Friday, November 13th
A few months ago a colleague from Mel’s work, Liz, moved to Sydney so we had arranged to meet up for coffee while we were here. We arranged to meet her near where we had joined the free tour yesterday at City Hall which has a number of places to eat and drink nearby including the QVB and, as we saw yesterday, in the shopping areas below the street.
So it was up to us to fill the rest of our last day here in Sydney and I could not help but suggest to Mel that we go to Manly. I felt that my visit to Manly last year was somewhat short-changed as I was not able to go swimming and I really did not have a lot of time to soak up the relaxed but interesting atmosphere. We had been thinking about trying to get to Bondi but looking at the transport situation it was not really all that great - We could walk from a ferry terminal in the harbour, take a train then walk for several miles, or take a bus for a long ride through the middle of town. None of these options appealed so with the idea we could take the ferry through the rest of the harbour that Mel had not yet seen this pretty much settled the case for Manly. We will, however, have to return to get to Bondi which I would say is the most famous beach in Australia (I did pass through it during the visit with my mother in 1999 but we did not stop to look around at all) - We watch several “reality” shows on television based in Bondi including “Bondi Vet” so this has certainly made Mel even more interested to go and have a look as well but, for now, this will have to wait.
Having had McDonald’s yesterday today we stepped up the quality a bit to have breakfast at a local bistro next door to the hotel. A small place with a couple of tables on the pavement and a few more inside along the right hand wall this was more of a place for people to take their breakfast away but we found a table right at the back where we are able to relax and watch the locals come and go while we ate. We both had rather nice bacon sandwiches that we saw in one of the deli cases. Being a bit of a “hip” place I also had a fruit smoothy and Mel had a coffee both of which were very nice.
The trip to Manly is quite straightforward but we were running low on our transport (Opal) cards so at Kings Cross we headed back to the kiosk where we had purchased them to top-up but there was rather a large queue so I ended up using a simple machine to add $20 onto each of our cards.
Not in a hurry we once again got off the train at Martin Place station to walk up to Circular Quay. I had to get money anyway so I used a bank machine along the way. It was a nice sunny day and it was 1030, well after the morning rush, so the walk was quite enjoyable.
The big thing to do in Sydney, I think is to take the ferry through the harbour. Sure, like we did yesterday to Darling Harbour but the best Sydney views are going in the other direction - Out the main part of the harbour towards the ocean. The Manly ferry leaves from Circular Quay with many reminders that for those of us using Opal cards they do not have to touch out - Only touch in (on the trains you have to touch the card when you enter the train station and when you leave at the destination station). It was quite crowded but we were able to get a seat outdoors on one side of the boat. From here Mel was able to get a number of pictures as we passed through the harbour on our 45 minute trip.
Leaving Circular Quay we passed around the opera house then the small Fort Denison island (where you can get the expensive New Years fireworks ticket I mentioned yesterday) then past the Taronga Zoo on the north side of the harbour barely visible between the trees covering it, then HMAS Watson, the navy base on the south side of the harbour with several large naval ships moored alongside.
Certainly the harbour is the center of the city with many people wanting to live on the water - Houses are visible in every cove that we passed and there are a lot of inlets most of which have a small stretch of sandy beach. Hard to believe we are in such a busy harbour.
Several of the faster Manly ferries (which cost considerably more) passed us as we made our final approach into Manly which is located at the end Sydney harbour - Leave the harbour you can either turn left and go around the corner to reach Manly beach or turn right and go around the corner to get to Bondi beach.
The Manly ferry terminal is quite large and today was also quite busy. We quickly passed by the various stalls selling flowers, souvenirs and fast food then out of the terminal to cross the street onto “The Corso” which a largely pedestrianised road that links the terminal on the harbour side of Manly with the surfing beach on the ocean side. The Corso really has the feeling of an old-time seaside town with fast food outlets, bars, and souvenir shops but it is also going a bit more upscale with trendy fashion shops and fancy bars.
I still like it - Particularly the sushi and fresh fish.
We stopped by a shop to pick up a “Manly Beach” towel - It had been a bit of a decision as to whether we would swim or not so we had not “borrowed” one from the hotel but packed our swimsuits just in case. The sun was out so we decided to at least lay on the beach though the clouds looked very dark overhead.
