A Day at the Beach!!

Tuesday March 26 was a picture perfect day.  The sun gods had returned to Sydney!  The humidity was gone, there was bright blue sky, and the temperature reached a high of 26C.  A perfect day to go to the beach, which we did!!

We decided that it was so nice out that we would walk to Circular Quay to catch the ferry to Manly Beach.

We had been told that one of the best places for coffee is a place called The Grounds of Alexandria--- it is a bit far away but our Free Tour guide said that his favourite place was The Grounds of the City, which is run by the same people and has their coffee.  It is located in The Galeries, an up-scale shopping mall just a block from the Queen Victoria Building.  The new Grounds was nearly three years in the making and it is done in an old-school style.  It serves elaborate breakfasts, lunches and dinners.  We just had a take-out coffee, which was excellent.

Very elaborate place
"To Perfect & Serve"-- great motto


So nice to sit outside with our coffee 
Alain with his favourite drink

We then went over to the Strand to visit Dinosaur Designs- one of my favourite stores (resin bracelets that I usually get in NYC).
The Strand 1891

Beautiful arcade


Small demo for Dockworkers
We caught the 1:30 p.m. ferry for Manly.  The ferry costs $15.02 return and one can use the OPAL card.  We found out that you never pay more than $15.80 a day for transport in the City.   When we took the train back to our apartment, we only had to pay 78 cents more on our card (very bizarre system and strange fare numbers).
On the ferry-- big cruise ship in the harbour


Sydney Bridge
Opera House from the boat


Yours truly


Coming into Manly

Manly Wharf




There are a number of beaches in Manly.  We first stopped for a sandwich on the Corso (the main street) and then walked five minutes to Manly beach.  While we were having our sandwich, a man noticed my Blue Jays hat and came over to chat.  He was from Toronto but has lived in Manly for the past 15 years.  He told us where to go on the beach and also suggested that we later take the short walk over to Shelly beach (so named as there are shells mixed in with the sand), which is a lovely small beach area.  He told us that on Sundays, when the OPAL fare is only $2.70, there can be up to 30,000 people on the beach.  There also was a surfing contest last weekend that attracted thousands. 
Yikes!  Glad we went on a Tuesday.

Manly Beach-- a beautiful sandy beach

View back to paid umbrella part
We spent a few hours relaxing at Manly--- the water was very warm and I went in for a while.  

At around 4:30 p.m., we decided to walk over to Shelly Beach.   We passed a sign regarding the protection of Water Dragons (a new beast for us).   About two minutes later, we saw one!!

Protect Our Water Dragons

A Water Dragon---- very cool
There were a number of beautiful homes overlooking the beach.

Homes en route

Heading to Shelly Beach

"Pool" area en route-- kids swimming
Around the corner from Shelly Beach

Shelly Beach was a lovely protected cove with deep enough water to swim.  No surf.   I went in for a swim.  Water a bit cooler than Manly Beach, but still very nice for swimming.


Shelly beach

Another view

At about 5:30 p.m. there were some kayak races 
We headed back to catch the 6:45 ferry.  Most people were out of the water just after 5:30 p.m. except for some long distance swimmers.

Manly beach at around 6:00 p.m.
We wandered through the town and got to the Ferry by around 6:30 p.m.
Manly Wharf at around 6:30 p.m.

Sunset over Sydney Harbour Bridge

Another Cruise ship heading out
View of Sydney Tower and downtown


View back at the city

Opera House lit up

Just before we arrived at 7:15 p.m.-- view across the water from Circular Quay



We stopped to buy some fish (very nice John Dory) for dinner.   It was a perfect beach day in March.

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 27, 2019 at 4:21 PM

    Oh my why did we leave this place! So happy you are having fun!

    ReplyDelete

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