For my last full day in Sydney, I decided to take a ferry to Manly. There I wanted to do a hike (recommended in my Lonely Planet book) and also hang out on the beach.
When I got up in the morning, it was overcast, but I trusted that it would clear up as the day went on! I caught the ferry at 9:30 and arrived in Manly around 10 AM. I decided to walk the short distance to the beach before I did the hike. There were some surfers already there, but I didn't see anyone swimming. Luckily, the cloudcover was starting to break up!
Then I did a hike (the "Manly Scenic Walkway") along the coastline and through part of Syndey Harbor National Park. The first part of it was sort of residential (there were houses built pretty close to the coastline) and I saw a TON of birds! (Too bad Nana and Sam weren't with me!) The most interesting ones that I could identify were lorikeets and cockatiels. It's so strange to see "exotic" birds like those just flying around in the trees! There were others too, including a couple interesting black and white ones -- about the size and shape of a crow.
The whole hike was supposed to take about 4 hours (and then you take a bus back to Manly), but I decided to just do part of it and then walk back. My end point was in the National Park -- this lookout point with gorgeous views of the water. The day was pretty HOT and I kept reapplying the sunscreen and tried to drink plenty of water. It was a beautiful walk, and the National Park had plenty of interesting trees and lizards.
Once I got back to Manly, I picked up some lunch at Subway (hey, it was cheap and relatively healthy!) and then went to the beach. By this time it was after 1 PM and there were many more people there.
The guide books make a big deal about making sure you swim in between the flags on the beach, and I found out why! I consider myself to be a pretty strong swimmer, but the currents were such that without even realizing it, suddenly you find yourself a long ways down the coast from where you went in the water! And the water isn't even very deep. I could always touch, with the exception of when a wave was rolling through.
The water was colder than I expected, but I got used to it! There were enough waves that you pretty much would just ride the waves or body surf -- there really wasn't a lot of time in between the swells to just float or hang out, and you needed to pay attention to the next one coming! I had a great time just frolicking!
After a little more than an hour, I decided to head back to Sydney. I'm trying to be really careful about sunburn (mostly successful) especially with my days on the Great Barrier Reef coming up!
When I got up in the morning, it was overcast, but I trusted that it would clear up as the day went on! I caught the ferry at 9:30 and arrived in Manly around 10 AM. I decided to walk the short distance to the beach before I did the hike. There were some surfers already there, but I didn't see anyone swimming. Luckily, the cloudcover was starting to break up!
Then I did a hike (the "Manly Scenic Walkway") along the coastline and through part of Syndey Harbor National Park. The first part of it was sort of residential (there were houses built pretty close to the coastline) and I saw a TON of birds! (Too bad Nana and Sam weren't with me!) The most interesting ones that I could identify were lorikeets and cockatiels. It's so strange to see "exotic" birds like those just flying around in the trees! There were others too, including a couple interesting black and white ones -- about the size and shape of a crow.
The whole hike was supposed to take about 4 hours (and then you take a bus back to Manly), but I decided to just do part of it and then walk back. My end point was in the National Park -- this lookout point with gorgeous views of the water. The day was pretty HOT and I kept reapplying the sunscreen and tried to drink plenty of water. It was a beautiful walk, and the National Park had plenty of interesting trees and lizards.
Once I got back to Manly, I picked up some lunch at Subway (hey, it was cheap and relatively healthy!) and then went to the beach. By this time it was after 1 PM and there were many more people there.
The guide books make a big deal about making sure you swim in between the flags on the beach, and I found out why! I consider myself to be a pretty strong swimmer, but the currents were such that without even realizing it, suddenly you find yourself a long ways down the coast from where you went in the water! And the water isn't even very deep. I could always touch, with the exception of when a wave was rolling through.
The water was colder than I expected, but I got used to it! There were enough waves that you pretty much would just ride the waves or body surf -- there really wasn't a lot of time in between the swells to just float or hang out, and you needed to pay attention to the next one coming! I had a great time just frolicking!
After a little more than an hour, I decided to head back to Sydney. I'm trying to be really careful about sunburn (mostly successful) especially with my days on the Great Barrier Reef coming up!
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