Would you believe it cloud and actually grey cloud this morning! The LLW was difficult to rouse again this morning so a later breakfast ensued. We encountered Santa in the breakfast room and a fantastic spread was provided by the hotel.
The forecast for the day was for the sun to come out at around 11:00 so team Jackson decided to stay with Plan A which was a visit to the Northern Beaches.
By the time we walked the 300 yards to the Manly Ferry, the cloud was beginning to lift and the temperature was rising. Last time we visited Sydney in 2018 we used the Opal card to pay for buses, teams and ferries. We took the card home and carefully filed it where it would never be found again. However, in 2022 Sydney is in the process of replacing the Opal card with generic contactless cards as London did with Oyster and we were able to tap on and off with "no worries" as they love to say in OZ. The LLW seemed to take great delight in oscillating between my card and the joint account card but her card never seemed to emerge.
The plan was to take the ferry to Manly, then catch a bus to Narrabeen via Brookvale, Dee Why (no me neither) and Collaroy, explore the lagoon and beach at Narrabeen and then bus it back to Manly. All went like clockwork and soon we were walking around the lagoon at Narrabeen.
The photos make it look very quiet but actually there were lots of families setting us barbies at various points around the lagoon and, the cicadas were the noisiest we have ever heard!
Having explored the lagoon we walked down to the main beach which as you can see was hardly crowded.
Narrabeen beach is a famous surfing beach but surf was not really up today so there were very few participants. Narrabeen is so famous that it featured in the 1960s Beach Boys classic Surfin' USA. I can hear you exclaiming loudly that cannot be right since Australia is nowhere near the USA and that Ray must have had too much sun. However, it is true and Narrabeen gets a mention in verse two, line four. Have a listen for yourselves.
By now the temperature was back to mid 20Cs and still climbing so the LLW decided it was time to return to Manly. The bus arrived very quickly and 20 minutes later we were walking along the esplanade and this beach was much busier. Manly is another surfing beach and there were a few surfers around making the most of the conditions. Being a surfing beach it is not the greatest for swimming. However, at the southern end there is a small beach called Shelly which is very sheltered from the open ocean and Ray decided he needed a swim and so we walked there. You can see the sand on Shelly beach at the top left of the first photo below.
Th water was warm but too hot and the sea was clear and very blue. Perfect for swimming once the crowds on the beach had been circumnavigated.
Time to head back to Sydney via the ferry and to contemplate where we might find somewhere to eat this evening.
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