My last full day in Australia.
I got up with the winds this morning, and left Adam’s apartment before 8. Bernard flew home today, so we said our goodbyes. It was wonderful to see him again, and I truly hope our next meeting will not be as many years apart.
My ultimate goal today was to ride the ferry to Manly, but I wanted to go into the city early so I could stroll the botanical gardens as well. I had to visit my old foxy friends, who I’ve said “Hello” to on each and every one of my trips here since 2000…
Judging by the cacophany, I suspect I was happier to see them than they were me! The clan seems to have grown in size as well. Thousands of them cluster in the trees. I’m not sure I believe the sign about removing them. It’s been 21 years now and they have become (as far as I am concerned) an integral part of the botanical gardens.
The bamboo-graffiti shot was also taken in the gardens, as was the ibis. These ibises (ibi?) are – to me at least – another signature of Sydney. While the city has pigeons, they are not as ubiquitous as they are in New York. Almost equally common are these ibi, not to mention the mynahs, seagulls and common sparrows. But the exoticness of the ibi draw the eye, and although many dismiss them as pests now (recall one strolled into a foodcourt on one of my earlier days here) I still enjoy watching them.
Around 9am I hopped on the 30-minute ferry over to Manly, which is a seaside suburb on the northeast side of Sydney Harbour.
I love riding any ferry on the harbour, but I particularly love this one since passing across ‘the heads’ (the opening where the harbour meets the ocean) sometimes means passing through choppy water which can throw the boat around quite a bit. On todays trip over, the sea was calm and we barely felt it. Happily, when I returned around lunchtime the wind had picked up a great deal and so had the waves, so the boat was rocking back and forth quite impressively 🙂
The top shot just above is the view back toward the CBD from the ferry. The right shot shows how few people head *to* Manly at 9am on a weekday 🙂
You may have noticed from all these shots that weather today was superb! 26 C and barely a cloud in the sky! Manly beach was similarly beautiful.
I walked from one end to the other (about 20 minutes) and then removed my shoes and walked back in the edge of the surf.
There were a great many swimmers and surfers and canoeists out already, but the fellow with the paddle was a bit of a curiosity. He looked like he was on a malibu (a very long surfboard) and was always standing, using the paddle for propulsion and to assist balance. When he rode a wave, he did so high up on the wave, rather than on the front face. He was very skilled as well, and I watched him for a while.
Walking in the water was glorious!
Around lunchtime I headed back over to the city. I had some last minute shopping to be done (in Chinatown) and I wanted to ride this:
What can I say? I’m a sucker for ferris wheels…
As it turns out I purchased almost nothing today. It turns out I’ll be leaving with notably fewer ‘souvenirs’ than ever (gamebooks aside), so I hope my loved-ones aren’t disappointed!
Lunch was Oporto (maybe not the last time… they do have one at the airport) and I bought and binge-ate a massive cherry ripe bar at the same time as well! During todays travels I drunk 2 600 mL Lift bottles, and just now back at Adam’s I’ve put away 3 200 mL mini-cans. My best estimate of the trip total so far (and there will be more tonight) is somewhere around 45 Litres of Lift drunk. Virtually every single drink I have had has been Lift (I drunk one Solo and one Fanta, as well as 3 strawberry milks). That’s probably something to be embarrassed about but I hold my head high with pride! The sugar has kept me going for three weeks now – my daily step average this trip (according to the software for my pedometer) is an impressive 22,500 steps!
< Pride personified
So I have one more night, and then I’ll be taking off tomorrow afternoon for the long and tedious slog home. Hopefully I can squeeze in one more entry before then.