G'day mates!
The weather has been a mixed bag of torrential rain, breezy evenings, and hot! and humid, sunny
days. After five days on the beach, we decided (or our bodies decided) that we should take it easy. We were all fairly exhausted after Nelson Bay, so we spent most of the weekend recuperating with afternoon naps (for Fergus and Karen) and videos for the girls! It was a good thing that it rained most of the weekend.
By Tuesday with our cabin fever, we decided to venture out to the city. Our destination was Victoria Park Pool in Glebe. Glebe is an inner-city suburb, 3km southwest of the city centre. It has a bohemian and new-age feeling (lots of shops like Banyan Bookstore in Vancouver) . There are also lots of students as the University of Sydney (the oldest Uni in Australia - founded in 1850) is located in the area. As soon as we neared the city, I realized there was no fighting it, I really am living in the BURBS for the year!!! Newtown, Glebe, Camperdown all reminded me of home and city living. There were wee, funny looking terrace homes closed together with tiny gardens, loads of Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese restaurants, shops, theatres, diverse faces and lots of traffic.
Our destination was Victoria Park Pool. According to Whereis.com (which gives far more detailed directions for navigating Australia), it should be a 30 minute drive, if using the tolled roads (approx. a $10 fee to get to the city!). Well, an hour later, we finally made it to the Glebe Point Road. There are sooooo many suburbs in Sydney. The map book we have is over 300 pages so although I'm usually pretty good with directions, I sucked! We spent a good part of the drive with Fergus saying, "Are you sure?" and Karen saying, "NO, I'm not sure, but go left, right here, go LEFT!!". Needlesstosay, more investigation is required on how to get to our next destination! We can't rely on Whereis, because as soon as we miss one of the instructions, we're hooped!
Anyhow, the pool was nice! We had pizza, walked around Glebe, went for a swim, walked
around the Quad of the Uni looking for a toilet, drove to and wandered around Sydney Park (the third largest park in Sydney giving one a 360 degree view of the city and boy is it flat!), and went for a Thai dinner in Newtown. The girls ate tons of rice and beef/broccoli!
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Today we had better luck with the driving. We got to Manly in about 35 minutes, just a few minutes more than what Whereis estimated. What a beautiful area, especially around Split Bridge with views of the sailboats and the water to the east and west of us. There were some gorgeous homes on the hills.
Manly beach had waves much bigger than what we've seen so far. However, before time on the beach, Fergus and the girls went to Oceanworld for close up viewings of sea turtles, lizards, sharks, stingrays etc. and Karen got to wander around Manly and got herself summer dress and some new shades! It was hot hot hot and humid! We parked for free next to a sign that read, "2P Ocean Beach Permit Holders Excepted". Fergus and Karen had a debate on what the heck that meant but in the end we parked.
After a move of the car, some ice-cream, and another move of the car, we finally got to the beach at 4:30pm. As soon as our bare feet hit the sand, the
skies turned gray and the thunder whimpered. Hmmm, what great timing! We all went into the water briefly before it started to rain. The current was really strong as all the signs had warned! The beach cleared quickly apart from the surfers and us loonies! We changed at a covered bus-stop along with the other loonies and waited for Fergus to return with the car.
While waiting for Fergus, I watched a young blond business guy in a dress shirt and pants, undress and change into a wetsuit (under a towel of course), wax his board and slop zinc on his cheeks and nose by his car before wandering to the waves. What a life Sydney must offer!
Fergus finally arrived after an hour; he had troubles starting the car. He spent time getting to know the locals by asking them to push the car! I was getting a bit worried, no wallet, no phone, no way of getting home. Note to self, get cell phones soon!!
Girls are pooped, as are we. The sun is strong even though it was cloudy. Sweet dreams to all!
2 comments:
Love the "Motel" picture!!
Thought it'd be something you'd like! I took it after we parked our car near the university on our way to Victoria Park Pool. The path overlooked a busy highway and I saw the big motel sign with the city as a backdrop.
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