Manly and Shelly Beach/North Head
Last week, Fr. Gerard took our three month's visting priest from the Philippines, Fr. Gabriel, to see the Sydney sights. I thought it would be nice to take him to some of the more natural sites, We decided to take the Parramatta Ferry into downtown. Here, we are wating for the "river cat" to launch (1). Behind us were a couple of red footed gulls; I love their coloring! (2) This is what the waterway looks like closer to Parramatta (3-4). As you get to the city, the vistas become more luxurious (5-8). Here's a couple of shot of the first views of the downtown (9-10).
Gabriel has a great camera that he carries with him in his back pack. It has a huge telephoto lens, a wide angle and also a fish eye. He let me use it and some of these images are his and some are mine. It was amazing to me how much "crisper" his pictures were compared to my sure shot.
The first stop into Sydney proper is Darling Harbor (11). I love the strangely shaped buildings (12). From Darling Harbor, the boat veers east to go around the Syndey Harbor Bridge (13-18). This was captured with Gabriel's camera. You can almost see what people are wearing as they cross along the top of the bridge (17). After the bridge, we come to the famous Sydney Opera House (19-23). I can't get enough pictures of it. Something about these shots make it look almost like a miniature model (21, 23). And we pause for a selfie infront of the famous landmark (22).
The Ferry stops in Circular Quay (pronounced "key," though I still call it the quay!) (If anyone knows the history of that word, I would love to hear about it!) Now, at the quay, you can hire fast ships that cost lots of money and go a bit faster than the public ferry, or you can pay just a bit on your public transportation card (called OPAL) and use a ferry that takes you straight to Manly in twenty minutes, which is what we did (24). Here are two other birds on the quay ferry (25) and a nice shot of the front of the opera house as we passed it(26).
The day was cool (high of 60) and breezy with lots of sun. So we caught sight of a lot of sailboats in the harbor. It is amazing to me how they don't crash into each other! (27-34) Gabriel was able to capture an albatros and it's dive into the water (35-36). And these are shots of North Head, where we would eventually end up (37-42). From the front of our ferry we could look back and take this lovely image of the city shrinking behind us (43). Some other shots as we closed in on Manly Wharf (44-47). And here is the "Corso" or man pedestrian walk at Manly (48).
And then we arrive at the beach accross the street from the Corso (49-51). And this is looking up to Shelly Beach in the distant center (52). Look at this lovely panorama I took with my simple iPhone (53). And just look at the clarity of the water and its gorgeous aqua hue (54). Here are some shots which Gabriel took with his wide angle lens (55-57). Really stunning! The boats were parked on Shelly Beach. This is a wonderful octopus sculpture (58) that leads up to the start of the climb to North Head. A cliff along the way (59) and a birdie taking a bath at the top (60).
I won't tell you what I had to do to take these shots (61-64). (Okay, I will!) The overlook was blocked by a chain link fence as they had had some rock slides last year and had to block it as it was potentially dangerous. Some young folks were already there and had climbed to the top of the fence and were bracing against it so as to look out over it and take photos. And well…okay, I probably shouldn't have, but I did the same. And Fr. Gabriel lent me his camera to take these fabulous shots. This view is my favorite of the cliffs and it is sad that Fr. Gabriel could only expereince it looking through trees. (For some reason he didn't climb up after me!) But hey, I was with a priest. So if anything were to have happened…Anyway, God is merciful to the foolish. The young adults and I were able to get down without a problem, though we fought gusty winds all the time we were there!
Here are shots from the other side of North Head, looking south towards the city (65-72). This is taken with the fisheye (66). You can see out path leading off on the far right with the city tiny in the center. It gives you a sense of the size of the harbor!
At the end of the night we hit a "Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar" to warm up with a hot cocoa. It's served in a "hug mug," which is basically a mug without handles that you cup in your hands to kepp warm (73). I had a "S'mores hot cocoa" forgetting that Aussie marshmallows are nothing like American ones.
This is a pretty fast recap as I am feeling sick with a nasty head cold that has been going around. Wash with disinfectant after reading this so you don't catch it. It is really yuck!