Manly

We have just returned from a night with my Friday night friends.  We celebrated Jason and Amanda’s birthdays and had a general good time.

Friday started off with a breakfast of vegemite toast for Jason and Rebecca (I cut it in to quarters so they could try it – I ended up eating half and throwing away the majority of Jason’s piece).  I headed off to a meeting with a few people from the Uni International Students Office while Jason and Rebecca got ready for the day.  While I was out they got ready, and around 10:45 we headed out to City Road to catch a bus down to Circular Quay.  We made it down just in time to catch the 11:30 Manly (a northern suburb located across the harbor) ferry.  The trip took about half an hour and provided great views of the city as well as Headland Park, Tania Park, and Sydney Harbour National Park.

Once we were on land, we headed to lunch at Nando’s, located at the wharf.  Lunch was good, despite some close encounters with some bold seagulls.

Rebecca at Nandos for lunch, showing off our flavour selections: mild (R), medium (J), and hot (M).

After lunch we headed down The Corso, a pedestrian mall stretching the two blocks from the wharf on the Harbour at Manly Cove to Manly Beach on the Pacific Ocean.  The beach is known for its waves which draw surfers in droves.  While the weather was a bit brisk, there were still many surfers in the water enjoying the waves which washed ashore with astounding regularity every few seconds.  From the beach we began a walk along the rocky coast toward the east – a peninsula which juts out into the Pacific and forms one side of the mouth of Sydney Harbour.  Our first stop was Shelly Beach, followed by Shelly Beach Park, which afforded cliff-top views out into the Ocean.

We turned inland (following the instructions of the guidebook) and walked down Bower Street past luxury homes lined along the steep slope looking out to the Pacific.  We took a left up College Street which led toward the International College of Management (housed in the former St. Patrick’s Seminary Building, an imposing stone edifice from the 1880s which is visible from almost anywhere in Manly).  We wended our way up the hill toward the building before turning down Darley Road, past Manly Hospital, and under an old stone arch marking the entrance to Sydney Harbour National Park.  The walk took us down Collins Beach Road which wound down through dense forest to Collins Beach, an isolated beach on Spring Cove.  The walk then continued back up the hill and down Stuart Street to Little Manly Point before rounding out the walk back to the wharf around Little Manly Beach.  Before we caught the 3:45 ferry we got some gelato at the wharf.

The ferry got to Circular Quay at 4:15 and we headed straight for the buses back toward Broadway.  We stopped by the grocery to pick up a few items for the night before walking home and cleaning up a bit to head over the Candice, Kylie, and Amanda’s house for the evening.  Despite a bit of hassle waiting for the bus, we finally made it to their place around 6:45 and had a great evening hanging out and eating (homemade pizzas and cake for Jason and Amanda’s birthdays).

Now Jason and I are looking at options for tomorrow – we plan to go to the Blue Mountains!