Are you Manly Enough for Manly?

After a very warm day in Sydney, the temperature had dropped to more human levels – about 25c. While no cloudy, there was a haze earlier today which was quite thick.

Because it was “cooler” and because Michael was being picked up at 3:00 to get together with a gaming acquaintance, we took a trip to Manly Beach. To get there, it is recommended to take the ferry so we caught the ferry at the end of the street to Circular Quay and then the ferry to Manly.

It was too cool to say at outside on the ferry but the ride was very pleasant. Upon pulling up to Manly Wharf, Michael was disappointed with what we believed was the beach. We soon learned that it wasn’t the beach.

There is a pedestrian only walk with stores, mainly beach related down to the beach. The beach itself, appeared longer than Bondi. There was swimming area at each end. It wasn’t a crowded although it was early Wednesday morning.

After walking to the far end of the beach, we both took some time in the water. The water was cold but after being in the water a while, it was comfortable. Again, it is surprising how shallow the water is but it is also very clear. You can walk out quite far into the water except that the waves become quite large.

Since Michael had plans for the evening, I went grocery shopping and then I headed downtown for the evening. Being such a lovely evening, there were lots of sailing boats.

Not unexpectedly, the shops in the downtown were already closed by the time I arrived so I headed back to the Circular Quay to get a meal by the water. After dinner, I had planned on walking to Lady MacQuaries Chair where there is a lovely location where you can get the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House in one shot. Unfortunately, the path from the Opera House to Lady MacQuaries Chair was closed because there is an open air movie event in the area. I then tried another route but it was also a dead end. I did however see some interesting creatures – bats. They were coming from the Royal Botanical Garden. Some were quite large.

As it was getting late, I returned to Circular Quay to wait for my ride back to Double Bay. This gave me an opportunity to take some night shots of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Hope you enjoy my artistic photos.