Manly

I rarely went to Manly when I lived in Sydney.

Living in Coogee, there never seemed to be much reason to go North of the harbour.  I had everything I needed in my self contained suburb, so the idea of spending over an hour and a half each way to go up to Manly seemed unnecessary.  The few times I was in Manly was for a specific event or because there was a particular reason.  Otherwise, I was perfectly happy to stay in the South.  On this trip, there was more reason to make this treacherous journey North of the Bridge.  One of the best things to do when visiting Sydney is to spend some time on the ferries in the harbour.  Riding on the ferries give some brilliant views of the whole city, as well as the Opera House and Bridge.  Going further out into the Harbour, you also get the impressive view of the Sydney Heads which guarded the entry into the Harbour from the Pacific Ocean.  Since we had the time, I thought a ride out to Manly would give us the best views we were looking for.  We jumped on one of the fast ferries, and after only half an hour we were at Manly.  When you arrive at Manly, there are some small beaches next to the ferry terminal.  I remembered years ago that my old housemates had made a trip out to Manly and complained that the beach there was "so small".  I was confused by that, until I realised that it was this small beach next to the ferry terminal which they thought was the "famous" Manly beach.  Thankfully, I knew that this was not the big beach.  We went for a short walk through the Corso and were soon standing on Manly's long beach.

The beach at Manly really is incredibly long.  It doesn't have the same size and scale as Bondi, but it stretches out to be an even longer beach.  It was a very full day down at the beach.  I had been quite surprised this summer by the newfound love of the cabanas.  Being sun smart had always been an important part of Australian culture since I was a kid, but the next step had clearly now been taken.  It had been a strange sight to see, the Australian beaches covered with the cabanas instead of the beach towels.  It was probably a good thing all things considered. 

We went for a swim, though with the tide out, we had a wade quite far out before the water started to rise up enough for us to enjoy the wave jumping.  The waves were rough and inconsistent.  I wanted to go a little bit further out, but I was worried about Veronica who was still a novice at dealing with the Australian surf.  We decided to head back in and found a nice cafe for coffees and some very late breakfast food.  Eating my bircher muesli full of fruit felt nourishing and satisfying.  Everything just tasted so fresh and I was already starting to dread the thought of going back to Hong Kong, with everything shipped in.  After this relaxing time, we decided to head back to the city.  We took the slower ferry this time.  We switched back and forth between the front and the back, looking out towards the Heads and into the city itself.  The sky was blue and the views were uninterrupted.

It had been a nice day out in Manly.  I enjoyed the trip, but I remembered again why I used to never visit.  It was such a long distance to travel.  I thought about friends like Jon who used to live out in Manly and who would do the daily commute into the city.  These long commutes were something I didn't miss about Sydney.