It is only a 20-25 minute ferry ride from the Quay (which is practically out our front door) the ferry dumps you off at Manly Cove - you walk directly off the boat, past ice cream shops, a fresh fish market, an Aldi (yes, just like an Aldi at home) and of course a Subway and McDonalds -- to Victoria St. which stretches from Manly Cove to Manly Beach -- it's less than a mile walk from the wharf to the beach, and on that stretch of land, is a bit of a glorified ped-mall. With surf shops, restaurants, bottle shops, touristy stores, pubs and more surf shops, fountains, playground and on the weekends there are arts festivals...from what I can tell all year round.
I learned from my book the other day that Manly is supposedly named after the Aboriginals that once inhabited the area - I believe it was Captain Cook who was one of the first Europeans to the land, and he called it Manly simply because the Aboriginals were "manly." So descriptive eh?
Oh, and after our third trip out to Manly (and seeing several young (and not so young) ladies baring it all - which I immediately thought, is that legal!?) we did some quick research and learned that Manly is known for its nudity...so yes, it is perfectly legal.. and in fact it's known for being a topless beach (go figure it would be the one I liked best?!) But I liked it before I found out about all the nakedness - so I can't go ditching out on my numero uno beach now.
So on Tuesday afternoon we headed out to the beach... and while moseying down Victoria St, on our way to the sand we popped into Quicksilver so we could check out the benefits of having an actual beach pack - I am sure right now you are thinking Sam, you of all people do not need some other sort of bag to haul you crap around in, but you couldn't be more wrong. A beach pack is larger than your typical backpack and is meant to get all junked up in the surf and sand - that being said I found myself a new Roxy pack, and while Chris was on the hunt for his perfect beach pack one of the managers of Quicksilver approached us - and basically - to make a long story short - he personally invited us to the VIP tent to the Gold Coast surf tournament in February. (It's kind of a big deal).
Chris decided it would be a good day to give surfing a go - I decided it would be a good day to watch. The waves were less than desirable for a surfer of any level, but Chris did what he could with the swells...after an hour or so of paddling about - we both decided that a refresher in the near future would be good. So hopefully sometime between now and New Years I will be able to actually get up on a wave -
If I was to start ranking my days here in Australia, I would have to safely say that Tuesday was a 10. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, the sun was warm, the ferry rides are painless and actually give a nice tour of north east part of the Sydney Harbour (which has over 150 miles of shoreline...thank you Bill Bryson). We got invited to the Quicksilver tent, we surfed (ok, Chris surfed), got some sun, and then went to the rooftop bar for my fave - an order of wedges and James Squire Golden Ale (no relation to Chrissy Squire - at least that I know of).
I think I told you last week that we were going to Newcastle for the weekend - well I lied. Because of poor weather we cancelled last weekend - but we are on for this weekend, so more stories to come -- I am going to be honest, right now I am most excited for the weekend because we are going with a few of our new pals (Chris S., Chris M., and Dan) and taking our new mate, Chris S.'s car -- I haven't been in car for nearly two months now - so this will be quite the treat. I hope they let me have shot gun for a bit.
Only 7 days til Christmas!!!
3 comments:
that sounds like such a fun time and i'm def. going to need some pics from the surfing competition. is this the one you were planning on going to anyhow?
so jealous. also, don't you have enough chris's in your life? don't forget that the american version is the best version.
Don't you remember how to own shotgun? You scream, "front seat, front window" as you run to the car. ... This is blogging at its finest, Sam, and I think your Bill Bryson background even has you throwing some big girl words around. Momsie is so proud. Love you and waiting for the -25 below wind chills later tonight. Surf THAT! xoxoxo (We love you and so glad you're having a #10 day!)
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