Manly & Sydney

When we left the rainforest, we drove down Pioneer Valley to Mackay, and flew from there to Sydney. When we landed in Sydney, we drove to Manly. Manly is one of the oldest suburbs of Sydney. We were excited to get there because our accommodations were on the beach; and Manly is famous for its incredibly popular beach, which is usually packed with surfers, beach volleyball players, and topless sunbathers. We had been looking forward to taking surf lessons and relaxing on the beach.

Unfortunately, we barely set foot on the beach, because it was overcast and drizzly the whole time we were in Manly. We found this pretty ironic, since Manly is known for its beautiful weather (as well as its beach). Oh well. Australia needs the moisture more than we need the tan.

Despite the terrible weather, Manly ended up being really fun. One reason was that our friends Graham and Margaret rented an apartment that was four doors down the beach from us, so we got to hang out with them while we were there. Another reason we had so much fun was that since the weather was bad, we just went into the city a lot. That worked out well because Sydney is always fun, even if the weather isn’t so good. On the one day that we did get beach weather we took Blossom to Bondi Beach, which is another one of Australia’s famous and popular beaches.