We decided to head into the city centre for breakfast, before heading up the skytower. The weather was again, surprisingly enough, great (people will get bored of hearing the weather was great).
The skytower is in the centre of the city, and affords a fantastic view of a large area. You can see out to the South Pacific Ocean, The Olympic village, and further inland towards the Blue Mountains. A slightly worrying moment on the way down from the tower… the lift stopped for a few minutes. Not nice!
We then decided to catch the ferry from the harbour round the coast to Manly Bay. The ferry ride was fantastic! Seeing the city from the bay, watching the number of boats zipping around, the old fort… It takes you breath away!
Manly Bay is an area of Sydney on the coast which is considered quite trendy, as shown by the array of designer makes and cafes. There’s a great beach and great waves if you surf! I decided that as it was the hottest part of the day, rather than risk burning again, shopping was in order. I then went and sorted and sat in a cafe for a coffee, and doing the ultimate touristy thing, I consulted the guide.
Eventually, when it started to cool again, I headed out to the beach. There’s been a rain problem in the area for a while now, so the showers on the beach are turned off. That’s so annoying when you’ve just been for a swim, walked across a sandy beach, and then have to walk! Any other time, that would have been a bit annoying, but hey, we’re on holiday.
We returned on the ferry to meet Steve, who’d just finished a hard day at work, and was dying for a beer. It still seems really strange being able to use you mobile phone on a boat. Just doesn’t seem right to me.
That evening, Steve and Monique took us to a great pub called The Oaks near where they live. The pub has a huge outdoor area where you can eat, and if you opt for the steak, you can choose the piece and cook it yourself – which to me, takes away the point of eating out. We all opted for gourmet pizzas – mine was a curry one, with mango chutney on. The drinks flowed, the debates raged, and suddenly we were being asked to leave.
