Down a shady track behind the old police college, a still beach where a little freshwater cascade trickles onto the sand and penguins have been known to visit. Birdlife is everywhere: brush turkeys scratching about in the leaf litter, cockatoos free falling out of the canopy and lorikeets playing in the branches, such a lovely find. Good to know: no facilities, just calm water and quiet, which is the whole point.
Collins Beach
A quiet little beach in the bush, ten minutes on foot from the Manly ferry.