Sydney - around and about.

I first heard about Sydney's beach resort, and surfing Mecca, Manly, on the soap Neighbours. Guy Pierce and Jason Donovan were going there for a surf competition and it seemed to me that they must have made the name of the place up to sound more, well, Australian.

But it does exist - I've been there. And, it's not named after some unfortunately named naval hero or early colonial governor, it really does mean "masculine". It got the name after the first governor of the New South Wales colony, Captain Arthur Phillips was impressed by the "confident and manly behaviour" of the local Kay-ye-my Aborigines. It would seem that don't ask, don't tell wasn't entirely an invention of Bill Clinton...

Anyway, you get there by ferry from Circular Quay which gives you the opportunity to take yet another photograph of the Opera House.


And yet another photograph of the Harbour Bridge (with yet another party of bridge climbers on it):


Next you pass the little island where Fort Denison stands:


The island originally stood about 15 metres out of the water but was more or less flattened as the sandstone was quarried to build Circular Quay. Ironically, when it was decided to build the fort to improve Sydney's defenses, stone had to be brought over from the mainland.

There isn't much to Manly itself. What charms it may once have had have now been well buried beneath modern housing and retail developments. It's hardly surprising as this is a very desirable place to live if you work in Sydney. I saw an advert in an estate agent's window for an efficiency apartment (admittedly with harbour view) for $1.4 million (let's call it £1 million) - for an efficiency apartment.

I rented a bicycle and headed round the North Head in Sydney Harbour National Park:

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Here is the bike I rented (with compulsory helmet):

At this time of year, whales are migrating from the southern oceans north to breed. While I was at North Head I came upon a couple of people from Macquarrie University who were conducting a survey of the whales. One of them lent me his binoculars and pointed in the right general direction. After a while, I saw what was unmistakeably a whale breaching the surface and blowing. There's no way I could take a picture of it, but it was an amazing sight.

Looking south, towards Botany Bay, you can see the cliffs of the New South Wales coast:

When Captain Cook was making his scientific exploration of the east coast of Australia around 1770, he landed, as most people know, at Botany Bay. On his way north, he noted an inlet as he sailed past North Head, but didn't explore it. Later, when the first fleet arrived at Botany Bay in 1788 to set up the new colony, they really struggled because of the lack of fresh water. Eventually a ship was despatched to investigate the inlet that Cook had noted in his log, and they discovered one of the best natural harbours in the world (and a source of drinking water).

Cycling back down into Manly (and the emphasis is very much on the down here) I turned right instead of left and got to the Pacific beach. Round here, folk think it's cold in the sea, but there were still a few people surfing:

Just out of interest, I did some checking. The sea temperature at Sydney today was 19°. At Zandvoort, where I last swam in the sea, the temperatre is 13°. These people don't know what winter means!

My last day in Sydney wasn't really in Sydney at all - Alex (one of my hosts in Melbourne) flew up for the day and we rented a car and drove up into the Blue Mountains. I came through these mountains on the train the other day, but I was looking forward to being able to stop and look at the scenery.

As it turned out, the weather wasn't cooperating. Here is the scenery:

Actually, I think some of the views were quite atmospheric:



We drove back down a little but, although the fog thinned, it was still pretty miserable, so we headed to the south of Sydney and ended up in the Royal National Park, which is, frankly, beautiful:

That evening we dined at a restaurant called Mamak. When we got there, there was a long queue, but I was assured that it was worth the wait. We ended up queuing for around 45 minutes. It was worth it though - very good food at very good prices. If you're ever in Sydney, try it, but get there early.