After a very chill day of arts and food, this day was just for chill again. The next busy day was pegged for Melbourne, so when I was mapping what to do this final full day in Sydney, I just had to cross off a couple things I’d like to do – ride a ferry, go in a beach, see some animals.
Day 4 – Sydney
I got used pretty quick to waking up early in Sydney. I woke up at around 6.30am, I even beat my own alarm clock by a few minutes. Well, probably my body was on some kind of alert system everytime I go on overseas trips, and the prospect of missing something or being late on the trip can fully wake me up faster than the smell of coffee.
I immediately turned on the TV, switched to Netflix to watch anime again, and had my breakfast. The kebab rice yesterday didn’t taste good anymore, so I binned it. I ate the choco muffin and the banana bread alongside some breakfast tea. I was thinking coffee earlier but I needed something smoother to tame the sweetness.
For the day’s gear, I brought all the stuff for the beach (a bit more on that later). They all fit in one Quechua 20L bag, and it didn’t even look bulky. For clothes, I wore a beanie, a thick Adidas longsleeve hoodie shirt, one shirt underneath it too, and jeans. I still had one mask left in rotation, so I wore that too. The fever has subsided greatly but I’d rather keep my occasionally runny nose to myself.
By 8am, I was out of the hotel, and I walked towards Haymarket. I had to cross off one more transportation mode – trams. I had the train, the bus, the bendy bus, and now the tram. No taxis in my plans. Monday crowd was very light. Did I miss the peak hour or something, I don’t know, but I’m very fine with what I got.
Once at Circular Quay, I had to make a beeline for the ferry station going to Manly Beach.
I did make prep for going to the beach for this day, and by prep I meant going to Decathlon and buying stuff. I bought one of those beach shoes to wear for my feet, as I vividly remember the last time I went to a beach, several sharp things got embedded in my feet. Not with this thick rubbery bad boy I bought. I also bought a quick-dry light towel (big one) that didn’t even take up much space in my luggage. I also bought a pair of boardshorts and a surfers’ longsleeve shirt.
And yeah, for the past three days I slopped sunscreen on my face and arms. I bought a pack of 3 SPF110 sunscreen lotions from Banana Boat, extra strength. Made me look a shade whiter too. I knew it was wintertime and not summer there anymore, but for me, I’d rather be overprepared than under.
Riding the ferry to Manly was easy as well, seamless like riding their trains and trams. Just tap and go. Sunny and breezy morning as well on that fine Monday, so I opted to sit outside the ferry to enjoy the sights. And it’s an activity by itself – the smells and sights were fantastic.
Once I got off Manly Wharf, I took out my phone, ran Maps and plotted the way to the beach. Turned out to be needless – just follow the winds and go straight down a wide pathway, and the beach was there in full morning glory.
I took a lengthy pause there to breathe in the nice (slightly cold) air, and walked towards the Manly Surf Pavilion. The small building beside it had showers with changing stalls.
Little did I know the showers/stalls had no doors. So I used the stall farthest to the door, and waited for the appropriate times to get into my beach gear. Not easy but I made it work. The trick is that earlier at the hotel when I was getting dressed, I wore my swim trunks already inside my jeans. I did pack a pair of boxers so I could wear it after a dip in the Manly beach. I also slathered sunscreen onto my face and arms. Day was pretty sunny after all.
After that, I headed out to the beach coast. I observed where people put their belongings on, and it was on the nearby concrete structure on the rocks, which I did. No danger of being stolen, as I observed most of the early morning swimmers just put their duffel bags on there and just swam. And yeah, there were very few dippers in there that morning. Must be the wintertime crowd.
First thing, the water shoes I bought paid dividends right at the get-go. Manly beach at the time had some shells (just a few) and some pebbles on the coast, and the sand is quite fine so if I didn’t have water shoes, my feet would’ve sank a lot and I would’ve less means to shift positions quickly. The water shoes allowed me to walk quicker. Second, the morning waves were decently strong. So I spent a good few minutes just on the coast looking for a good place to dip and feel the waves. Thankfully I observed two older swimmers did the same thing much earlier than me, and when they left, I just went to their same spot.
I had no interest in venturing farther to swim, as I spent a good hour around 30-40 feet away from the coast. I am not a good swimmer. And as I said earlier, the morning waves were strong, so if poor me got swept away by those waves, I would just drown. I just stayed at my comfort zone at all times during my dip, just getting some time to swim and feel the strong push of the waves at a safe distance. Water’s tolerably cold as well. Sometimes in other beaches I’ve been to, the waters were nice but were very lukewarm. Not here in Manly winter, the water’s got good enough temp for a chill dip. Definitely cold but not enough to tighten the nuts.
And yeah, beach lifeguards. There were some there during my swim, so I was confident of my safety. There was even someone who got swept away by a strong wave and nearly drowned, and they were alert enough to spot her distress and swim quickly to get her back to the coast.
After a full hour of just half-swimming and dipping, I was content. I got back to my bag, and went off to get dressed back to my street clothes. But I was hungry, so I went at a nearby food store – Seaside Kebabs. When I passed it earlier, I kind of wanted some chippies. I had a light breakfast but I had a sudden hankering of potatoes. Carbs if you will. So I had to scratch that itch. I went for their “snack packs” – slivers of spitroasted mixed meats, a bottle of Coke Zero, and a big helping of chips, slathered with white sauce and hot sauce. Sat down on one of the beachside table benches, and man, hot food on cold 11am weather was decent.
Note, the serving was too big so I ended up scarfing all the meat and maybe 3/4 of the chips.
Moving on from that, one last thing on my Manly list – souvenirs. Thankfully, along the way earlier I already spotted what souvenirs I wanted and where to buy them. One t-shirt and a couple keychains, shouldn’t harm my daily budget. After all, I already blew nearly half my souvenir budget in Paddy’s.
I easily reached the wharf, and soon I was on my second ferry back to Circular Quay. It was nearing noon but the midday sun wasn’t even hurting me, cold weather and a nice boat ride certainly gave the fun vibe.
Some more random Manly shots below:
Briathrail // Albert 2MNG 
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