Manly Adventures

Manly beach was so named by Governor Phillips because of the manly nature of the Aborigines he met there. They were so manly, that one of them stabbed him in the shoulder to avenge a blood feud on Collins Beach.

So, of course, we decided that we should visit Manly. Especially since we had such a good time on Bondi Beach, we were really looking forward to the trip.

We made our way down to Circular Quay via Hyde Park:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

and got on one of the Manly Ferries in good time.

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

We chose the starboard side so we could see the bridge on the way out. Unfortuneatly, a fellow stood right in front of Doreen's window as we were leaving:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

He left before too long, though, as it got rather breezy on the deck.

Manly didn't seem quite as nice as Bondi was. The Corso, or the walk between the Ferry Wharf and the beach, was mostly souvenir shops and backpacker hotels. They don't seem to think too much of backpackers, though:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

The other strange thing is that the Corso has all these interesting buildings, but they have elaborate false fronts that completely obliterate the original facade:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

But we got to the beach none the less.

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

Then the adventures began.

We walked along the beach, and then decided that it would be nice to walk on a path that led off of the beach. This is what we saw:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

and we kept following the trail.

Little did we know that this would lead us to the Manly Parkhill Reserve, and we would see NO people for at least the next two hours.

Here Doreen is, setting off:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

and here is the first warning sign we encountered:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

I guess that should have given us a clue as to what would lie ahead.

Things like this:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

and here we are, laughing at danger:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

But we kept charging up the trail:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

even after we found a burned out section of the Bush:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

We did see some interesting plants:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

and some nice views:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

Sadly, we saw no Bandicoots:

From Manly Beach and More in Sydney

But we did see a Kookaburra! He was sitting in an old gum tree.

Sydney Zoo

We took a ferry over to the Sydney Zoo the other day. From the water, you could see the building where we are staying:


It is the shorter white one in the middle, just below the word "staying"

It was a nice zoo, with some interesting animals. This is a cassowary:

Brother Chas always says that big birds remind him our dinosaurs. I agree with that completely. When you look at these birds, with their big feet, you could imagine them 2x to 5x the size, chasing down their prey, attacking with their feet and bills. Especially if they had teeth!

The had a good Tasmanian Devil display as well:

It is very sad that these little guys (about 20 lbs or so) as all getting wiped out by a virus based cancer.


This is a Kookaburra. It is not sitting in an old gum tree. Nor was it laughing.

Sydney Opera

Last night we had tickets to the Opera:



Doreen had ordered tickets to The Marriage of Figaro before we left.

We had great seats, the venue was excellent. The performance was great, too. Most of the singers were Australian, with at least on Argentine thrown in for good measure.

The building is just as attractive inside as out. You can see that there is still that brutalist element of the design in all the exposed concrete work, and in the minimalist, almost Danish Design seating.

Bondi Beach

Today in Bondi Beach they had a "Festival of Winds" or a kite festival. We decided to head over there for most of the day.

We did a multi modal transportation effort (Shank's Mare, Train, Bus, and again with the walking) to get to the beach. It was about 1/2 hour or 45 minutes. We weren't really counting.

The beach was rather empty when we got there, but as the winds picked up and the kites started flying, we saw more and more people:


It was great fun watching the kites, but eventually we both felt a little peckish. So we ate at a place called Nico's - Doreen had Chicken Souvlaki, and I had Fish and Chips. They were some of the best Fish and Chips I have ever had. I would recommend the place in a heartbeat:



After lunch we walked around the beach, and over the cliff walk for a little bit:



It was a beautiful day.

Heading home all the buses were full, so we had to walk to the train station. I think it was a couple of miles.

It was a nice walk, though

Sydney Harbor Bridge

djp

Circular Quay

djp

Sydney Opera House

djp

Wooloomoloo finger warf

djp

SIN to SYD

We flew from Singapore to Sydney yesterday to start the real vacation part of this trip.

It is a longer flight than you probably think - almost seven hours. Distances are large out here.

We flew Singapore Air (SQ) and quite frankly I was disappointed. When I lived here back in the 1990s, I felt that SQ was about the best an airline could be. There were seldom any glitches, and the planes and service were great. On this flight, while it was fine, it felt like just another airline. Little things, like the towels running out in the bathroom, would never have happened on the old SQ.


That being said, the flight was delayed only by traffic control, and we flew through immigration and customs (another change from when I lived here before. Previously you need to get a visa in advance, even for a US citizen. Now you can do that all on line, or even at the airport. Easy)

The cab ride in was mostly uneventful. But in all big cities you visit for the first time, you never know if the cabbie is taking advantage or not. Just smile and pay.


This is the view we woke up to this morning. (another good thing about starting in S'pore is that we are both almost over the jetlag) Nice.

Here is a closer view:

Yes, that is the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the Sydney Opera House right off our balcony.

The place is very stark, but very nice:


We had dinner at a famous Thai place last night when we got in called Spice I Am. It was wonderful.

Now we are off to wander around Darlinghust.

The view from our apartment

djp

End of travellator

djp

Doreen pouring her

djp

In the sq lounge

Doreen was of getting some water

djp

Flying back to Singapore

djp

View from my room

You can see that this is a view of the Petronas Twin Towers

djp

Mandarin oriental KL

djp

MH 606 to KL

djp

It takes a lot to laugh...

Flying to Asia from Houston takes a long time. It doesn't really take much stamina (at least the way we do it) but it does take patience.

We left Houston at about Noon on Sunday. From Houston we had a quick three hour flight to LA, and about an hour and a half layover in LAX.

Then we had a 14 1/2 hour flight from LAX to Tokyo - which is the leg where you need the most patience. But we watched a movie (Knight and Day - it was really very silly, but if you suspended disbelief it was OK) and slept. That is just a long time.

Finally, after a one hour layover in TOY, we boarded the final six hour flight to Singapore. We arrived here at about 1:00 AM - that is about noon Houston time. Almost exactly 24 hours from when we took off.

As always, Changi Airport is amazingly efficient (I am writing these words in the Malaysian Air lounge, waiting for a trip to KL). We got through immigration in a matter of minutes, and by the time we walked to the conveyor belt our bags were just coming off. We were almost the first ones to get our luggage.

The trip to the city (the Goodwood Hotel) was uneventful, we checked in and got to bed sometime around 2:00 AM. We slept until after 7:00, and are now ready to go.

Doreen is staying here while I am flying up to KL for a portion of our Board meeting. Back tomorrow for one more night in Singapore, then off to Sydney.

This traveling life is not that bad, occasionally.

The Hotel Goodwood Park

I an on my way to KL, but Doreen is staying in Singapore.

djp

Doreen in the ana lounge in Tokyo

djp

The view from my window

djp

Doreen on SQ11

djp