On 10 January 1915, Duke Kahanamoku waded into the water at Freshwater Beach carrying a surfboard he had shaped from a piece of sugar pine. What followed effectively introduced surfing to Australia. A life-size statue of Kahanamoku stands on the northern headland – a quiet marker for something that changed the country's relationship with the ocean.
The beach itself sits between two headlands within the Manly-Freshwater National and World Surfing Reserve. A fifty-metre saltwater pool occupies the northern end. Freshwater Village, just behind the dunes, is worth the detour after.
About 25 minutes on foot from Elysium Manly.
