Catching up with friends and family


Sydney Harbour Bridge from the Manley Ferry

 Saturday 8th June

Gail and I headed to her local market, in the school grounds just a hundred metres or so away to find our breakfast, peruse the stalls and purchase some fresh produce.   Breakfast for me was pork and prawn rice paper rolls, and for Gail her weekly egg and bacon roll - a very popular choice - quite a long queue!

Jonathon traversing a lovely sandstone formation






I left about mid-morning to head to Jonathon's, which I managed without incident, although Maps spent the first few moments changing its mind about  navigation instruction about 57 times.

Some lovely water views on the walk




It was lovely to see Jonathon and Yu Rong again.  After a coffee and inspection of their current renovations, Yu Rong elected to stay at home to finish knitting a jumper and Jonathon and I walked briskly (keeping up with his long legs and fitness was a challenge!) to the bus stop to catch the bus to Spit Bridge to do the walk from there to Manly.

A pretty mushroom




I was glad that Jonathon had said walking boots, not sandshoes.  Sydney has had more than its fair share of rain in recent days and the track was wet and in places muddy.  The route was not quite as I had anticipated from previous walks with Jonathon around Sydney - this went through some lovely bush, ascended a headland with a rather good panoramic view of a section of Sydney Harbour and finished with a couple of kilometres of urban walking to Manly.

Panoramic Views



There were a few lovely wildflowers, a few fungi and lots of lovely sandstone formations along the way.  And some up and down - around 265m of up and down!  The walk itself was 10km, but by the time I added on the bits too and from and between public transport, and diversion into Manly to find a snack, it was closer to 15km.

A stunning heath





We travelled back to Circular Quay on the Manly Ferry - the classic one, not one of the new fast ferries and it's slow crossing  was a little reminiscent of slower times gone by.

More panoramic views




Then a ferry across to Milson's Point before another walk to the train station for the Chatswood train (which was delayed).

A section of a waterfall near Manly




We diverted at Chatswood to collect the order for dinner  - a couple of delicious sushi platters, but I can pass on mackerel nigiri next time - the flavour is too strong for my taste!

The other section of the same waterfall






Then another walk to Jonathon's place;  I left them for a short time to go and check into my airbnb and unload my luggage - I negotiated the inordinately steep driveway and accepted the offer of assistance with any heavy items and requested assistance with instructions for turning the car around in a fairly confined space.

Marina before Manly



A quick change of clothes and I was back with Jonathon and Yu Rong for the evening to enjoy sushi and their company.  

Along the urban section
- the flower spike took our fancy







I left reasonably early - I was somewhat tired from our active day!

Bird of Paradise flower






The Opera House - all lit up for the evening





















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