Manly Beach, NSW, Australia

An Afternoon in Manly, March 17, 2014

We only had two days pre-cruise to see a little bit of Sydney, so we did not want to waste our time. After a fine lunch at the Sydney Tower, we checked into our rooms at the Radisson Blu, washed up and rested a little, and then head out to Manly.

It was an easy walk from the hotel to Circular Quay where we would catch the ferry to Manly. Straight up on Pitt Street about three blocks away.

FIL did very well despite his difficulties walking long distance.

One of the icons of Sydney--Harbour Bridge

a ferry

We bought tickets from a friendly young lady at one of the windows and I think we took the ferry from Wharf 3. It was about $15 roundtrip for adults.

There are both outside seatings and inside seatings.

I believe Manly is north of Sydney, and it's a 20-25 minutes boat ride.

Leaving the harbour kind of reminded me of Hong Kong.

Enjoying the beautiful view of Sydney harbour.

Sailing past the Opera House

Yep, we were up there a couple of hours ago.

The ferry ride was smooth and steady.

Reaching Manly Wharf--there are small beaches alongside the wharf but the main beach is on the other side of the busy pedestrian walk.

There are cafes, shops, bars, supermarket, visitor's information, and toilets inside the wharf.

After leaving the wharf, FIL decided to sit around the wharf/beach area to wait for us while we crossed the lights and followed the crowd to the Corso. BIL stayed behind with FIL.

Shops, restaurants, etc. along the Corso.

A nice 10-minute stroll from the wharf to the main beach.

A beautiful beach indeed!

It was fun just people watching. There were students taking surfing classes and many people enjoying the beach. By 6pm they called everyone to get out of the water and the weather turned chilly and windy. Christian went for the long walk all the way around the Cabbage Tree Bay/Shelby Beach area (right side of the beach in this picture.) I was freezing to death waiting for him and couldn't wait to get back to the wharf to take the ferry back. The view was amazing as we sailed back to Sydney but I was not able to take pictures. People were crowding the front of the ferry with their cameras and IPads, blocking all the views for the possibilities of getting good pictures. Oh well...

By the time we got back to the hotel it was kind of late and we still had to look for dinner. Everybody was tired by then and didn't feel like going out so MOR and I went looking for food to bring back. After walking several blocks, checking out the foodcourts that were already emptied, we had to settle for Burger King (Hungry Jacks) hamburgers to end our first day in Sydney. We also picked up some croissants from Woolworth for breakfast in the morning.