometres to the Spit Bridge. Fairlight Beach is a popular swimming and snorkelling spot for visitors and tourists alike and is visited by many hundreds of people per day in the Christmas-New Year holiday. Fairlight Beach is also a great vantage point to view harbour yacht races. Fairlight Beach experiences light harbour swells and southerly winds but is unsurfable, though swells were recorded up to 2m high after Hurricane Larry. It should not to be thought of as a surfing beach, as the shore is rocky and the break unpredictable. Shortly after World War II, a submarine moored at Manly was carried around there by a storm, and wrecked off the beach. Most if not all of the parts were salvaged by the 1960s.

The beach is notable for the shell grit that makes up most of the sand (largely missing from the beaches on either side and for a small rock pool that usually has 1.8 metres of water in it. At high tide, waves break over the walls and freshen the pool.

Strictly speaking, Fairlight was originally only the area near the beach where Fairlight House once stood, and the suburb at the top of the hill was called Red Hill, due to the red gravel surface that Sydney Road had before World War II (it has long since been concreted). Red Hill is a common name, used in other places, and in practical terms, Fairlight has covered a far larger area for at least 50 years, reaching over the Sydney Road ridge and north down to Balgowlah Road. The western boundary of Fairlight is Hill Street, putting Manly West school in Balgowlah, if you want to split hairs or get mail delivered.

One of the nicest parts of Fairlight is the walk through it which is part of the Manly-Spit walk, mentioned above. Walk off Manly Wharf and turn left, following your nose and the occasional signs, but take water and food, as this is a 2 to 3-hour walk, more if you stop for a swim.