Sydney- Last Day

Hello friends and family,

This will be our last post from Australia.  We leave Sydney tomorrow at lunch time. Our return flights take us back to Auckland, then to Los Angeles. Since we're getting in to LAX quiteat the late tomorrow evening, we opted to stay overnight at the airport and return home on Thanksgiving Day. 

It was a quick Starbucks breakfast today, as we had a good bit of sightseeing we wanted to accomplish.  Also, we noticed that food prices are EXTREMELY HIGH in our touristy area by the harbor, so Starbucks was an economical choice. 

Our Aussie friend, Sam, in Hood River told us before we left home that we must visit his favorite spot, Manly Beach, while we were in Sydney. We promised that we would, so this is for you, Sam!  Circular Quay (pronounced "key") is where you pick up the ferries. In fact, it is a very nicely organized transportation hub right at the harbor with trains, buses, ferries, taxis, and cruise ships to suit every traveler's need. It's also idiot proof. Everything is spelled out exceptionally clearly and laid out in such a way that you would have to work pretty hard to screw it up. 

We hopped on the ferry for the lovely thirty minute ride to Manly Beach. Our ferry was packed to the brim with tourists speaking more languages than we could identify. 

We all used sign language to assist one another take pics of the great views of the harbor as we sailed.  One person of note we met on board was a charming Englishman named Selwyn who was here visiting his daughter and her family. She had just delivered a grandson, and he came to visit and welcome him.  We hung out with him on the ferry both coming and going. He kindly offered to take our picture. 

Once we disembarked at Manly Beach, we referred to a "must see/do" list our Sydney friends, Tony and Karen from the the cruise ship, organized for us. They told us to first walk through the wharf area and down along the Main Street in town known as the Corso. This street was originally laid out in the 1840s as a boardwalk thoroughfare for tourists between the wharf and the beach. It has no vehicular traffic, and now serves as a pedestrian-lined mall of shops, pubs, and restaurants and general place to meet and greet.  Here's how it looked as we walked along...

We then reached the main beach. There are several in Manly, but most of the hubbub and activity centers around the large one at the center of town. On this day, there were surfers galore. Lots of experienced ones, but also many groups of younger kids who appeared to be participating in surf camp or summer group activities. We went and sat on the beach for a while to take it all in...

The next thing our friends told us to do was to take a stroll along the Fairy Bower.  I am so glad we did!  This was a stunningly scenic walkway which has been fashioned along the beach, using both natural and man-made elements. Along the way, we encountered the native "water dragons" scurrying about on the rocks...

The rock pool in Cabbage Tree Bay, built by locals in the 1920s...

Unique eco-sculptures and info about the local land and aquatic life...

And, in general, beautiful vistas...

The walkway goes on for quite a long stretch, and we didn't have time to complete it all, so we retraced our steps back to the wharf and had a quick lunch at the Wharf Bar, local hangout extraordinaire. From here, we could view the ferries dispatching tourists to and from, the ships at bay, the hustle and bustle of daily life in this little beach town. 

Not sure we have remarked yet on how odd it is to be here listening to American Christmas carols in late November while applying suntan lotion...

We'll have to complete today's adventures in our next posting, as we ran out of time for now. More later!

With love, 

David and Karen