Life's a Stitch

Sydney, Australia (as opposed to tiny Sydney, BC, population 11,600) has 4 million people in its boundaries. Although only a third larger than Melbourne, it feels like a crowded place. After docking early in the morning, and locating our hotel for our one night stay, we texted our Aussie friend back home. If you had only one day in Sydney, what would you do? Her answer: take the ferry to Manly Beach. 

The hotel was dead center in the middle of the city and was located next to a demolition site. The din of deconstruction filled all daylight hours so we were quick to take our friend's advice. It turned out that the private high speed ferry was less expensive than the public transport variety, which was slow and required a minimum purchase for a transit card. That was a smart moneymaking scheme for them.

They ferry took us past the Opera House (smaller than I was expecting) and onto quieter, more attractive-to-me parts of the area.

Upon arriving at the Manly Beach ferry terminal, I saw a small horseshoe shaped beach. This is pretty I thought, but wondered what made it so special. I looked down the next street and discovered what we were really looking for, a few blocks away – beautiful huge surfer's paradise Manly Beach.

It was a glorious last day of vacation in Australia. We stopped in the grocery store to pick up a few souvenirs and gifts. I usually go for local spices, but this time it was the failproof Pavlova mix-in-an-egg and for the chocolate lovers in my life, some "Aunt Betty's Oh So Good Chocolate Steamy Puds."

Tomorrow we'll be back on Air New Zealand for our long flight home flying back to our next chapter in the year of drifting aimlessly.

(11-21-17)