Visit to Manly Beach

I had big plans for the weekend, but things didn’t go as per script. Saturday turned out to be a real dampener with Mr. Rain putting up a strong show. We went out to go eat at the Indian Restaurant and then proceed somewhere (like Manly beach or the Aquarium) from there, but strong showers and gusty wind forced us to return back from the bus stop.

On Sunday we had plans to go to the Bondi beach on the Bondi Explorer, but that too had to be cancelled since Sridhar developed a bout of diarrhoea. So, I decided to hang around and ensure that he is fine first, and then after watching him having his breakfast followed by watching TV for a couple of hours, I decided to go to Manly beach in the afternoon, as I was not sure whether I would get another chance to visit this beautiful beach on a cracker of a summer day. Today also marked the first time I managed to prepare the food end-to-end, from rice to cutting vegetables (ok, carrot and onion) and preparing the actual curry (adding masala, turmeric and chilly powders). I would normally ask Sridhar to start the cooking (adding the required oil, salt that I feel I might goof up). Today, I managed to do without his help, though I did reconfirmed the steps with him.

As always, to go somewhere in Sydney, if you are taking the bus or the ferry, going to Circular Quay is the best bet. That is the central hub from where the bus and ferry service originate. If you want to take a train to somewhere, going to the Central station would be the best bet. Manly turned out to be yet another beautiful experience on a beautiful summer day. I am just plain lucky to be in Australia when the climate is at its best — spring followed by summer. I escaped the bout of really cool climate that some of my colleagues had to endure six months back. In Sydney, temperature rarely go sub zero, and mostly might hover well over zero. But the worst part is the strong chilly wind that blows incessantly from the ocean during winter. That requires the protection of heavy clothing that you can get away without, if the same temperature persisted in say a Bangalore (can happen) or Chennai (dream).

So, to cut a long story short, I took the ferry to the Manly Wharf, enjoyed the 40 odd min trip to the hilt, walked the short distance to reach the beautiful beach, spend an hour and a half at the beach, managed to walk from one end of the beach to the other (starting from the centre of the beach going to one end, coming back and then going to the other end and walking back..so that is twice the distance), spend some time at the family/kids’ beach next to the Manly wharf, and managed to catch the ferry (whose pix I took from near the Oceanworld as it was docking at the Manly Wharf) back to Circular Quay, and thanks to day light savings, though it was closer to 2000 hrs, the setting sun formed a beautiful backdrop to the Sydney skyline on the way back. Thankfully, got a bus to go home from the Quay within two minutes, and so managed to reach home in time for dinner.

Here is the link to the pix from the trip to Manly, taken using my brand new Sony Cybershot H50. I had almost made up my mind to buy Sony Cybershot T700 or T77, but Apple made me realize that if I need a good camera, it needs to have at least 10x optical zoom, and so the T series as of today, doesn’t quite cut it. Today was the first day out for the new camera, and I hope the pix have come out well, though the Sydney Harbour is much more beautiful in the mornings (when sunlight falls on the Harbour).

And here I am jotting down the events of the day, after a rather heavy dinner. Today also marked the last weekend we will be here in Sydney. Thanks for reading thus far. Have a great week ahead.