Australia & Ashes 2017 - 2018 - Day 38 - 30th December

Day 38

Up early and off to Manly.  Alfie dropped us off on the ocean side and we walked along the front. it was a very grey day with a little rain in the air. despite this there were still a fair amount of people on the beach and in the water.  Most of those were surfing but the conditions, despite the weather, were not too exciting today.

These are not black and white photographs, they are the actual colour of the sea this morning!

Richard checking his e-mails

We then stopped at the Sugar Lounge restaurant for breakfast,  Service was atrocious but the food, when it arrived was fantastic.

After breakfast we walked through the Corso to the Manly Ferry Terminal for Richard's first ride on a harbour ferry.  Already the weather was getting better and it was quite warm by now.

The Manly ferry arriving at the terminal

Shark Beach from the terminal

First thing we did was get Richard an Opal card which you need to travel on the various forms of Sydney transport, ferry, train or bus. Unlike Melbourne, if you don't have a card, you can pay cash.

We managed to get outside front seats on the upper deck so that Richard could experience the entire journey into Circular Quay. And here are just a few shots of the journey ---

It was getting very humid by the time we arrived and we had been glad of the sea spray we experienced on the way over. We now headed off to the Opera house, obviously another first for Richard.

By now it was getting very hot indeed and after a while observing the view from the opera house we decided it was time to go into the bar for a drink. Unfortunately that proved to be nigh on impossible.

Everywhere was packed.  Everbody must have had the same idea as us. So we decided to head over to one of the pubs in the Rocks.  It was getting unbearably hot now and all we wanted was a bit of a sit down and a couple of beers.

The first pub we tried was the Fortunes of War, claiming to be the oldest pub in Sydney and somewhere I had tried before so I knew they had a fine selection of beers on tap,

Unfortunately it was the same here. Absolutely rammed.  By now we were so hot you could have rung us out so we tried the Orient Hotel a little further down the road.  This time success, we found a table in front of the cricket on the TV and grabbed it. we bought some drinks and got hold of any napkins around to dry our faces necks etc. It was so hot.  We found out later it had been 39 degrees around the city. I don't think I had ever felt so hot.

After a few drinks here we headed tothe station and caught a train to Chatswood. From here we caught a taxi and headed off back home.  Alfie and Amy were preparing a BBQ for friends and we needed to be back by 4.00pm

I know I have said it before, these trains are magnificent.  Air conditioned comfort on two levels