The main Manly beach is a long curved beach that is primarily used by sun worshippers with the water full of surfers even today with the surf being quite rough. Leaving the Corso we took the steps down to the sand and made it about 50 feet before spreading out our lovely new towel. I promptly put my backpack down and used it as a pillow with my hat over my eyes and my now bare feet pointing towards the water about 30 feet distant (I don’t like to use my sandals in a city as I am not sure what I might stub my toes on so I tend to wear shoes around even if it is hot).
Mel was promptly off to the toilets to get changed into her swimsuit to have a bit of a dip.
The water was very cold and, as I have said, rough so it was not so much a swim but just a bit of a short, slow walk…and cringing.
I was just absorbing the heat of the sun…but, eventually, just sitting was not enough so I relented and changed into my swimsuit and went for a bit of a plunge myself. I tried it first with a bit of wading to see if it was too cold to actually get into but I returned to the towel to drop my top off then headed back out. Though cold at first I quickly got used to it and was fully wet and enjoying myself in a few minutes. I never got out too far and my feet always were able to touch the bottom as the water was really moving quite quickly. I loved just pushing myself over the waves as they came in…When I left the water I was approached by a lifeguard and chastised for swimming - He pointed out the signs that, to be honest, I had thought only a warning and not a prohibition (“Danger Strong Current” with a picture of s a swimmer in the middle and a red circle with a diagonal through it - as in “no swimming”), along the beach about not swimming. He was not happy with me. The only swimming he said was in the flagged off area which I had trouble spotting - it was a section of the beach at the far south end (we were nearer to the middle) around about, I kid you not, 20 feet wide and, understandably, jammed with people. I was, of course, a bit miffed about being told off though, of course, he was completely correct. I was thinking about the other people I had been watching going into the water and generally doing what I was doing with not a word spoken to them - Though, perhaps, it could be said I was more swimming rather than simply walking around in the water a bit. I guess the lifeguards make this distinction though I would have thought “swimming” means going in the water at all…Oh well.
We sat for a few more minutes for both of us to dry before we decided to move on. The sun was now behind the clouds and it was getting a bit chilly. It looked a lot like the rain was going to start any minute now. As we got up I noticed that my feet looked VERY red and Mel told me that they were, quite obviously, badly burned. Considering I had only been in the direct sun for about 30 minutes this was not very good. We have both been using sun cream every day with today being no exception though I did not apply any to my feet…at my cost, it seems.
The toilets here are, of course, suitable for changing in with small stalls with a bench that you can use for this purpose though the door to the stall I used did not close so it meant me having to try to hold the door while I changed.
Last year I had picked up some sushi for take away from a place along The Corso really cheap as they were closing but it was so good I wanted to visit again but this time we ate in. From the street the store has a series of glass coolers that you can buy sushi out of but in the back is actually a small “conveyor”-style sushi restaurant so we sat down and helped ourselves. Other than it being a bit expensive it was very tasty and very fresh.
We continued back along The Corso towards the ferry terminal. We still had our “Manly Sea Life Sanctuary” ticket to use that we had purchased with our “Sydney Aquarium” ticket yesterday. The sanctuary is on the other side of a small sandy beach between it and the ferry terminal inside the harbour so we made our way along to it. There are signs along the beach: “Little Penguin Area”. I am not sure why there would be penguins here or where they would go. It is just the public beach (where several people were swimming), a small grass park with trees, then a busy road and a bunch of hotels. Perhaps they are guests in one of the hotels?
The sanctuary is in a small circular building at the end of the beach. As we arrived at the sanctuary it was just beginning to rain so it was good timing. When we handed over our tickets we were told to hurry to see the penguins being fed “up stairs” so we quickly headed in walked through a few exhibits and climbed the stairs up to the large open area on the top of the building that houses a big tank and about 50 or so “Little Penguins”. As we arrived people in the seated area were just getting up - We had unfortunately missed the feeding but we had a look the penguins for a few minutes anyway (they are very cute) before heading back down the stairs.
The sanctuary had a lot of more talks and demonstrations than at the Aquarium yesterday so we spent our time going from talk to talk during our visit. We started with a keeper feeding the fish in the various tanks on the main floor. She began with the small seahorses that, evidently, live in Sydney harbour then she moved along to the cuttlefish (which have to be one of my favourites as they are so interesting looking) then to the large main tank in the middle of the room that has a number of reef fish as well as several small rays.
When she was putting food into this big tank she used a tube to push the food into so that it got to where the rays were at the bottom of the tank otherwise the rest of the fish would have eaten it before it got to them.
