Written by Nicole McMahon
Turimetta Beach sits quietly between Warriewood and Narrabeen, and the walk down to it gives you the whole coast at once. The headland above is a bushland reserve and a Wildlife Protection Area, a coastal heath of coast banksia, coast tea tree, scaly barked she oak and coastal rosemary standing over a carpet of kangaroo grass. The banksias flower through winter, so this is the season the honeyeaters and the lorikeets come for them, and you hear the headland before you see what is in it. That kangaroo grass matters more than it looks. The Themeda grassland on headlands like this one is listed as endangered in New South Wales, which means the soft green carpet underfoot is one of the rarer things on the Sydney coast.
On the sand below, people were doing the simplest possible things. Walking the headland tracks. Taking their time along the beach. Sitting down for a while to hear the waves come in. All the telltale signs of spring, so close to arriving in our hearts for another memorable time of year. Turimetta is not a secret exactly, but it is quiet, and quiet is the whole point of it. If you go, the headland tracks are the view and the beach is the reward, and next door at Narrabeen Head there is an Aquatic Reserve, which means the water you are looking at is protected too.
An Earth to Sea News original. By Nicole McMahon. Photography by Oliver Strewe.
Our short take: written at Turimetta on 28 August 2026. Reserve and species details from Northern Beaches Council's reserve and Themeda grassland pages. Words and field notes: Nicole McMahon. Photographs: Oliver Strewe.
- NSW BioNet: Themeda grassland on seacliffs and coastal headlandsThe endangered community growing on the headland.
