Manly Point sits to the far left of this gorgeous panorama which also features Little Manly and Spring Coves. Secluded Collins Flat Beach (to the left) is a favoured alternative to the tourist-packed Manly beach.

Balmoral boardwalk skirts an ocean pool it and provides a place for yachties to embark. Balmoral Beach also features a bather’s change pavilion, constructed in 1920, which now hosts the Bathers’ Pavilion restaurant.

Sydney Harbour’s North Head like it’s never been seen before. The RPA has come within 30m of the band cliff face, revealing it in great detail.

An expansive view of the ‘coat-hanger’ Sydney Harbour Bridge is flanked by Luna Park in the foreground and Sydney’s city skyline. A drone has created this stunning panoramic wonder by taking a number of photos while pivoting steadily on a central GPS point. The images were later digitally fused together.

From an elevated position Washaway beach is revealed as an untouched gem in the morning light.  With no track to the beach it’s accessible only by boat and covered by the ocean at high tide.

Fairlight Beach and tidal swimming pool. Drone technology has captured the interesting blue hues offered by the shallow waters off Fairlight Beach, a popular snorkelling location near Manly. 

Shark Beach, Vaucluse, offers a large shark-net protected bay, granting locals and day-trippers the chance to safely bathe on the southern shores of Sydney Harbour. Shark nets were first introduced to Sydney in 1937 to reduce the risk of shark attack off of Sydney’s most popular public bathing beaches.

RPA are capable of taking close-up yet expansive panorama shots like this one. The technology rotates around a GPS-determined point, taking several images that can be digitally stitched together to form jaw-dropping panoramas.

Grotto Point Lighthouse, perched on the headland adjacent to Dobroyd Bay, is located within in Sydney Harbour National Park and was erected in September 1911. The lighthouse is still an active beacon and can be accessed along the Manly scenic walkway.

Drone photography provides an extremely close aerial view of the military fortifications and gun emplacements at Sydney Harbour’s middle head. The fortifications were commissioned in 1870, after fear grew of a Russian invasion. The structure includes tunnels, cannons, gunpowder storage rooms, gun pits and underground hideaways which were also used during WWII. 

This image of Neilson Park and Shark Beach, Vaucluse, was shot after the drone took off from the headland hugging the bay. The Neilson Park kiosk, to the left, was built in 1914 and celebrated its centenary last year.

The difficulty in attaining an RPA licence with the Australian Governments Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) remains one of the main reasons unique photographs, such as this, are yet to be snapped of Sydney Harbour. An Unmanned-Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operator certificate also has to be obtained, and at present there are held by a mere 100 Australian operators. 

Built in 1858 and perched on the cliff top of Sydney Harbour’s south head, Hornby Lighthouse, was built after the wrecking of Dunbar at the base of the head in 1857, with loss of 121 lives. Here, drone photography provides magnificent images of NSW’s third lighthouse, at an angle un-achievable by aircraft or boat. 

Shark Beach on Sydney Harbour’s southern side is a popular swimming spot. The surf club, which was formerly a surf lifesaving club, offers great views looking out onto Sydney city’s skyline and Bradleys Head to the harbour’s north. 

Andrew Gregory has captured Australian culture from the air at Little Manly Beach. Kids jump from the pontoon at the angle of the ocean pool, leaving impressions of bubbling splashes on the teal waters of Manly Cove. 

Angles unseen in prior photography; drones reveal beautiful compositions from low-enough elevations that blur borders between aerial and ground shots. The Pacific Ocean vanishes into the horizon, Manly CBD is dotted with Norfolk Island Pines in the mid-ground and the foreground features Manly Ferry Terminal, where travellers disembark for summer swims.   

As if afloat on a sea of green jelly, the yachts and luxury boats of Forty-baskets Beach at Balgowlah Heights, are captured up-close and in stunning high resolution. Drones enable such clarity in images due to the short-distance restriction limit of 30m imposed on their flight.

Hidden beaches are revealed, like Washaway Beach near Grotto Point on Sydney’s north side. Sightseers on the manly scenic walk can barely get a glimpse of the beach through the trees.