In the basement they have a very large tank with a lot of sharks and very large rays in it that you can walk through.
We were lucky to get there for a talk being given by a keeper about the fish in the tank. He told us all about the various species and the particular fish they have here that they know by name.
One of the large turtles had arrived in the sanctuary with damage to it’s shell that has been fixed and is protected by a large slab of plastic. Evidently the turtle often scrapes it off and it has to be replaced and, additionally, the damage to the shell means that often there is air in the shell causing the turtle to be overly buoyant and having trouble diving down to swim or eat.
Mel enjoyed the rock pool and, on my urging, had a go at “petting” a sea urchin. Rather an odd animal to be petting, to be sure, but certainly interesting.
By the time we were ready to leave the rain was coming down very hard and there were a number of people huddled around the entrance looking out into it trying to figure out what to do.
Mel and I, being used to London, had umbrellas as well as waterproof jackets. We paused for a few minutes then decided it was not going to finish any time soon and quickly made our way back down the beach to catch the ferry. There were a number of large puddles outside of the ferry terminal that we tried to avoid as we made our way to a McDonald’s there - We were dying for a nice cool drink so we ordered two large “frozen cokes” ($1 each) - Not slurpees but pretty good.
Tomorrow we are leaving for the airport quite early in the morning to pick up our rental car for the rest of our visit here so we were looking for something for breakfast. In the ferry terminal there was an Aldi (supermarket) so we had a look but nothing really grabbed us. To be honest I was thinking sushi (can’t get enough of it here - it is so fresh and tasty). We headed towards the end of the pier to where the ferry arrives. One had just left so we were first at the gate for the arrival of the next ferry. With the number of people on the ferry over from Circular Quay earlier we were determined to have the best seats on this boat for the return trip so we made for the front as soon as it arrived. Of course, it was still raining off and on so, in fact, there was not really a great crush of people wanting to sit outside at the front.
We did get our bench seat there though and only had to leave it to seek cover just before we arrived back at Circular Quay.
We were supposed to meet Liz at something like 6 pm so we were in a bit of a hurry, catching the train from Circular Quay to the “Town Hall” stop. We ended up arriving in plenty of time so we ducked into a Woolworth’s that is opposite where we were meeting. I was happy to be given a sample of some delicious sushi when we arrived but it was quite amazing to see this store - Much nicer and selling a lot more things that I remember from Woolie’s when it was in the UK. The main floor has snacks and general goods while the basement is actually a supermarket. The place was crawling with commuters picking up things before heading home.
In retrospect, if we had realized about the weather, we would not have arranged to meet in the middle of a park but, as it was, we stood under the trees in the driving rain waiting for her to arrive. When she did we quickly tried to decide where it might be best to go. Mel and I were thinking perhaps something to eat but we eventually figured just drinks would be fine. We followed a staircase down out of the rain to a shopping centre under the square where we had been waiting to see what they had. Many of the shops were closing up (I suppose the business day was done and people were going home) and nothing really caught our interest. We ended up heading over to the Queen Victoria Building to a Starbucks. Finding a table at the back Mel and Liz were catching up as I went to get the drinks. We talked to Liz about what it was like to live in Sydney. We had been finding it quite expensive and she agreed, describing her shared flat as absolutely awful for the money particularly as her pay is not all that great She is not happy so is talking about moving back to where she was born, New Zealand, very shortly. It was only a short visit before we said our goodbyes.
Mel and I returned to the street to visit a pharmacy. She wanted some “lemsip” for a cold she could feel coming on and we also wanted to see a pharmacist about the burn on my feet to get a suggestion as to what we could do about it. He found us some gel that he said we could apply.
Now about 8 pm, we were keen to get back to the hotel and find something to eat but first had to find our breakfast for tomorrow morning. Returning to Woolworths I picked up some of that delicious sushi I had sampled earlier, and orange juice. Mel got a chicken pesto sandwich, and some ice tea. Knowing that we are going to be on the road for a few days for our drive down to Melbourne we also picked up some snacks including local (Australian) peanuts, apples, pears and a small plastic container full of different types of baby tomatoes. Loaded up we made our final trip back to Kings Cross.
On the way to the hotel we stopped by a Subway for a sub then we ordered a taxi for a 7:30 (shudder) pick up tomorrow. One thing I don’t like about travelling is you are always packing up and leaving somewhere - Arriving and unpacking is fine, it is the leaving that is never very nice.