Manly walk!

And no; not meaning there is a specific way to walk manly :P

Manly is an area lying nearby the heart of Sydney and is only really (from the center of Sydney) reachable by ferry. I went there yesterday to, yeah well, just to walk around actually. This because my travel guidebook (which I’ve really, REALLY grown to love, thanks for the tip, Thijs) described it as very relaxed and having some good scenic walking routes. 

The Manly wharf

It was indeed very pretty, but because of my lack of planning and information-gathering my walk turned out to be an 6 hour long one. Nevertheless it was totally worth it and I don’t regret not having taken the buss to the look out spots as the weather was lovely and there was lots to see. To give you an impression of the beauty of the surroundings of Manly: 

One of the many small but beautiful beaches

The cliffs of Manly seen from the Fairfax lookout

What also definitely lengthened my walk is my bad orientation skills (thanks, dad), and though the GPS on my phone has never been so much appreciated, the locals here were also really nice and helpful in finding my way around. It actually happened twice that I was standing somewhere looking on my map when somebody called out to me “Are you lost mate? Let me help ya” and helped me back on track.

It wan’t until sundown that I had made my way back to the wharf and could catch a ferry back to central Sydney, but this did make for a perfect picture opportunity of the Sydney Harbour Bridge:

The Sydney Harbour Bridge by sundown

Furthermore, I’ve mostly been exploring bits of the city. One thing I’ve come to realize is how mad expensive Sydney is. Paying 4$ for a cup of coffee is the standard; no matter whether you’re in a touristic area or not. Speaking of coffee: I had the best cup of coffee ever (and for those who know me; I'm quite a critic on coffee) at the Barefoot coffee traders.

As for today; yesterday was definitely a lot more fun: I spent the day mostly practical, having a job interview, setting up a bank account, planning further travels, and preparing to move to a different hostel. The rest of the week I’m planning to fill with more fun things, but that’ll come in the next post!