Hilly Manly to Colourful Currumbin

So science over and done with it was time to delve into one of my other great passions, travelling. My plan was to fly out and meet my cousin early but sadly due to the enormous cost of flights on a Saturday I had to leave it until late evening. That left me with an extra half a day in Sydney that needed to be filled.

After a little bit of research in through the various leaflets lying around in my hotel I very quickly decided to head north to Manly by ferry to escape from the city and have a bit of a bike ride. Manly is about a 30-minute ferry ride out of Sydney’s main transport hub, Circular Quay, which was another 15 minutes from where I was staying. No lie in for me then if I wanted to make the most of the day.

Sadly that night I’d had to change rooms and my new sleeping spot had an open balcony overlooking the main road, with no windows! Needless to say I didn't sleep very much. In desperation I headed to the T.V room to try and chill on the coach. Alas I didn’t have much success but I did manage to watch a lot of classic Looney toons.

 

So with a little less than two hours of sleep under my belt I packed up my stuff, stuffed it in a locker and headed off to the ferry terminal. Alas my fatigued brain was not up to the task of buying ferry tickets and I managed to board the wrong one. I realised just in time but thanks to a rather unfriendly ticket lady I departed for Manly five dollars less rich.

The ferry ride over was very pleasant and reminded me of trips on the Mersey ferry when I was a wee little one, minus the obnoxious music of course. The addition of a spectacular view of the Sydney Opera house and Harbour Bridge were also very welcome.

30 minutes later and I was in Manly. A short stroll from the ferry terminal I found the bike rental place and looking around at all the awards they had won I knew I was in for a treat. The staff were friendly, the selection of bikes was large and all the safety equipment was provided. With my gear locked up and helmet strapped on I was ready for the off.

Getting out of the main town area was a little bit hairy but once you are away the roads clear up beautifully. It seems like the local council have really invested a lot in cycling as there were signed cycle routes everywhere. After a little bit of peddling I soon realised why the area is called Manly. It’s a hilly place and some of them are massive, if you aren’t feeling very manly when you set off you deffo will by the end of the day. A bit of reading has revealed that the reason behind the naming of the place is because of how ‘Manly’ the natives appeared to Capt. Arthur Phillip so there you go. Manland.

Sadly I was a bit short on time but I tried to cram in as much as I possibly could and did a rapid 30km route of the southern coast. First I headed out to Sydney harbour national park for a little bit of (unintentional) off-roading and some amazing coastline and Cliffside views. Having the vast expanse of the southern pacific stretching out before you on a clear day is totally breathtaking. If you get the chance to just take in a view like that sometime definitely go for it.

After a very short tour of the North fort artillery museum I turned back around and headed down towards Manly’s main beach, aptly named Manly beach, for a nice little promenade pedal and a break from all the hills. It being a Saturday the beach was packed and there was a lot of weaving to be done. If I’d had the time it would have been nice to maybe try and surf a bit and chill out but as usual time was short.

 

I finished out by heading west through the main residential area, more monster hills. There seemed to be a lot of construction and real estate auctions going on. I’m not too surprised to be honest as the area is gorgeous and just far enough from Sydney proper to not have the whole busy atmosphere of a big city.

So all pedalled out I bought a whole mango and some other snacks from ALDI, yes and ALDI and the brands were almost the same to, before boarding the ferry back to Sydney. After that it was a short hop by plane to the Gold coast, which in the eyes of local time zones took 0 time, and my cousin’s place in Corrumbin. I have to admit one of my favourite things about the trip, apart from the weather of course, has been the access to fresh fruit, vegetables and bread. That and shelves full of cereal. Ah how I miss the food of home.

Laters.