Day 25: Manly Beach, on Mardi Gras Day!
I really need to start a report without starting with “it was a very hot sunny day,” for once, but the truth is Sydney just seems to see so very many of them - and last Saturday was no exception. This day was Mardi Gras, which is a big festival for Australia that would dominate most of the city centre, and I’d actually been asked by two different groups to join them that day - however - all I could think in my head was, if everyone’s at Mardi Gras, surely the normally exceptionally busy Manly Beach would be empty as anything! I’d also been out the night before and fancied some time to myself - I’m very sociable but have really grown to appreciate good quality me-time since being here (it’s made me so much more independent)
So I declined both parties - it’s not really my sort of thing anyway - and instead headed off to Newtown early afternoon to get the train to Circular Quay.
I was rather excited when a Tangara showed up in place of the usual Waratah or Millennium set - Tangaras work all T4 and some T1 and T9 services, but I’d never heard of them working the T2 that stops at Newtown - I was half wondering if it was out of service! But sure enough, the doors opened and the guard told me that currently (on weekends only) a single Tangara pair works a diagram that puts it on interworking T2 and T8 services all day. So I had a very nice and enjoyable change for my journey to Circular Quay via Central.
At Circular Quay, it was straight onto the Manly ferry, and I was a little shocked to see the Opal gate charge me an instant $8. Not only does it usually charge you at the end, but $8 is a hell of a lot of a single journey within the city on a Sunday. That’s pretty much London Oyster prices! It was explained to me that as the Manly ferry is the busiest of all ferries due to Manly’s immense popularity, and because the route is self contained, with its own gate at each pier, all passengers are charged a more expensive rate of $8 which is taken immediately by the gate as it knows its the only destination option - as a result one does not need to touch out.
I took an outside seat on the ferry and as usual enjoyed passing the harbour bridge and opera house on the water, as I felt the breeze sweep by me, delightfully cooling in the thirty-degree heat. The journey didn’t take long at all, and soon I had embarked by Manly’s attractive looking harbour. The harbour has a very tiny beach of its own, actually, but walking to the other end, just down a short shopping street, will bring you out by the main beach, which despite Mardi Gras was still rather busy, but not as bad as normal and nothing on Bondi’s crowds. I actually forgot to take a picture, sorry, in my haste to go somewhere else just nearby:
If there’s one thing I tend to do it’s favour the hidden-away gems of a place over the tourist traps, so I turned away from the main Manly beach and walked along the faultlessly clear blue sea (From memory, I was feeling nostalgic and listened to Blur’s Parklife for the first time in many years, acknowledging that the way they talk is exactly how many people here in Australia expect me to sound when finding out I live in the UK!) towards the much quieter and yet much more beautiful smaller beach at the other end.
Canwara, but what should scamper alongside me as I’m strolling along but a fat lizard? It was rather tame so I took a few pictures with it, and then was rather distracted by a cockatoo which seemed to mistake me for a tree branch. (That didn’t help my insecurities about being skinny and lanky, so thanks bird) Christ, I thought, I am getting close with nature today.
And I was to get even closer with nature as once I’d made it to the smaller, much nicer beach (we’ll get to that next), the grassy bank to the side by the toilets and cafes was absolutely rioting with wild turkeys! There must have been about five or six at least, all running around - one little girl was chasing them and giggling delightedly as she shrieked “RAAAHHH” and they squarked in disgruntled alarm. I found the sight very comical indeed. Some even wandered onto the beach.
Ohh, the beach! You could not get more proof than this beach about how it pays to avoid the tourist hotspots and opt for the lesser-known beaches. It was a shady cove surrounded by rocks and reefs, with extremely clear sea. It was stunning - and by comparison, the still very nice main Manly Beach looked like Bournemouth. It was like a beach in Barbados down the road from a beach in Benidorm. (I’m not deliberately trying to be aliterative; it just so happens that all those towns start with B) I’ve actually been to Barbados in 2016 and this beach was on par with some of the best over there. The water was as warm and as clear. In fact, it was much clearer than the water of Caribbean island Saint Lucia, which had somewhat translucent sea at the beaches I’d gone to during my 2017 fortnight there. Here’s a full sizer:
I didn’t stop there though, I always think if a path continues then so should you - else you may never see potentially stunning sights further on. You can always walk back after if there’s nothing there! But in this case, there was, in fact the path turned into steps which led to a trail above the beach I’d just been on, overlooking it with some wonderful views. I pressed on, looping round the cove, passing into a forestry section, and there I found it - the secret steps down onto an enormous secluded pile of giant rocks in the middle of the ocean, with full view of the beach - my exclusive area. I did a panorama too:
In the midst of the giant rocks was a truly monstrous rock which I thought would make a perfect base to sunbathe on, so I ambled over to it, careful not to trip on the slippery unstable rocks or to get nipped by the many, MANY crabs crawling everywhere, but I got to it - and it was paradise. My own little secluded rock, in the middle of the sea, with an amazing view. Now that is the way to enjoy a beach.
Here’s a panorama I took:
The water was deep at this point, about 2 metres, yet so clear you could see all the way to the bottom. As it was a cove, the waves were no more than tiny ripples even this far out. There was a little reef, and people were snorkelling in the distance. Dipping a toe in proved it to be deliciously warm, the temperature of water where you can stay underwater without moving a muscle and not feel even near chilly once - the sun was cooking us in a luxurious but intense 31° and that water was calling to me. Only there was one problem.
I looked in my bag and realised I’d left my trunks behind.
Well, I guess this means I’ll miss out on this stunning water, right?
WRONG! HAHAHAHA no flipping WAY! You only live once, and I’ve learned to take every chance in life I get to do brilliant things, so knowing fully well I’d regret it otherwise, and seeing as hardly anyone else was around, I stood on the edge of my private rock and dove into the immaculate turquoise in my Calvin Kleins.
That’s Part One. Part Two is directly below.
) and while I don't like to generalise in such a way, Australian people are just the loveliest, friendliest most warm and welcoming people I've ever met, they are a real pleasure and have made me feel so welcome, what a change from UK especially in Cardiff where I've found a lot of South Wales can be very blunt and rude) I was still hungry so a nice fish taco was in order from a street food stand, and then as I was informed by many people that Canberra had no tourist information outlets, it was onto my phone to see what there was to do.
Scooters for the win, eh?
I’m not that spoilt and needy 
I also note you mentioning being skinny and lanky, you must have an incredibly beast metabolic rate to eat what you do and still be like that. A lot of us would be incredibly jealous, although I note that like one of my colleagues who is similarly skinny, you don't want to be like that. Perhaps more gym/outdoor exercise than beaches is in order 