We woke up this morning determined to spend a day at the beach and we weren’t going to let anything stop us. We checked the weather report, which called for mostly cloudy with a chance of showers for today and thunderstorms all day tomorrow, so we thought “What the hell!” and we headed over to the train in our swimsuits and covers with bags packed with towels and sunscreen...you never know, the weather report can occasionally be wrong! When we stepped outside, it was cloudy, cool, and sprinkling, but overall not terrible weather.
We took the train over to Circular Quay by the harbour yet again (we really know our way around this area of town by now) and (with flat whites in our hands!) hopped on the ferry that would take us over to the town of Manly on the North Shore and the famous Manly Beach. It was about a 45-minute ride over to Manly and the rain had stopped and blue sky was trying to peak through the clouds, so we sat outside on the ride over and enjoyed the scenery.
Once we arrived in Manly, we wandered down the main street amid the restaurants and shops until suddenly we reached the end of the road and the beach was spread out in front of us.
Because the weather wasn’t ideal for most, the beach wasn’t crowded at all, so we wandered through the sand until we found the perfect spot to set up our towels. Despite the clouds, you could feel the sun’s rays on you, so we lathered up with sunscreen and proceeded to lay out and doze with the sound of the ocean in the background, feeling the warm sea breeze on our faces, and smelling the salt in the air.
(A beautiful day after all)
The sun proceeded to peak through the clouds more and more as time went on and eventually we were both warm enough that a swim was in order. The water felt fantastic and the waves were quite strong. We were warned about a major riptide just to the side of the designated swim area and more than once we found ourselves drifting in that direction as the waves tossed us around...it became easy to see how dangerous the currents could be if you weren’t aware of them!
Finally we had had enough and our faces were slightly pink, so we packed up and wandered back down the street in search of something to eat. A great thing about Australia is that it is a huge melting pot of people, so we have eaten a different type of cuisine almost every day that we’ve been here. This afternoon, we decided to stop at a Middle Eastern shop and got some fantastic kabobs. By this time, the clouds had cleared and sun was shining, so we took our food out into the courtyard on the street to eat. Maybe not our best plan because all it took was the short time we sat there eating for the pinkness in our faces (and now the rest of our bodies) to redden up a bit more. We decided to get out of the sun by wandering in and out of some of the shops until we finally made our way back to the ferry dock. We sat basking in the sun on the way back to Sydney (continuing to contribute to our redness, although we did apply more sunscreen when we got on the boat) and finally arrived back in Circular Quay.
We headed back to the hostel and showered and changed to go back out and grab dinner. On the first half-day we spent in Sydney before heading off to New Zealand, we had wandered past a pub in the back streets of The Rocks called Hero of Waterloo. Then, when we were on our ghost tour the first night we spent in the city, our guide told us that this was one of the oldest pubs in Sydney. In fact, he told us about how back in the 1800‘s, the barman used to poison young men just enough to make them sick and pass out, then he would drag them through the basement of the pub, through a secret tunnel and down to the harbour where he would sell the men to a ship captain who would then press the men into service once they recovered and found themselves out to sea. With a pub with that much history, we knew we had to check it out!
We had some pints and snacks at the pub and visited with some friendly Aussies who were also having a drink and struck up conversations with the two Irish bartenders. We met two mates who were more than happy to give us a detailed lesson on Australian politics and answer our questions about Australia and the British monarchy. Before we knew it, it was past 11 pm and we needed to head back to catch the last train back to King’s Cross. We got home and climbed into bed to rest up so we could enjoy our last day in Sydney.
Night!
Jess and Erin
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